Michal Kurlaender

Michal Kurlaender
Michal Kurlaender
Professor of Education Policy,
University of California, Davis

Michal Kurlaender is professor of education policy at the University of California, Davis, and faculty director at PACE. Her work focuses on inequalities in access to college and success in college; alignment of public K–12 and postsecondary systems of education; and alternative pathways to college and careers. She works closely with administrative data from all three of California’s public higher education sectors: California State University, the University of California, and California Community Colleges. She is lead researcher at Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research at UC Davis and a research affiliate with the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness at Teachers College. She received her PhD in education policy from Harvard University.

updated 2021

Publications by Michal Kurlaender
The Scale and Distribution of Community College Participation Among California High School Students
Research shows that dual enrollment—a practice in which high school students take college courses while they are still in high school—has multiple benefits for student success in both systems. To capitalize on those benefits, California and other…
California’s College Readiness Standards and Lessons from District Leaders
During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California’s K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and…
In this report we explore the patterns in mathematics course-taking among California public high school seniors. We describe what courses students are enrolled in and how course participation varies by key student characteristics, such as race/…
A Research Summary and Implications for Practice
Given the importance of a college degree for both individual and societal economic prosperity, policymakers and educators are focused on strengthening the path to college beyond college entry. In this report, we synthesize the existing literature on…