Ph.D., Stanford University, 1975

Prior to coming to UCSB, Lorraine McDonnell was a senior political scientist at RAND.  Her research has focused on the design and implementation of K-12 education policies and their effects on school practice.  In recent studies, she examined the politics of student testing, particularly the curricular and political values underlying state assessment policies.  Her publications have focused on various aspects of education policy and politics, including teacher unions, the education of immigrant students, and the role of citizen deliberation.

McDonnell served for seven years on the National Research Council's Board on Testing and Assessment, and is currently a member of the NRC's advisory committee for the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. She was the 2008-2009 president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and is a member of the National Academy of Education.

Courses Taught:

Selected Recent Publications:
"Repositioning Politics in Education's Circle of Knowledge," Educational Researcher 38:6 (2009).

"A Political Science Perspective on Education Policy Analysis," in Gary Sykes, Barbara Schneider, and David N. Plank, eds., Handbook on Education Policy Research. American Educational Research Association/Routledge, 2009.

"Deliberation with a Purpose: Reconnecting Communities and Schools," in Shawn Rosenberg, ed., Deliberation, Participation, and Democracy: Can the People Govern? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) (with M. Stephen Weatherford).

"No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in Education: Evolution or Revolution?" Peabody Journal of Education 80:2 (2005).

Politics, Persuasion, and Educational Testing.  Harvard University Press, 2004.