Luis A Huerta
Associate Professor of Education and Associate Professor of Education & Public Policy
212-678-4199
Office Location: 212B Zankel
Expertise
- Charter Schools
- Education Financing/School Vouchers
- Education Policy
- Educational Equity
- Privatization and Education
- School Finance
Luis A Huerta
Professional Background
Educational Background
* Ph.D. in Division of Policy, Organizations, Measurement, and Evaluation, University of California, Berkeley
Scholarly Interests
- education policy
- decentralization in education
- school choice (charter schools, vouchers, home schooling, tuition tax credits)
- privatization in education
- school finance
Selected Publications
Articles
Huerta, L. A., Fuller, B., Parker, L. & d’Entremont, C. (2011). Charter schools in New York’s Black communities: Managing resources in local organizational fields. In D. Slaughter-Defoe, H. Stevenson, E. Arrington and D. Johnson (Eds.) Black Educational Choice: Assessing the Private and Public Alternatives to Traditional K-12 Public Schools. (pp. 173-190), Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers.
Huerta, L.A. & d'Entremont, C. (2010). Charter School Finance: Seeking Institutional Legitimacy In a Marketplace of Resources. In C. Lubienski & P. Weitzel (Eds.) The Charter School Experiment: Expectations, Evidence & Implications (pp. 121-146), Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Huerta, L.A. (2010). Series of Reports on The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships, in K. Welner, P.H., Hinchey, A. Molnar & D. Weitzman (Ed.), Think Tank Research Quality: Lessons for Policy Makers, the Media, and the Public (pp. 127-140), Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishing.
Huerta, L. A., d'Entremont, C. & Gonzlez, M. F. (2009). Perspective on cyber and homeschool charters. In M. Berends, M. Springer, D. Ballou and H. Walberg (Eds.), Handbook of Research on School Choice (pp.533-550),National Center on School Choice, Vanderbilt University and Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (2009).
Huerta, L. A. & Hatch, T. (2009). School reform.In R. A. Shweder (Ed.) The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion (pgs. 863-865), Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Opinion/Editorials
Huerta, L. A. (2011, January 4).Uniting fiscal and social conservatism. In Room for Debate: A Running Commentary on the News, Do Home Schoolers Deserve a Tax Break?, Opinion–Editorial, The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/04/do-home-schoolers-deserve-a-tax-break
Henig, J. & Huerta, L. A. (2010, March 14). The economic vise. In Room for Debate: A Running Commentary on the News, The Push-Back on Charter Schools, Opinion–Editorial, The New York Times. http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/the-push-back-on-charter-schools/
Huerta, L. A. & Fuller, B. (2008, July 7). Scorekeeper for schools. New York Sun, Opinion-Editorial, p.B8.
ORLA 4048: Education policy analysis and implementation
Explores the issues of policy (or reform) implementation in schools and districts by focusing on the political reactions and organizational buffers to policy change and the ways that policies become adapted and changed to fit locally defined problems. Distinctions between implementation issues in bottom-up and top-down policy change are explored.
ORLA 5012: The social context of education reform: Public engagement and community development
Political analysis of administration at the service delivery and community levels.
ORLA 5515: Master's seminar in leadership, policy, and politics
This seminar is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate a theoretical and analytical understanding of the practical problems inherent in conducting policy research for education clients. Policy analysis requires its practitioners to evaluate available information, to weigh the possible impacts of alternative policies; to understand political, legal, and/or economic ramifications; and to produce plans for action that are organizationally feasible and publicly valuable.
Centers and Projects
Website: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/coce/
The Center on Chinese Education, Teachers College Columbia University (CoCE) is aimed at contributing to a better understanding of education in China and to educational exchange between the United States and China. It seeks to achieve this mission through three categories of activities: research and development, education and training, as well as outreach and exchange. These activities will draw upon the historically special relationship between Chinese education and Teachers College, the interests and expertise of the faculty at Teachers College, as well as expertise and resources outside of Teachers College. Major funding for the Center's activities is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Contact: Mun C. Tsang
E-mail: mct27@columbia.edu
Website: http://hechinger.tc.columbia.edu/
The Hechinger Institute exists to equip journalists with the knowledge and skills they need to produce fair, accurate and insightful reporting. Since its launch in 1996, the institute has sponsored more than 63 seminars for journalists who write, editorialize or edit coverage of education.
More than 1,800 journalists have attended Hechinger Institute seminars, which feature top education experts, including faculty from Teachers College. Held at Teachers College and throughout the
The institute is supported by a variety of private philanthropies, including the John S. and James Knight Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Joyce Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, Harold W. McGraw Jr., chairman emeritus of the McGraw-Hill Companies, the Cotsen Family Foundation, the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is named in memory of Fred M. Hechinger, a former education editor of the New York Times and a trustee of Teachers College.
Website: http://www.ncspe.org
The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education (NCSPE) serves as a non-partisan venue to analyze and disseminate information about the contentious private initiatives in education that include vouchers, charter schools and educational contracting. Proponents of privatization view the movement as improving school choice, student outcomes and innovation through competition in the marketplace. They point to the poor performance of urban schools and how competition converts failure into success. Opponents argue that the movement undermines already flagging urban public schools, depriving the system of motivated students and scarce resources to bring about reform and runs counter to the establishment clause embodied in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Currently there is no disinterested authority to test and verify the conflicting claims of proponents and opponents, leaving the debate to those who argue on ideological grounds rather than empirical data. In evaluating different privatization plans, the center uses four criteria: the freedom for parents to choose schools that mirror their values and religious beliefs; productive efficiency that maximizes school results; equity that provides access for all to the range of educational opportunities, and social cohesion that prepares youngsters for democratic and civic participation.
The Privatization Center is affiliated with the Department of International and Transcultural Studies. Its Director is Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education. The Center disseminates its research, policy analysis through conferences, the World Wide Web, publications and the media. It also has entered a partnership with the education commission of the states to provide information to governors, state legislatures and state departments of education.
Contact: Henry Levin
E-mail: levin@exchange.tc.columbia.edu
