Adam Gamoran

Adam Gamoran is a leading scholar in Social Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, renowned for his work in sociology and educational policy studies. He earned his Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago in 1984, along with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the same institution. Gamoran joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1984 and held the John D. MacArthur Chair in Sociology and Educational Policy Studies until 2013. He chaired the Department of Sociology from 2001 to 2004 and directed the Wisconsin Center for Education Research from 2004 to 2013, managing the nation’s oldest and largest university-based education research center, which employed over 450 staff and operated on an annual budget exceeding $45 million. His research, funded by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Spencer Foundation, and William T. Grant Foundation, examines educational inequality, school reform, tracking, ability grouping, classroom discourse, curriculum differentiation, school segregation, resource allocation, and their effects on student achievement and labor market outcomes.

Gamoran’s influential publications include books such as Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap: Lessons for No Child Left Behind (Brookings Institution Press, 2007), Stratification in Higher Education: A Comparative Study (Stanford University Press, 2007, co-edited), and Methodological Advances in Cross-National Surveys of Educational Achievement (National Academy Press, 2002, co-edited). Highly cited articles feature “Opening the Classroom to Dialogue” (with Nystrand et al., 1997), “Secondary School Tracking and Educational Inequality: Compensation, Reinforcement, or Neutrality?” (with Mare, 1989), “Discussion-Based Approaches to Developing Understanding: Classroom Instruction and Student Performance in Middle and High School English” (with Applebee et al., 2003), “Questions in Time: Investigating the Structure and Dynamics of Unfolding Classroom Discourse” (with Nystrand et al., 2003), “Instructional Discourse, Student Engagement, and Literature Achievement” (with Nystrand, 1991), and “Authentic Pedagogy and Student Performance” (with Newmann and Marks, 1996). He received the Spencer Foundation Award for contributions to education policy research from the Association for Public Policy and Management in 2013 and the American Educational Research Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education award in 2014. Elected to the National Academy of Education in 2001 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014, Gamoran was twice appointed by President Obama to the National Board for Education Sciences and chairs the National Academies’ Board on Science Education. Since 2013, he has served as President of the William T. Grant Foundation, advancing research to reduce inequality in youth outcomes and improve the use of research evidence in policy and practice.

Professional Email: agamoran@wtgrantfdn.org