Michael A. Gottfried is an applied economist with expertise in the economics of education and education policy. His research targets data-driven decision making on a broad range of educational issues, including student absenteeism, career and technical education, early childhood education, and educating students with disabilities. He aims to boost academic and other student outcomes by examining which policies, practices, and contexts promote or block their success.

Professor Gottfried’s research has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Spencer Foundation, Foundation for Child Development, American Educational Research Association, and many other organizations. He has served on editorial boards of leading journals, including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Educational Research Journal, and Teachers College Record.

In 2016, Professor Gottfried founded the Education Policy Collaborative to serve as a forum for education policy scholars from across the United States to impact both scholarship and public policy.