Michael Gottfried, Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, has been appointed to the newly formed Faculty Council of the UC Center Sacramento (UCCS). UCCS is a system-wide teaching and research dissemination center located across from the State Capitol. It provides unique experiential learning opportunities to UC undergraduates while also serving as a conduit through which research evidence produced on the campuses can be shared with policymakers in the executive and legislative branches of state government. As a member of the Faculty Council, Gottfried will represent the UC Santa Barbara campus and advise UCCS on strategies and direction for its educational and outreach missions.
Gottfried was also named the winner of the first annual UCCS Bacon Public Lectureship and White Paper Competition that was open to faculty and researchers throughout the UC system. The Bacon Lectureship focuses on evidence-based public policy. Professor Gottfried’s entry focused on pre-K education and will be the subject of his public lecture, “Which Pre-kindergarten Options are Best Preparing English Language Learners to Start School?” The lecture will be presented at UC Center on February 26.
Dr. Gottfried’s research focuses on the economics of education and education policy. Using the analytic tools from these disciplines, he has examined issues pertaining to peer effects, classroom context, and STEM. His research extends across the K-16 pipeline. Dr. Gottfried has published numerous articles in these areas, with multiple publications in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Educational Research Journal, Education Finance and Policy, Teachers College Record, American Journal of Education, Journal of Educational Research, and Elementary School Journal, among others. He is/has been the Principal Investigator on multiple funded research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NICHD), American Educational Research Association, and the Haynes Foundation. He has won multiple scholarly awards for his research, including the Outstanding Publication in Methodology Award in both 2010 and in 2012 given by AERA Division H and the Highest Reviewed Paper Award in 2013 given by AERA SIG: School Effectiveness and School Improvement.