Kevin Welner

  • Professor Emeritus
  • Research Professor
  • NEPC Director
  • EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS, POLICY & PRACTICE
  • NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY CENTER
Kevin Welner Photo 2026
Address

Miramontes Baca Education Building, Room 506
University of Colorado Boulder
249 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0249

Kevin G. Welner is a professor emeritus and research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, School of Education, specializing in educational policy and law.

Welner’s research explores various policy issues, including those at the intersection between education rights litigation and educational opportunity scholarship.

Dr. Welner no longer teaches courses at the School of Education or takes on new advisees. His publications include Legal rights, local wrongs: When community control collides with educational equity (2001, SUNY Press); NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling (2008, Rowman & Littlefield); Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (2013, Oxford Univ. Press, with Prudence Carter); and School’s choice: How charter schools control access and shape enrollment (2021, Teachers College Press, with Wagma Mommandi.

Welner is an elected member of the National Academy of Education (NAEd), and he serves on the NAEd Board of Directors. He has received the Early Career Award (in 2006) and Palmer O. Johnson Award (best article in 2004) from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and was elected a Fellow of AERA. He has also received the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency and the Post-Doctoral Fellowship awarded by the NAEd and the Spencer Foundation. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Education Law Center.

For prospective PhD students: Please know that as of 2024 I am not bringing in new advisees.

Education

PhD Educational Policy, University of California, Los Angeles, 1997
JD University of California, Los Angeles, 1988
BA Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1985

I direct the National Education Policy Center, housed at the CU-Boulder School of Education. My research  explores various policy issues, including those at the intersection between education rights litigation and educational opportunity scholarship.

Dr. Welner no longer teaches courses at the School of Education or takes on new advisees.

Professor Welner is the Director of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the School of Education. He  chairs the Board of Trustees of the Education Law Center, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Education.  

For a complete list of publications, please see the faculty member's curriculum vitae. Hyperlinks to many pre-2014 are provided below.

Articles

Welner, K. G. (April 2014). The Lost Opportunity of the Common Core State Standards. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(7), 39-40.

Welner, K. G., & Miron, G. (2014). Wait, Wait. Don’t Mislead Me! Nine Reasons to Be Skeptical About Charter Waitlist Numbers. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2013). Consequential Validity and the Transformation of Tests from Measurement Tools to Policy Tools. Teachers College Record, 115(9), pp. 1-6.

Welner, K. G. (April 2013). The Dirty Dozen: How Charter Schools Influence Student Enrollment. Teachers College Record.

Welner, K. G. & Burris, C. C. (2013, June 29). Texas Must Avoid a Return to the Vocational Track. Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Welner, K. G. & Burris, C. C. (2013, June 7). Is American Education on a Bad Track?Albany Times Union.

Welner, K. G. (2013, April 1). Charter Schools Possess No Magic. USA Today.

Welner, K. G. (2013). Much Ado about Politics (and Much Ignored about Research Evidence). Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2012). Scholars as policy actors: Research, public discourse, and the zone of judicial constraints. American Educational Research Journal, 49(1), 41-63.

Baker, B. D. & Welner, K. G. (2012). Evidence and Rigor: Scrutinizing the Rhetorical Embrace of Evidence-based Decision-making. Educational Researcher, 41(3), pp. 98-101.

Lubienski, C., Scott, J. T., Rogers, J., & Welner, K. G. (2012). Missing the Target? The Parent Trigger as a Strategy for Parental Engagement and School Reform. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Camilli, G. & Welner, K. G. (2011). Is there a mismatch effect in law school, why might it arise, and what would it mean?Journal of College and University Law, 37(3), 491-526.

Baker, B.D., & Welner, K.G. (November 2011). School Finance and Courts: Does Reform Matter, and How Can We Tell?Teachers College Record. 113(11), pp. 2374-2414.

Welner, K.G. (Spring 2011). Free-Market Think Tanks and the Marketing of Education Policy. Dissent, (2), pp. 39-43. Penn Press.

Welner, K.G. (December 2009). Non-Evidence about Tracking: Critiquing the New Report from the Fordham Institute. Teachers College Record.

Welner, K. G. (June 2009). The Neovoucher: A Kissing Cousin in Disguise. School Administrator, 66(6), p. 6.

Welner, K. G. & Molnar, A. (February 20, 2008). The Privatization Infatuation. Education Week, 27(24), pp. 28-29.

Welner, K. G. (2008). Under the voucher radar. Education Week, 28(2), 27-32.

Burris, C. C., Wiley, E. W., Welner, K. G. & Murphy, J. (March 2008). Accountability, Rigor, and Detracking: Achievement Effects of Embracing a Challenging Curriculum as a Universal Good for All Students. Teachers College Record. 110(3), pp. 571-608.

Chi, W. C., & Welner, K. G. (2008). Charter ranking roulette: An anlaysis of reports that grade states' charter school laws.American Journal of Education, 114(2), 273-298.

Welner, K. G. (2007). Demanding more of presidential candidates. The School Administrator 64(11), 6.

Welner, K. G., & Oakes, J. (2007). Structuring curriculum. In F. Michael Connelly (Ed.), The Sage handbook of curriculum and instruction (pp. 91-112). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Welner, K. G. (2007, January 14). "Awards" may provide think tanks with a reality check.The Denver Post.

Silverstein, J., Yettick, H., Foster, S., Welner, K. G., & Shepard, L. (2007). Dropout policies: Research-based strategies. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2007). Money mutterers.The School Administrator, 64(6), p. 6.

Linn, R. L., & Welner, K. G. (2007). Race-conscious policies for assigning students to schools: Social science research and the Supreme Court cases.Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.

Welner, K. G., & Molnar, A. (2007). Truthiness in education.Education Week, 26(25), 32-44.

Welner, K. G., & Martinez, K. (2007). The use of assessment for curricular differentiation. In K. Borman, S. Cahill, & B. Cotner (Eds.), The Praeger handbook of American high schools, V. 1 (pp. 36-41). New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.

Burris, C. C., Welner, K. G., Wiley, E. W., & Murphy, J. (2007). A world-class curriculum for all.Educational Leadership, 64(7), 53-56.

Welner, K. G., & Burris, C. C. (2006). Alternative approaches to the politics of detracking. Theory Into Practice, 45(1), 90-99. Journal homepage:http://www.erlbaum.com.

Welner, K. G. (2006). K-12 race-conscious student assignment policies: Law, social science, and diversity. Review of Educational Research, 76(3), 349-382.

Welner, K. G. (2005). Can irrational become unconstitutional? NCLB's 100% presuppositions. Equity & Excellence in Education,38, 171-179.

Burris, C. C., & Welner, K. G. (2005). Closing the achievement gap by detracking.Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 594-598.

Welner, K. G., & Weitzman, D. Q. (2005). The soft bigotry of low expenditures. Equity & Excellence in Education, 38, 242-248.

Bartels, B., & Welner, K. G. (2004). Colorado charter school authorization and funding reform: An analysis of HB 04-1141. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2004). Colorado's voucher law: Examining the claim of fiscal neutrality.Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(31).

Ready, D., Lee, V,. & Welner, K. G. (2004). Educational equity and school structure: School size, overcrowding, and schools-within-schools. Teachers College Record, 106(10), 1989-2014.

Welner, K. G. (2004). The overrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. Published by the National Center for Culturally Responsive Education Systems.

Welner, K. G., & Kupermintz, H. (2004). Rethinking expert testimony in education rights litigation.Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, 26(2), 127-142.

Howe, K. R., & Welner, K. G. (2003). An analysis of Colorado's school voucher proposals. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). An examination of Colorado's tuition tax credit proposal. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). Education tax credits: No net benefit to Arizona's impoverished students. Tempe, AZ: EPRU Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). Locking up the marketplace of ideas and locking out school reform: Courts' imprudent treatment of controversial teaching in America's public schools. UCLA Law Review, 50(4), 959-1030.

Welner, K. G. (2002). Ability tracking: What role for the courts?Education Law Reporter, 163(2), 565-571.

Howe, K.R., & Welner, K. G. (2002). School choice and the pressure to perform: Deja vu for children with disabilities?Remedial and Special Education, 23(4), 212-221.

Welner, K. G. (2002). Peer analysis of proposal to expand educational scholarships. Tempe, AZ: EPRU Policy Center.

Welner, K. G., & Escamilla, K. (2002). The unintended consequences of Colorado's anti-bilingual education initiative. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2001). Alexander v. Sandoval: A setback for civil rights. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 9(24).

Losen, D., & Welner, K. G. (2001). Disabling discrimination in our public schools: Comprehensive legal challenges to services for minority children. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 36(2), 407-460.

Welner, K. G. (2001). Taxing the establishment clause: The revolutionary decision of the Arizona supreme court in Kotterman v. Killian. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(36).

Welner, K. G. (2001). Tracking in an era of standards: Low-expectation classes meet high-expectation laws. Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, 28(3), 699-738.

Welner, K. G., & Mickelson, R. (2000). School reform, politics, and tracking: Should we pursue virtue?Educational Researcher, 29(4), 22-26.

Welner, K. M., & Welner, K. G. (1999). Contextualizing homeschooling data: A response to Rudner.Education Policy Analysis Archives, 7(13).

Welner, K. M., & Oakes, J. (1996). (Li)Ability grouping: The new susceptibility of school tracking systems to legal changes. Harvard Educational Review, 66(3), 451-470.

Book Chapters

Welner, K. G. & Oakes, J. (2005). Mandates still matter: Examining a key policy tool for promoting successful equity-minded reform. In A. S. Wells & J. Petrovich (Eds.), Bringing equity back: Research for a new era in American educational policy (pp. 77-102). New York: Teachers College Press.

Books

Carter, P. L. & Welner, K. G. (Eds) (2013). Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give All Children an Even Chance. New York: Oxford University Press.

Miron, G., Welner, K. G., Hinchey, P., & Mathis, W. (Eds.) (2012). Exploring the School Choice Universe: Evidence and Recommendations. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G., Hinchey, P., Molnar, A., & Weitzman, D. (Eds.) (2010). Think Tank Research Quality: Lessons for Policymakers, the Media, and the Public. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Mathis, W. J. & Welner, K. G. (Eds.) (2010). The Obama Education Blueprint: Researchers Examine the Evidence. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G., & Chi, W. C. (Eds.) (2008). Education Policy and Law: Current Issues. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G. (2008). NeoVouchers: The emergence of tuition tax credits for private schooling. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Welner, K. G., & Chi, W. C. (Eds.) (2008). Education policy and law: Current issues. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, S. K., & Welner, K. G. (2005). Small doses of arsenic: A Bohemian woman's story of survival. New York: Hamilton Press.

Welner, K. G. (2001). Legal rights, local wrongs: When community control collides with educational equity. New York: SUNY Press.

Welner, K. G., & Oakes, J. (2000). Navigating the politics of detracking. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight Publications.