About EEPS

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) offer a unique program aimed at cultivating human capital within the education policy sector. The Emerging Education Policy Scholars (EEPS) program brings newly minted Ph.D. scholars and Ph.D. candidates who have a keen research eye, fresh ideas, and boundless (or budding) enthusiasm for education policy to our nation’s capital to meet with education-policy experts and to share and brainstorm exciting new directions for K–12 education research. The EEPS program seeks to counter the long-standing, well-documented divide between research and policy in education.

It focuses on three overarching goals:

  • to foster an opportunity for talented, promising scholars to connect with other scholars in their field, as well as to introduce them to key players in the education policy arena;
  • to expand the pool of talent and ideas from which the education policy arena currently draws;
  • and to increase understanding of how the worlds of policy and practice intersect with scholarly research in education and related fields.

EEPS is a seminar-based program that cultivates talent within the education research and policy fields by introducing new scholars to one another and to the members of the reform-minded education-policy community in Washington, D.C. The program encourages new scholars and experts to share both research and ideas.

  • Who are EEPS?

    Emerging Education Policy Scholars are current doctoral candidates or a doctoral-degree recipients in the last five years. They may work in higher education, K–12 administration, or a nonprofit or for-profit organization. They also have a keen interest in public policy, are eager to engage in the national conversation about how best to educate children (including amending the structure of our current system in pursuit of that goal), and are in the process of or have recently completed some notable scholarly research that will further that conversation.

    EEPS are organized into cohorts that meet for two events in D.C., typically in the summer and winter. After the second meeting, EEPS graduate to “alumni status,” have the opportunity to present at future EEPS meetings to new cohorts, and can engage with fellow alumni at cross-cohort EEPS events and annual research conferences.

  • What do EEPS do?

    Participants gather informally with think-tankers, academics, policymakers, and reformers in Washington, D.C. The purpose of these events is to bridge connections between up-and-coming scholars and senior education-policy experts and K–12 education practitioners, as well as to foster an opportunity for both groups to share research and ideas.

  • How are EEPS chosen?

    Admissions decisions are made jointly by Fordham and AEI. We seek strong scholarship and education research in a wide variety of areas.

  • How do I apply?

    The application window for our 2019 EEPS cohort has closed. Please check back this fall for information on how to apply to our 2020 cohort, or contact Victoria McDougald ([email protected]) for more information.

  • What is the cost of the program?

    There is no cost to apply to EEPS. Accepted scholars attend EEPS events free of charge, and will also be reimbursed for reasonable travel and accommodation expenses.

The EEPS Experience

“While professional societies provide ample opportunity for within field collaboration, we often lack opportunity to bridge the silos. EEPS not only provided me with a broader perspective on education policy, it allowed me to network with folks from different fields working towards similar goals whom I might not have met otherwise.”

Andrew Schaper

Cohort Five

“EEPS allowed me to expand my professional network, and to access a side of policy consideration and dissemination that I had not previously encountered in any meaningful way. Perhaps most importantly, since completing my EEPS experience I have further grown my cross-cohort EEPS network and benefited enormously from collaboration and conversations that this networking has spurred!”

Shaun Dougherty

Cohort Three

“EEPS is professionally valuable, totally unique, and thought-provoking.”

Michael Ford

Cohort Five

“In addition to connecting with other young scholars from across the country, the experience has expanded my view of the ways in which I can use my research to contribute to public debates currently underway in education policy. As a result of the experience, I feel better equipped to translate my research into approachable mediums suitable for broader audiences.”

F. Chris Curran

Cohort Five

EEPS Class of 2018–2019

Cameron Anglum

Doctoral Candidate in education policy at University of Pennsylvania

Sade Bonilla

Doctoral Candidate at Stanford University

Paul Bruno

Doctoral Candidate in urban education policy at the University of Southern California

Olivia Chi

Doctoral Candidate in education policy and program evaluation at Harvard University and Doctoral Fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School

Joshua Childs

Assistant Professor of education policy and planning in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas, Austin

Megan Duff

Doctoral Candidate in education policy at Teachers College, Columbia University

Hayden Fredrick-Clarke

Director of Cultural Proficiency of Boston Public Schools and Founder of BlackPrint Education Consulting

Michel Grosz

Senior Analyst at Abt Associates

Joanne Golann

Assistant Professor of public policy and education and Assistant Professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University

Andrew Kidd

Economist with the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute

Jacob Kirksey

Doctoral Candidate in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and a Graduate Research Fellow with the National Science Foundation

Shira Korn

Doctoral Candidate in K-12 education policy at and a Master of public policy student at University of Southern California

Dennis Kramer

Assistant Professor of education and policy and Director of the Education Policy Research Center at the University of Florida

Tuan Nguyen

Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Kansas State University

Laura Northrop

Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Cleveland State University

Luis Rodriguez

Assistant Professor of educational leadership in the Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology at New York University

Lauren Sartain

Senior Researcher at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research

M. Danish Shakeel

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Elise Swanson

Distinguished Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, Research Assistant in the Office for Education Policy, and a Research Fellow with Charassein: The Character Assessment Initiative at the University of Arkansas

Samantha Viano

Faculty Member in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University

EEPS Alumni

EEPS Newsletters

For more information about the EEPS program, please contact program coordinators Victoria McDougald ([email protected]) and Brendan Bell ([email protected]). The EEPS program is generously supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation.