Kevin G. Welner (born December 26, 1963) is professor of education at the
University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, where he chairs the Educational Foundations Policy and Practice program area. He co-founded[1] and is Director of the
National Education Policy Center. He has authored or edited 11 books[2] and more than 100 articles and book chapters[3][4] concerning
education policy and law.
Welner joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education in 1999 as an Assistant Professor.[6] He became a Professor in 2009. where he serves as a professor of educational foundation policy and practice.[4]
In 2014, Welner co-founded the Schools of Opportunity awards project, which seeks to "highlight public high schools that actively seek to close opportunity gaps."[7]
Recognition (awards/honors)
In 2012, Welner was inducted as an American Educational Research Association Fellow.[8] Welner is notable for making technical research documents that are accessible to the general public,[9] and for participating in public academic debates on education reform issues such as standardized testing[10] and school choice.[11] Other awards and recognitions include:
Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award, American Educational Research Association, 2017[12]
Early Career Award, American Educational Research Association, 2006[13]
Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award, American Educational Research Association, 2005[14]
In 2005, Welner conducted research on school vouchers as a resident of the
Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center.[4][17] That research was later published as a major work on school vouchers, NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling. The book provided an early explanation of the legal and policy issues surrounding a then-new type of private school vouchers. These neo-vouchers were created by giving large tax credits for donations to organizations that then packaged those donations as vouchers to fund tuition.[18][19] Welner's work on school choice is employed and reviewed in several publications.[20][21][22]
^Schaeffer, Adam B. (June 19, 2009). "Book Review: NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling". Journal of School Choice. 3 (2): 200–202.
doi:
10.1080/15582150902987566.
S2CID154447549.
"Kevin Welner". National Education Policy Center: Meet the Fellows. Regents of the University of Colorado. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
"Kevin Welner". School of Education | University of Colorado Boulder. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
"Kevin G. Welner, JD, PhD". University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education. Regents of University of Colorado. Archived from
the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2013.