Morgan Polikoff
- Professor of Education
Research Concentration
- K-12 Education Policy
Education
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Expertise
- K-12 Education Policy 鈥 Curriculum 鈥 Standards-based Reform 鈥 Assessment Policy 鈥 Alignment 鈥 Survey Research 鈥 Quantitative Methods 鈥 COVID and Education

Contact Information
- (630) 430-9416
- polikoff@usc.edu
- WPH 904B
Websites and Social Media
Research Center
Bio
Morgan Polikoff听is a professor of education at 海角论坛. His areas of expertise include K-12 education policy; curriculum, standards, accountability, and assessment policy; survey research methods; and the impact of COVID-19 on American families' educational experiences.
Dr. Polikoff uses quantitative and mixed methods to study the design, implementation, and effects of curriculum, standards, assessment, and accountability policies. In 2021 he published his first book, Beyond Standards: The Fragmentation of Education Governance and the Promise of Curriculum Reform (Harvard Education Press). Recent work has investigated the adoption and use of core and supplemental curriculum materials to align with state standards and the use of surveys to explore voters' education policy preferences. Ongoing work focuses on the influence of curriculum materials on the implementation of standards in the classroom and the impact of COVID-19 on families鈥 educational experiences. He has been Co-Editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and Associate Editor of the American Educational Research Journal and is on the editorial boards for Educational Researcher and AERA Open. He has published over 55 peer-reviewed journal articles and received (as PI or co-PI) more than $16 million in grants from federal and foundation sources. For his research achievements he received the AERA Early Career Award in 2017 and the AERA Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award in 2020. For his work with graduate students and postdocs he also received outstanding mentoring awards from 海角论坛 and USC in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He chaired the faculty at 海角论坛 from 2017 to 2019.
Dr. Polikoff received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Graduate School of Education in 2010 with a focus on Education Policy and his Bachelors in Mathematics (minor in听Secondary Education) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006. He lives in Northeast LA with his husband, Joel, and their cattle dog, Indy.
听
Awards and Grants
- AERA Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award (2020)
- USC Mentoring Award for faculty mentoring graduate students (2019)
- 海角论坛 Faculty Mentoring Award (2018)
- AERA Early Career Award (2017)
- AERA Open听Outstanding Reviewer (2016, 2018, 2019, 2020)
- Association for Teacher Education Outstanding Research Award for article 鈥淔ormal and informal mentoring: Complementary, compensatory, or consistent?鈥 (2015)
- Educational Researcher Outstanding Reviewer (2015)
- Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Outstanding Reviewer (2013, 2014)
Courses Taught
- EDUC 658: Hierarchical Linear Modeling
- EDUC 705: Survey Design and Analysis
- EDUE 727: Research Methods II
- GESM 131g: Educational Access and Opportunity from Cradle to College
Publications
Research
Professor Polikoff's work focuses on the design, implementation, and effects of curriculum, standards, assessment, and accountability policies. He also studies public opinion on education and the impact of COVID on American families' educational experiences.听
Contracts/Grants
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,听鈥淥pinion research on teaching controversial topics,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2023-2024, $200,000.
USC Schaeffer-Peterson Pandemic Policy Research Fund,听鈥淭he long-term effects of COVID-19 and mitigation interventions on children鈥檚 well-being: Implications for education policy and future economic productivity,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2023, $173,125, supplemental $10,000 for 鈥淓ducation survey convening鈥.听
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,听鈥淩esearch Partnership to Instrument OER Math,鈥 Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator Jennifer Hamilton), 2021-2023. $88,000.
Smith Richardson Foundation,听鈥淢iseducated: How bad ideas are undermining education, and what parents can do about it,鈥 Principal Investigator, 2023-2024, $139,872.听
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R01,听鈥淣eighborhood characteristics and neurodevelopment: Risk and protective factors,听and susceptibility to stressors and school disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥 co-Investigator (Principal Investigator Daniel Hackman), 2022-2027, $3,980,895.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,听鈥淯nderstanding America Study 2022: civic education and NSF RAPID3 administration supplement,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2022-2023, $200,000.
National Science Foundation,听鈥淩APID: The Impact of COVID on Children鈥檚 Well-being in 2022: Continued Evidence from the Understanding America Study,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2022-2023, $200,000.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,听鈥淭he educational impact of COVID-19 on children and families,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2021-2022, $55,000.
National Science Foundation, 鈥淩APID: The Impact of COVID on American Education in 2021: Continued Evidence from the Understanding America Study,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2021-2022, $198,148.
National Science Foundation, 鈥淩APID: Exploring COVID and the Effects on U.S. Education: Evidence from a National Survey of American Households,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2020-2021, $199,620.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supplement to 鈥淐OVID-19: US Data Collection for Household Response and Impact Monitoring,鈥 Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2020, $50,000.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 鈥淐haracteristics of Coherent Instructional Systems and Their Relationship to Outcomes for Black, Latino, English Learner-designated, and Low-Income Students,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (co-Principal Investigators Julia Kaufman, V. Darleen Opfer, Elaine Wang), 2018-2022, $2,300,000.
Ballmer Group, 鈥淎chievementNet Evaluation (subcontract from AchievementNet),鈥 Principal Investigator (co-Principal Investigator Adam Kho), 2018-2022, $259,215.
International Baccalaureate, 鈥淪tudent Pathways Through Middle School, High School and Into Postsecondary Education: MYP Student Outcomes in a Large US Public School District,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Anna Saavedra), 2018, $65,000.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 鈥淣ever Judge a Book By Its Cover, Use Student Achievement Instead,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Jon Fullerton), 2016-2018, $762,059.
Institute of Education Sciences, R&D Center on Standards in Schools, 鈥淐enter on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL),鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Andrew C. Porter), 2015-2020, $10,000,000.
WT Grant Foundation, 鈥淐omplex Equations: Algebra Instruction in the Common Core Era,鈥 Principal Investigator (co-Principal Investigator Thurston Domina), 2014-2017, $447,503.
Smith Richardson Foundation, 鈥淐urriculum Adoptions and Effects on Student Achievement in California,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (co-Principal Investigator Cory Koedel), 2014-2016, $159,992.
National Science Foundation, Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research, 鈥淎n Online System for the Collection of Textbook Adoption Data,鈥 Principal Investigator, 2014-2016, $299,942.
Mattel Children鈥檚 Foundation, 鈥淯SC-Mattel Speedometry Phase II District Wide Study and Direct Impact Partnership," co-Principal Investigator (co-Principal Investigators Gale Sinatra & Julie Marsh), 2014-2016, $784,000.
Smith Richardson Foundation, "Making Standards-Based Reform Work: Textbook Alignment and the Common Core," Principal Investigator, 2013-2014, $124,132.
Mattel Children鈥檚 Foundation, "Innovative STEM Curriculum Using Hot Wheels," co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigators Gale Sinatra & Julie Marsh), 2013-2014, $230,000.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R03, 鈥淭eacher Practice and Peer Conduct: Classroom Effects on Outcomes for Special Needs Students,鈥 co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Michael Gottfried), 2012-2014, $161,100.
Certifications
American Educational Research Association Institute on Statistical Analysis for Education Policy: Mathematics Education and Equity (2012)
IES Summer Training Institute on Cluster-Randomized Trials (2010)