Michael W. Kirst

Michael Kirst
Michael W. Kirst
Former President of the California Board of Education and Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration,
Stanford University

Michael W. Kirst is professor emeritus of education and business administration at Stanford University and a co-founder of PACE. He is a longtime education advisor to former California Governor Jerry Brown, who four times appointed Kirst president of state board. In this position, Kirst was instrumental in reshaping education policy and finance in California, overseeing the new academic standards and assessments in math and English language arts, the new science standards, and the Local Control Funding Formula. Before joining the Stanford University faculty, Kirst held several positions with the federal government. He has written or edited more than a dozen books, including Political Dynamics of American Education, and, with Andrea Venezia, From High School to College. Kirst received his PhD in political economy and government from Harvard University.

updated 2013

Contributing topics
Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education
College access & postsecondary success
Continuous school improvement & support
Education finance
Educational governance & policy
Educator workforce & effectiveness
Supporting students’ social-emotional, mental & physical health
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
CORE-PACE Research Partnership
COVID-19 Recovery
Getting Down To Facts II
LCFF Research Collaborative
PACE/USC Rossier Voter Poll
Policy Research Panels
Commentary by Michael W. Kirst
: California’s Dashboard Data Will Guide Improvement
: Michael Kirst on New Federal and State Policies
Michael W. Kirst in the Media
: Public School Choice Exists in California, but Few Districts Offer It
: California Spends More on Schools With the Neediest Kids. Here’s How It’s Succeeded, and Failed.
: Inside California’s Education System: A Conversation with PACE Cofounder Dr. Michael W. Kirst
: A Refresher Guide to the California School Dashboard
: California’s Achievement Gap Defies Extra Billions in School Spending
Publications by Michael W. Kirst
School Choice Grows—With Scarce Evidence on Effects
School Choice Grows—With Scarce Evidence on Effects
Spring 1999 PACE Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 1.
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California's Class Size Reduction
Implications for Equity, Practice, and Implementation
In July 1996, California embarked on its largest ever education reform: a nearly $1 billion class size reduction effort to improve literacy in the primary grades. Now in its second year, the Class Size Reduction (CSR) initiative provides $800 (up…
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Californians Speak on Education and Reform Options
Uneven Faith in Teachers, School Boards, and the State as Designers of Change
For nearly two centuries, cantankerous debates over the quality of public education have recurrently preoccupied parents, civic activists, and political leaders. Today, the future of public schooling is the issue that most worries voters in…
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California Curriculum Policy in the 1990s
Standards and Assessments
Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, March 24, 1997 (revised April 1, 1997). This case study traces the evolution of California's curriculum-related reforms,…