Faculty
Mark Berends 
Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1992
Research Interests
Sociology of Education, Educational Policy and Research Methods
Profile
Mark Berends (Ph.D., Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a professor of sociology and education at the University of Notre Dame, where he directs the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity and the National Center on School Choice (NCSC). Professor Berends has written and published extensively on educational reform, school choice, the effects of family and school changes on student achievement trends, and the effects of schools and classrooms on student achievement. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Professor Berends was an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, and before that, he was a senior social scientist at RAND. His research focuses on how school organization and classroom instruction are related to student achievement, with special attention to disadvantaged students.
Within this agenda, he has applied a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to understanding the effects of school reforms on teachers and students. His current research relies on experimental and quasi-experimental designs to examine the effects of school choice on student achievement gains and growth, with a particular focus on the social organization of schools and classrooms. Currently Dr. Berends is conducting several studies on school choice, including an examination of how in-school enabling conditions and classroom instruction are related to student achievement gains, curricular alignment among charter and traditional public school teachers, and the effects of charters on students and teachers in a Midwestern school district. Professor Berends serves on numerous editorial boards, technical panels, and policy forums and recently ended his term as vice president of the American Educational Research Association’s Division L, Educational Policy and Politics. His latest books are Examining Gaps in Mathematics Achievement Among Racial-Ethnic Groups, 1972-1992 (RAND, 2005), Charter School Outcomes (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008), Leading with Data: Pathways to Improve Your School (Corwin, 2009), and the Handbook of Research on School Choice (Routledge, 2009).
Curriculum Vitae
Contact Information
Phone: (574) 631-6463
Fax: (574) 631-9238
Office: 1014 Flanner
E-mail: Berends.3@nd.edu