Douglas N. Harris

Douglas N. Harris is professor and chair of the Department of Economics and the Schlieder Foundation Chair in Public Education at Tulane University. He is founding director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans and director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH). Harris previously held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on K–12 and higher education policy, with work published in the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Economics of Education Review, and Science. He is the author of Charter School City: What the End of Traditional Public Schools in New Orleans Means for American Education and Value-Added Measures in Education, which was nominated for the national Grawemeyer Prize in Education. He has advised governors in six states, testified before the U.S. Senate, and provided policy guidance to the U.S. Department of Education and the Obama White House. His research has been cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, and NPR. Harris earned his PhD in economics from Michigan State University.

updated 2025