NEPC Topic Experts on Special Education

David E. DeMatthews is the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Special Education. His research primarily focuses on district and school leadership. More specifically, he aims to understand how educational leaders create and sustain schools where all students are present, meaningfully engaged, and achieving at high levels, with a specific focus on students with disabilities. Given the importance of stable district and school leadership to school improvement processes, he has also cultivated a stream of research focused on superintendent and principal career pathways, job-related stress and burnout, and turnover. DeMatthews has also examined the impact of school choice policies on public schools and historically marginalized students. Prior to arriving at UT-Austin, DeMatthews was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. He began his career in education working as a teacher, campus leader, and district administrator in Baltimore City Public Schools and the District of Columbia Public Schools. 

Email David E. DeMatthews at: ddematthews@austin.utexas.edu

Edward García Fierros (he, him, el), is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Fierros is Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova. Fierros, a first-generation college graduate completed his doctoral degree in Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. His expertise includes testing and measurement, diversity and equity in assessment, multiple intelligences theory, and educational policy related to underrepresented students. Fierros has written numerous journal articles and co-authored Multiple Intelligences: Best Ideas from Research and Practice (2004; with Kornhaber and Veenema). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Email Edward García Fierros at: edward.fierros@villanova.edu

Bill Koski is the Eric & Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education and Professor of Law at the Stanford Law School where he directs the Youth and Education Law Project, an in-house legal clinic devoted to ensuring that disadvantaged children and communities have access to equal educational opportunities, as well as Professor of Education (by courtesy). Koski holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a Ph.D. from the Stanford School of Education.  Koski has represented hundreds of youth and families in race discrimination, student discipline, and disability rights matters and has served as co-counsel in four recent complex school reform litigations. As an educational policy researcher, Koski has published articles on educational equity and adequacy, the politics of judicial decision-making, and teacher assignment policies.

Email Bill Koski at: BKoski@law.stanford.edu

Maria M. Lewis is an Associate Professor in Education Policy Studies and an affiliate law faculty member at Pennsylvania State University. Her research applies a critical lens to examine the intersection of education law, policy, and leadership. Specifically, her research explores: how the law can hinder or promote equity for minoritized students; the bidirectional relationship between social science research and laws or policies that implicate educational equity; and protecting and enforcing federal civil rights under the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Email Maria Lewis at: mml25@psu.edu

Daniel J. Losen is the Senior Director of the Education team at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), where he leads efforts to advance educational equity for all students, particularly children of color and others who have faced historic discrimination. He oversees staffing for the Education Civil Rights Alliance, an NCYL initiative that conducts research on civil rights issues and advocates for systemic education reform at the national, state, and local levels. Before joining NCYL, Dan spent over two decades as a civil rights attorney and education researcher, serving as Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project. He is the author of several books and award-winning reports on racial disparities in education policy and is recognized nationally for his expertise. Dan has testified on education inequities before the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, the National Academies of Science, and the U.S. Commission on Civil and Human Rights. A former public school teacher for 10 years, Dan has also served as an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School.

Email Daniel J. Losen at: losendan@gmail.com                     

Julie Fisher Mead is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Mead researches and writes about topics related to the legal aspects of education. Her research centers on legal issues related to special education and legal issues raised by various forms of school choice, including charter schools and vouchers.

Email Julie Fisher Mead at: jmead@education.wisc.edu

Gary Miron is professor of evaluation, measurement, and research at Western Michigan University. He has extensive experience evaluating school reforms and education policies. Over the past two decades he has conducted several studies of school choice programs in Europe and in the United States, including nine state evaluations of charter school reforms. In recent years, his research has increasingly focused on the education management organizations (EMOs) and efforts to create systemic change in urban schools in Michigan and rural schools in Louisiana. Prior to coming to Western Michigan University, Dr. Miron worked for 10 years at Stockholm University in Sweden.


Email Gary Miron at: garmiron@gmail.com

Tel. 269-599-7965

Mary Lee Smith is a Regents' Professor Emeritus of education policy and measurement, statistics, and research methodology at Arizona State University. Dr. Smith's research focuses on school policies, identification of learning disabilities, effects of grade retention, and consequences of high-stakes achievement testing. She received her doctorate at the University of Colorado and is the author of Political Spectacle and the Fate of American Schools (RoutledgeFalmer, 2004).

Email Mary Lee Smith at: MLSmith@asu.edu