Professor Russell Rumberger, a Professor Emeritus of Education at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education. Rumberger is one of 11 leading researchers and educators elected new members, about whom Dr. Michael Feuer, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and President of the National Academy of Education, said, “It is my pleasure to welcome these leaders who represent the rich diversity of fields that study education.”
The National Academy of Education (NAEd) advances high quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, the NAEd consists of 199 U.S. members and 11 foreign associates who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education. The mission of NAEd, founded in 1965, is to advance high quality education research and its use in policy formulation and practice. The Academy convenes annually for papers, symposia, and informal conversation. It sponsors committee studies, publishes reports, and administers the NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral and Dissertation Fellowship Programs. Members are frequently invited to become involved in activities in a variety of ways, including serving on committees, attending meetings, and representing the Academy at research or dissemination events.
Russ Rumberger is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Education. He directs the California Dropout Research Project, which produces a series of reports and policy briefs about the dropout problem in California and a state policy agenda to improve California’s high school graduation rate. A faculty member at UCSB since 1987, Professor Rumberger has published widely in several areas of education: education and work; the schooling of disadvantaged students, particularly school dropouts and linguistic minority students; school effectiveness; and education policy. He has been conducting research on school dropouts for the past 30 years and has written over 40 research papers and essays on the topic. He served as a member of the National Research Council’s (NRC) Committee on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn, which issued the highly regarded volume, Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn (2003). He was a member on the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences panel that produced the Dropout Prevention Practice Guide (2008). He completed a book, Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It, published by Harvard University Press in the fall of 2011. He served as the Vice Provost for Education Partnerships, University of California Office of the President from 2010-2012. He is a Fellow of the American Education Research Association.