NEPC Topic Experts on Teacher Unions

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D. is an Assistant Dean for Academic Integration and Innovation at Touro University California. He has been involved with K-12 distance, online, and blended learning for almost three decades as a researcher, evaluator, teacher, course designer, and administrator. Michael’s research has focused on the effective design, delivery, and support of K-12 distance, online, and blended learning, particularly for students located in rural jurisdictions. This focus includes how regulation, governance, and policy can impact effective distance, online, and blended learning environments. His background and expertise has resulted in invitations to testify before legislative committees and provide expert testimony on legal cases in several states, across Canada, and in New Zealand. Additionally, he has consulted on projects in Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden.

Email Michael Barbour at: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Eunice Han is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Utah. Dr. Han specializes on labor relations, educational inequality, and economic mobility. Her recent research focuses on workers’ well-being and the impact of unionism on labor market outcomes in both the private and public sectors. She is also interested in understanding gender differences in labor market conditions, as well as identifying tools to close the gender gap. She received a B.A. in Economics from UCLA, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. Before joining the University of Utah, Dr. Han taught econometrics and principles of economics at Harvard University, and principles of economics and Economics of Education at Wellesley College.

Email Eunice Han at: eunice.han@economics.utah.edu

Julian Vasquez Heilig serves as a Professor of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology at Western Michigan University. His research and practice are primarily focused on K-12 and higher education curriculum, policy, and leadership that impacts equity and innovation. He was recently selected as a recipient of the 2022 Linda C. Tillman Social & Racial Justice Award — which recognizes an academic who demonstrates outstanding leadership in furthering the values of “diversity, equity, and social justice in PK-20 educational organizations.” He obtained his Ph.D. in Education Administration and Policy Analysis and a Masters in Sociology from Stanford University. He also holds a Masters of Higher Education and a Bachelor’s of History and Psychology from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

Email Julian Vasquez Heilig at: j.vasquezheilig@wmich.edu

Ronald D. Henderson has served as Director of Research, National Education Association; Division Chief, Office of Program and Policy Review, U. S. Commission on Civil Rights; Head of Desegregation Studies, National Institute of Education (now called Institute of Education Science); and Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Florida. Prior to those research positions, he taught math and science in elementary, junior high and high school in Detroit Public Schools. His research interests include teacher unions and education policy, school reform, and achievement gaps.

Email Ron Henderson at: rdhdetroit@comcast.net

Dr. Kevin Kumashiro (https://www.kevinkumashiro.com) is the founding chair of the national network, Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE). He is an internationally recognized expert on educational policy, school reform, teacher preparation, and educational equity and social justice, with a wide-ranging list of accomplishments and awards as a scholar, educator, leader, and advocate. Dr. Kumashiro is the former Dean of the Schools of Education at the University of San Francisco and Hofstra University, and is the award-winning author or editor of 10 books, including Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice, and most recently, Surrendered: Why Progressives are Losing the Biggest Battles in Education. His recent awards include the 2016 Social Justice in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling.

Email Kevin K. Kumashiro at: kevin@kevinkumashiro.com

Gordon Lafer is a political economist and a Professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center. He has written widely on issues of labor and employment policy, and his most recent book is The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America, One State at a Time (Cornell University Press, 2017).  Lafer has served as an economic policy analyst for the Office of the Mayor in New York City and has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and state legislatures. Lafer is the founding co-chair of the American Political Science Association’s Labor Project, and has taught as a visiting faculty member at the University of Massachusetts’ Union Leadership Academy and at the Universidad Latina de America in Michoacan, Mexico. In 2009–2010, Lafer took leave from his faculty position to serve as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. In 2011, he became a Research Associate at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. In 2019, Lafer was elected to the school board in Eugene, Oregon.

Email Gordon Lafer at: glafer@msn.com

John L. Myers is an education policy consultant. He has worked with state policymakers in all 50 states on a broad range of education policy issues. His expertise is on state school finance formulas and methods to determine school funding equity and adequacy. Myers has consulted with the NEPC Price of Opportunity Project (POP) for over five years. His role as consultant includes recommending costing-out strategies and oversight of POP panels from Colorado, North Carolina and Michigan. Myers has served as Vice President of Augenblick, Palaich and Associates consulting firm. Before becoming a consultant Myers was a State Legislator, a Governor’s Policy Director, and Education Program Director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

Email John Myers at: jmjmleslie@gmail.com

Mark Paige is a professor at UMASS - Dartmouth. He researches legal issues in education and their educational policy dimensions, focusing In particular on how the law relates to teacher evaluation, collective bargaining, public school finance, as well as special education law. He received a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has practiced school law for several years and has published widely in the field, including several articles in law review journals. Prior to his career in academia, he was a public school teacher.

Email Mark Paige at: mpaige@umassd.edu

Michelle Renée Valladares is Associate Director of the National Education Policy Center and Faculty Affiliate of the CU Boulder School of Education. She leads and partners in a series of projects that aim to increase educational opportunities for all students. This includes serving as CO-PI of the Research Hub for Youth Organizing and the Price of Opportunity Project, as the media and policymaker contact for NEPC, and as a member of the Schools of Opportunity Project leadership.  Michelle leads a Research Hub study of youth organizing and &youth development in California and supervises a research practice partnership with the Cuba Independent School District in New Mexico. For the Price of Opportunity, Michelle leads our partnerships with school finance advocates, contributes to research design, analysis and writing and manages the project team. Michelle also co-leads the Caminos de Bilinguismo partnership with Boulder Valley School District. Michelle has conducted original research on indicator systems, youth and adult education organizing, parent and family engagement, and school turnaround. Michelle has a PhD in education from the University of California, Los Angeles.  

Email Michelle Renée Valladares at: michelle.valladares@colorado.edu