David Stern

David Stern is a professor emeritus of education in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, where he joined the faculty in 1976. His research has focused on the relationship between education and work, as well as resource allocation in schools. Stern's interests include strengthening career academies, improving access to higher education, developing social enterprises for learning, and expanding educational options for teenagers. He served as principal investigator for the Career Academy Support Network (CASN), providing support and resources to career academies nationwide. He was director of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education and principal administrator in the Center for Educational Research and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Stern has published extensively, authoring or co-authoring numerous papers and reports, as well as nine books, including School to Work: Research on Programs in the United States and International Perspectives on the School-to-Work Transition. He earned his PhD in economics and urban studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
updated 2025