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
Perspectives from the 2019 PACE/USC Rossier Poll
California voters ranked college affordability as the second most important education policy issue in the 2019 PACE/USC Rossier poll, a concern reflected in Governor Gavin Newsom’s first budget proposal and in a number of bills currently…
Opportunities for Research, Policy, and Practice
Due to fragmented and misaligned segments of public education, many students lack access to educational opportunities that will ensure their success in college and career. This problem is one that may only be solved through better alignment and…
How Do Different High School Assessments Measure Up?
The Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC), implemented in California in 2014–15 as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, is designed to evaluate students’ levels of college and career readiness. Student scores on the…
For as much as we know about the economic benefits of a college degree, California policymakers and educators have little information about the college destinations of high school graduates. To fill this information gap, we assembled a unique data…