Levin, Henry M. (hl361)

Henry M. Levin

William Heard Kilpatrick Professor Emeritus of Economics and Education
212-678-3857

Office Location:

230 Thmps

Office Hours:

By Appointment

Educational Background

  • B.S. in Marketing and Economics, New York University
  • M.A., Ph.D. in Economics, Rutgers University
  • Areas of Specialization: Economics of Education, Economics of Human Resources, Urban Economics, Public Finance, and Education Policy

Scholarly Interests

Economics of education. Cost-effectiveness analysis. School reform. Educational vouchers.

Selected Publications

H. Levin, P. McEwan, C. Belfield, B. Bowden, R. Shand (2018) ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF EDUCATION: Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis, 3rd Edition (Los Angeles: Sage Publications).


Privatizing Education (Westview Press).


"Educational vouchers: Effectiveness, choice, and costs" (Journal of Policy Analysis and Management).


"Educational performance standards and the economy" (Educational Researcher).


"Accelerated schools: A Decade of Evolution," (International Handbook of Educational Change).


"Accelerating Mathematics Achievement Using Heterogeneous Grouping," with C. C. Burris & J. Heubert,( American Educational Research Journal).

Henry M. Levin is the William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.  He is Co-Director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education, (www.cbcse.org).  He is also the David Jacks Professor of Higher Education and Economics, Emeritus, at Stanford University where he served from 1968-99 after working as an economist at the Brookings Institution in Washington. From 1978-84 he was the Director of the Institute for Research on Educational Finance at Stanford, a federally-funded R. & D. Center. From 1986-2000 Levin served as the Director of the Accelerated Schools Project, a national school reform initiative for accelerating the education of at-risk youngsters encompassing about 1,000 schools in 41 states.

 

Levin has held Fulbright Professorships in Barcelona and Mexico and is on the Guest Faculty at Peking University and an Honorary Professor at Beijing Normal University.  He has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Russell Sage Foundation.  He has received honorary doctorates from Monmouth College, Maastricht University (Netherlands), and the National University of San Marcos (Peru).  He taught for the Fall Semester of 2012 as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Peking University.

 

In 1992 the New York Times named him as one of “nine national leaders in education innovation”.  Levin has been the Editor of the Review of Educational Research and the President of the American Evaluation Association and a winner of its Gunnar Myrdal Award.  He is also a recipient of the Outstanding Service Award of the Association for Educational Finance and Policy and an elected member of the National Academy of Education. He has been a member and President of the Palo Alto (CA) School Board and was President (2008-09) of the Comparative and International Education Society.  He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Educational Testing Service for 15 years.

 

Levin is a specialist in the economics of education and human resources and has published 20 books and about 300 articles on these and related subjects. At present he is doing research on educational reform, educational vouchers, cost-effectiveness analysis, educational privatization, and benefit-cost studies in education. Recent books he has authored or co-authored or edited include:  Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Methods and Applications (Sage Publications, 2001); Privatizing Education (Westview, 2001); Cost-Effectiveness and Educational Policy (Eye on Education, 2002); Readings in the Economics of Higher Education (Elgar, 2003); Privatizing Educational Choice (Paradigm Publishers, 2005), The Price We Pay: Economic and Social Costs of Inadequate

 

Education (Brookings, 2007), and Between Public and Private (Harvard Education Press, 2010).

 

            

 

By appointment.

Related Articles

Experts on Vouchers and Charter Schools Offer Suggestions at Agenda Setting Conference for a TC New Research Center

The two-day conference on the agenda for the new National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education was a chance for Henry M. Levin to reverse roles. Instead of leading the discussion, Levin, who is TC's new William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, spent much of the time listening attentively and taking notes. That's as he intended it. The goal of the conference was to solicit comments and recommendations from scholars, students, teachers, government officials, philanthropists and others about the issues that should be explored by the new center.

Center on Chinese Education Created at TC

In this time of globalization and high-speed communication, learning about other cultures and ways of life has become necessary to successful communication and international relations. Teachers College now has a new link to Chinese education thanks to a new center. The Center on Chinese Education (CoCE) at Teachers College, established in July, is devoted to policy research, training, and dissemination on education in China, as well as to educational exchanges between the United States and China.

Panel Discusses Strategies for Saving NYC Schools

A panel of six Teachers College faculty members and advocates for public education discussed the future of New York City's public schools at the Columbia Club on March 14. The event, titled, "Can Urban Education Be Saved?" was organized by the Metro New York City Alumni Club, a chapter of the TC Alumni Association.

National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education

A recent Education Week article discusses Professor Henry M. Levin's new role at Teachers College as director of the new National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education. The article, "Levin To Launch Privatization Center at Columbia," was printed on April 7, 1999. For more information, go to www.edweek.com.

TC for the Plaintiffs: Court Declares State Deprives City Students 'A Sound Basic Education' - Annual Report 2001

On January 10, a New York State judge, Leland DeGrasse of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, declared the state's method of financing public schools illegal, saying it deprives New York City students a "sound, basic education" guaranteed by the State Constitution.

A Campaign for Equity: Throughout the Nation

Dollars and Sense A TC study asks: Would the benefits of getting more young black men to graduate from high school outweigh the costs?

Shaping the Public Debate on Education

John Allegrante, Professor of Health Education and President and CEO of the National Center for Health Education (NCHE), testified this year before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.

Chatterji Talks about Making and Taking Tests

With the increasing importance placed on testing, it's necessary to look at how tests and assessment tools are designed and the quality of data they yield. Madhabi Chatterji, Associate Professor of Measurement, Evaluation, and Education does just that.

Solving the Education Equation

In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education story, U.S. Department of Education senior research analyst Clifford Adelman commented that, when it comes to assessment, "The thinking is, 'Let's play with a formula,' rather than 'Let's change the lives of students.'"

The Price of Inequity

Educational Equity Symposium puts America's losses at "hundreds of billions" of dollars

Equity Symposium to Present Research

Just about everyone preaches the value of staying in school. But what, exactly, is that value? On October 24 and 25, at the first annual Teachers College Symposium on Educational Equity, a group of 12 leading economists and other social scientists will present some eye-opening answers. For example, one study conservatively estimates that for just one person, the lifetime earnings loss associated with dropping out of high school is $260,000. A high school dropout will contribute just under $100,000 less in lifetime income taxes than someone who has earned a high school diploma. For the current crop of 18-year-olds who will never earn a high school degree, that computes to over $150 billion in aggregate lifetime earnings loss, and roughly $60 billion in lost income tax revenues for society.

The Education Guy

Matthew Pittinsky has founded a billion-dollar company, but his heart is in the classroom.

Thinking Big About How to Close the Gap

At TC's Fourth Annual Symposium on Educational Equity, a star-studded cast of researchers, educators and policymakers argued for nothing less than a full-scale attempt to combat poverty and its attendant ills. Michael A. Rebell, Executive Director of TC's Campaign for Educational Equity, which organized and hosted the symposium, argued that access for children and families to what he calls "comprehensive educational equity" -- in essence, a full range of services -- should be viewed as a moral, statutory and constitutional right.

Education Policy Panel Discusses the Real-World Impact of No Child Left Behind

In 2001, the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) was signed into law with great fanfare, promising to produce widespread change and promote improvement in the public schools. A Panel at TC discusses it's true impact.

Fall Symposium at Teachers College to Focus on Costs of Inadequate Education

A gathering of the nation's leading education economists will present new findings this fall on "The Social Costs of Inadequate Education," the first in an annual series of symposia that will be conducted by the Teachers College Campaign for Educational Equity

Rebell on The Open Mind; Levin and Rebell on WNYC

On Saturday, October 22nd, Michael Rebell, Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, appeared on the talk show "The Open Mind," on Channel 13. See the show in it's entirety.

The End of an Era

Arthur Levine had much to report in his annual State of the College address on September 14, but he saved the biggest news for last: he will step down as the Colleges President on July 1, 2006. His departure will cap a 12-year run during which the College tripled its endowment; refurbished and rehabilitated its physical plant; reorganized its academic departments and strengthened its faculty and Board of Trustees; conducted the largest capital campaign ever undertaken by a graduate school of education; and adopted a new mission focused on educational equity.

Why Should I Worry About Schools My Children Won’t Attend?

The title for this essay comes from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, specifically from a debate between the brothers Levin over social responsibility. Sergei, visiting his country sibling, argues the importance of hospitals and schools. "Can there be any doubt of the usefulness of education?" he asks. "If it's good for you, it is good for everyone." Konstantin counters, "Maybe all that is good, but why should I worry about setting up medical centers that I will never use and schools that I won't send my children to-'?" Sergei changes the topic.

A Campaign for Equity: Across the State

Michael Rebell and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity are finishing what Brown v. the Board of Education started. Come to TC and take his class.

New Books from TC Faculty

With works on topics ranging from education policy research to arts administration, the College's faculty have been prolific in 2007--08. Here's a look at some of their oeuvre.

Rebell Faces Off with Hoover Fellow over Costing-Out Studies in School Finance Cases

Showdown over Methods Used to Determine Billion-Dollar Allocations to Schools Is Highlight of American Education Finance Meetings.

A Field Returns to Its Roots

The annual gathering of comparative international education will take over campus during spring break. The meeting is expected to draw upwards of 1,500 scholars and students from around the world, and it will feature some 300 panel sessions and 1,200 papers.

TC at AERA, 2008

Hank Levin is giving the Distinguished Lecture; Janet Miller is receiving a lifetime achievement award; Susan Fuhrman, Amy Wells, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Edmund Gordon are speaking in Presidential Sessions, and Gordon and colleagues are part of "A Scholar's Evening in Harlem." And then there's the research.

TC at AERA 2011

Highlights from the year's signature education conference

TC at AERA 2011

This year's annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), taking place in New Orleans this week and themed "Inciting the Social Imagination: Education Research for the Public Good," includes the participation of nearly 175 TC faculty and students.

2010-11: The Year of Research at TC

President Fuhrman outlines the 2010--11 school year as TC's "Year of Research"

The State of the College: It's the Year of Research at TC

TC's President says there has never been a more opportune moment to focus on evidence-based solutions in education writ large

TC at AERA

This year's TC presentations range from using video to prepare preservice teachers to the educational impact of natural disasters

TC at AERA 2010

This year's annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), themed "Understanding Complex Ecologies in a Changing World," which will be held April 30 - May 4 in Denver, will include the participation of nearly 175 TC faculty and students. Highlights follow; for a more comprehensive listing of TC participation in the 2010 AERA annual conference, please visit www.tc.edu/aera2010

The Backlash against Charter Schools

Writing for the New York Times' online "Room for Debate" forum, TC's Jeffrey Henig and Luis Huerta (third piece from the top) argue that "shifting economic and political conditions at the state and national level" are one reason for "the more vocal and newly energized critiques of charters" in New York and elsewhere. http://nyti.ms/9BCzPk

Click here to read a story in the 2010 TC Annual Report about charter schools and new research by Henig, Huerta, and TC faculty member Henry Levin and student Jonathan Gyurko.

How to Educate the Children of China's Migrant Workers?

Until five years ago, the law in China was that to attend public school, children had to be registered as locals in the school's district. That left out China's more than 140 million migrant workers -- a nomadic population that, if it were a nation, would be the tenth largest in the world.

Special Issue of Economics Journal Celebrates Levin's 70th Birthday

To commemorate the 70th birthday of Henry Levin, TC's William H Kilpatrick Professor of Economics & Education, his colleagues compiled a Festschrift, which is a volume of articles, in his honor. Levin's Festschrift is the April 2010 edition of the Economics of Education Review (Volume 29, Issue 2, Pages 165-318)

Dear Chancellor-Select: Not That You Asked Us, But...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced Cathleen P. Black, the 66-year-old chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, as the next chancellor of the city's public school system, succeeding Joel Klein. Here, a cross-section of TC experts who are long-time observers of the New York education scene offers the incoming chancellor their unsolicited advice.

Educating for Tomorrow's Job Market

Normal or not, the new economics require a different approach to education in America.

The Best Policy

A new department will centralize the College's interdisciplinary policy work and bring together some of the nation's leading experts.

TEACHERS COLLEGE CREATES EDUCATION POLICY DEPARTMENT

The new department will centralize the College's interdisciplinary policy work and bring together some of the nation's leading experts.

The Best Policy

A new department centralizes the College's interdisciplinary policy work.

TC's Henry Levin Skeptical About Online Credit Recovery

In a story in the New Haven Independent, Levin says there is no way to make sure the student is actually doing the work for online courses completed outside of class.

AERA names David Hansen, Henry Levin and Anna Neumann as Fellows

The American Education Research Association's Fellows are named in honor of their "exceptional scientific or scholarly contributions to education research or significant contributions to the field."

School Law Institute at TC to Feature John King, Gary Orfield and Others

School Law Institute at TC to Feature John King, Gary Orfield and Others

Menghan Shen: Marshaling the Power of Her Peers

Marshaling the Power of Her Peers

The Campaign for Educational Equity Issues Five New White Papers

In preparation for the up-and-coming forum, "Achievable and Affordable: Providing Comprehensive Educational Opportunity to Low-Income Students," the Campaign for Educational Equity Releases the five white papers that will be discussed at the Oct. 11th event.

White House Summer-Jobs Plan Supported by TC Economic Study

A study, commissioned and cited by the White House as it announced a summer jobs program for youth, says public spending is about $13,900 per year for each person between ages 16 and 24 who isn't working or in school. So-called "social costs," which are financed with a combination of public and private money, are about $37,450 per year, per person. The study was done by TC Professor Henry Levin; Clive Belfield, an Associate Professor at Queens College, City University of New York; and graduate student Rachel Rosen at TC.

Research Shows Education Investments Pay Off, TC's Henry Levin Tells CNBC

Drawing from his research with Clive Belfield and Rachel Rosen, Levin told CNBC's Market Street Signs that education interventions reap higher graduation rates, employment, and tax revenues over the long term.

Preventing High School Dropouts More Than Pays for Itself

President Obama's proposal to make high school attendance mandatory until age 18 is a step in the right direction, TC's Henry M. Levin and Cecilia E. Rouse at Princeton write in the New York Times, but it wouldn't be enough to meaningfully reduce the dropout rate. Research shows that some of the most promising approaches need to start much earlier -- at preschool age, and they will return two to four times their cost.

What It Takes To Level The Playing Field

What It Takes To Level The Playing Field

International Conference Will Examine Issues of Validity, Educational Assessment, Equity and Accountability

International stakeholders will gather for a conference and institute, from March 28 through March 31, to discuss how standardized tests and other assessments are constructed, what they measure, and whether the results are appropriately used.

Six Researchers With TC Ties Interviewed on "Inside the Academy" Site

Six current or former Teachers College faculty members who are members of the National Academy of Education discuss their careers and a range of educational issues in videotaped interviews that appear on "Inside the Academy," a website hosted by Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

TC's Henry Levin Part of Team on New "Success in Education and Work" Report

Levin, Professor of Economics and Education, collaborated on a National Research Council Report that Calls for "Deeper Learning"

TC's Henry Levin Honored by San Marcos University

Henry Levin, TC's William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, has received an honorary doctorate from San Marcos University in Peru, the oldest university in the Americas.

Taking Student Health to Scale

Last year, when Colorado began offering a new public school program that enables kids to grab breakfast off a lobby cart and chow down during their first-period classes, some teachers and administrators raised concerns.

Henig and Neumann Are Elected Members of the National Academy of Education

Teachers College faculty members Jeffrey Henig and Anna Neumann have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Education for their contributions to educational research and policy development.

How to Determine ROI for Education Reform

Work by TC's Henry Levin and colleagues is helping to create a new science

Determining R.O.I. for Education

TC's Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education (CBCSE), backed by a $500,000 grant from the federal Institute of Education Studies (IES), is making its methods widely available to other researchers.

New grant for Henry Levin and the CBCSE, TC News March 18

What does it cost the society if students fail to graduate? Prof. Henry Levin and his colleague, Clive Belfield, Professor of Economics at Queens College, have been working for years to answer this and other similar questions at TC Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education.

Henry Levin

Professor of Economics & Education

NY Times Op-Ed Cites TC's Levin Study of CUNY Program

Former TC Sachs lecturer David Kirp cites a study co-authored by Henry Levin, William H. Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, which found that an academic and financial support program for one community college student costing $4,000 per year reaps "whopping" $200,000 in taxpayer benefits.

Brooks-Gunn, Ginsburg Elected To National Academy of Education

Both are honored for "pioneering efforts in education research and policy development," the Academy announced.

2013 Year in Review: Research

2013 Year in Review: Research

Attachments

Back to skip to quick links