Charles Taylor Kerchner

CTK
Charles Taylor Kerchner
Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow,
Claremont Graduate University

Charles Taylor Kerchner is professor emeritus in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University and a senior research fellow. His work focuses on institutional change in public education, including teacher unions, education reform, and unconventional learning environments. He has studied large-scale system transformations, including an analysis of education reform in the Los Angeles Unified School District and other major city school systems. Kerchner has examined the implications of teacher unionization, co-authoring United Mind Workers: Unions and Teaching in the Knowledge Society and advocating for new approaches to labor negotiations in education. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Education, The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and Education Week, where he wrote the On California column. Before joining Claremont, he was a faculty member at Northwestern University and a staff member at the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He was formerly a journalist for the St. Petersburg Times. Kerchner earned his MBA and BS from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his PhD from Northwestern University.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
Continuous school improvement & support
Education finance
Educational governance & policy
Educator workforce & effectiveness
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
LCFF Research Collaborative
Commentary by Charles Taylor Kerchner
: Education Technology Policy for a 21st Century Learning System
: Students are the Real Workers in the Education System: The Elements of Learning 2.0
: The New Culture of Learning
: This Could Be the Start of Something Big—Or Just Another Audition
: Learning 2.0—Part III: Time to Move Education Politics from Regulation to Capacity Building
Charles Taylor Kerchner in the Media
: How Teacher Strikes in Other States Help California Unions Make Their Case
: Local Control Funding Gets High Marks From Educators
: In the Orchard of Education Technology
: The Essence of Learning 2.0
: Look to Experience, Not Policy, to Assess 21st Century Skills
Publications by Charles Taylor Kerchner
Education Technology Policy for a 21st Century Learning System
Internet technology can transform the education system in three ways: individualizing learning, making it smart with adaptive software, and creating an open network for learning production. California can lead the way by adopting policies to…
The Politics of Learning 2.0: From Governance to Capacity Building
The Politics of Learning 2.0
From Governance to Capacity Building
Education reform efforts in Los Angeles and the US have failed due to the focus on governance and rules. The solution is to invest in capacity building, creating incentives and agency for students and teachers, easing adoption through regulatory…
PB10
There's Lots to Learn from L.A.
Policy Levers for Institutional Change
The Los Angeles Unified School District has undergone decades of reform, resulting in an unstable atmosphere rather than institutional stability. A recent book, "Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in Public Education," identifies five policy…
Negotiating What Matters Most: Collective Bargaining and Student Achievement
Negotiating What Matters Most
Collective Bargaining and Student Achievement
This article discusses the evolution of union-management discussions in education over the past two decades, and the emergence of professional unionism. However, in recent years, professional unionism has declined due to management's reluctance to…