Opinion Blog


Rick Hess Straight Up

Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

Policy & Politics Opinion

2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence: Top 10 Lists

Here are the top 10 scholars, ranked by their disciplines
By Rick Hess — January 05, 2024 1 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Yesterday, we unveiled the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. Of course, education research includes a lot of people doing very different kinds of work. Thus, over the years, readers have been intensely interested in how scholars fared within particular fields of study. Where scholars rank overall may be less telling than where they rank within their field. Today, we’ll report on the top 10 finishers for five disciplinary categories. (For a detailed discussion of how the scoring was done, see Wednesday’s post.)

Now, there can be ambiguity when it comes to determining a given scholar’s discipline. For the most part, my research assistants work off of CVs, relying primarily on a scholar’s degree. In the handful of cases where that didn’t suffice, I made a judgment call. If you think I’ve made the wrong call on someone, let me know, and we’ll do our best to make appropriate adjustments next year.

You can scroll through each chart below.

The tables pretty much speak for themselves. The top finisher in Curriculum, Instruction, and Administration was Jo Boaler; in Economics, Raj Chetty; in Government and Policy, Paul Peterson; in Psychology, Howard Gardner; and, in Sociology, Pedro Noguera. (Full disclosure: Noguera and I co-authored A Search for Common Ground in 2021 and jointly hosted the “Common Ground” podcast during 2021 and 2022.)

Well, that wraps up the 2024 Edu-Scholar Rankings. Next week, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Related Tags:

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Spark Minds, Reignite Students & Teachers: STEM’s Role in Supporting Presence and Engagement
Is your district struggling with chronic absenteeism? Discover how STEM can reignite students' and teachers' passion for learning.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
Recruitment & Retention Webinar EdRecruiter 2025 Survey Results: The Outlook for Recruitment and Retention
See exclusive findings from EdWeek’s nationwide survey of K-12 job seekers and district HR professionals on recruitment, retention, and job satisfaction. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Choice & Charters Trump Wants to Expand Private School Choice. Does the Public Agree?
Both fans and opponents of private school choice argue that public sentiment is on their side.
4 min read
Artistic image of multiple paths leading to a school building.
Laura Baker/Education Week via Canva
Federal How Trump Can Hobble the Education Department Without Abolishing It
There is plenty the incoming administration can do to kneecap the main federal agency responsible for K-12 schools.
9 min read
Former President Donald Trump speaks as he arrives in New York on April 15, 2024.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks as he arrives in New York on April 15, 2024. Trump pledged on the campaign trail to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education in his second term.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP
Federal Opinion Closing the Education Department Is a Solution in Search of a Problem
There’s a bill in Congress seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. What do its supporters really want?
Jonas Zuckerman
4 min read
USA government confusion and United States politics problem and American federal legislation trouble as a national political symbol with 3D illustration elements.
iStock/Getty Images
Law & Courts TikTok Is a Step Closer to Being Banned. What Schools Need to Know
TikTok is a big headache for educators, but banning it probably won't solve all their issues with student engagement.
3 min read
TikTok and Facebook application  on screen Apple iPhone XR
iStock Editorial/Getty