Patricia Burch (Ph D, Stanford University) is an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California and studies the drivers and manifestations of private involvement (for profit and not for profit) in K-12 education and the implications for equity and quality in public schools. Over the past decade, Dr. Burch has conducted major studies and evaluations of K-12 education reform such as class size reduction, systemic district instructional reform in large urban school districts, teacher professional development reforms, school choice, and school-linked services. She is the author of several books, including Hidden Markets: The New Education Privatization (Routledge, 2009), and Equal Scrutiny: Privatization and Accountability in Digital Education, with Annalee Good (Harvard Education Press, 2014).
Carolyn J. Heinrich (Ph D, University of Chicago) is the Sid Richardson professor of public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, affiliated professor of economics, and the director of the Center for Health and Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Heinrich’s research focuses on social welfare policy, workforce development, education, econometric methods for social program evaluation, and public management and performance management. She engages in research and evaluation work to improve education and training outcomes in programs for disadvantaged youth; labor market intermediaries and labor market outcomes for low-skilled and disadvantaged workers; healthcare systems transformation and their implications for the disadvantaged; and poverty reduction programs. She regularly consults and collaborates with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations on program evaluations and in improving program and policy design and program effectiveness. In 2004, Heinrich received the David N. Kershaw Award for distinguished contributions to the field of public policy analysis and management by a person under age 40, and in 2010, she was elected to the National Academy of Public Administration. Prior to her appointment at the University of Texas in July 2011, she was the director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
