Michael A. Gottfried

Gottfried
Michael A. Gottfried
Professor and Chair, Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division, Graduate School of Education,
University of Pennsylvania

Michael A. Gottfried is a professor and chair of the Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division of the Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania. As an applied economist, his research focuses on data-driven decision-making across various educational issues, including student absenteeism, career and technical education, early childhood education, and the education of students with disabilities. He founded the Education Policy Collaborative in 2016 to unite education policy scholars nationwide in influencing scholarship and public policy. His work has been published in journals like American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and American Journal of Education. Gottfried earned his PhD in applied economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education
Educator workforce & effectiveness
Supporting students’ social-emotional, mental & physical health
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
COVID-19 Recovery
Organizing Schools to Serve Students with Disabilities
Commentary by Michael A. Gottfried
: Can Center-based Childcare Reduce the Odds of Early Chronic Absenteeism?
: The Positive Peer Effects of Classroom Diversity: English Language Learner Classmates and Socio-Emotional Skills in Early Elementary School
: Classmates with Disabilities and Students’ Non-Cognitive Outcomes
: Retained Students and Classmates’ Absences in Urban Schools
Michael A. Gottfried in the Media
: In a California District, Latinx Students with Latinx Teachers Attend More School
: How Schools Can Help Children Recover from COVID Closures
: Michael Gottfried to Give Talk at UC Center Sacramento About Teacher Readiness for Educating Students with Learning Disabilities
: One Way to Improve Kindergarten Attendance: Take the School Bus
: Michael Gottfried to Present Findings on Preventing Truancy Through Policy
Publications by Michael A. Gottfried
Report Gottfried Feb 2020
Preparing Teachers to Educate Students with Learning Disabilities
The effectiveness of general education teachers in supporting students with learning disabilities is a concern, and there is little understanding of what components of teacher preparation programs relate to teachers’ perceptions of readiness. Two…
Approaches to Reducing Chronic Absenteeism
California has added student attendance to its accountability system to emphasize its importance, but chronic absenteeism's causes are not well-understood. Schools face the expectation to address absenteeism, but myths about attendance persist. The…
Addressing Absenteeism
Lessons for Policy and Practice
This "policy memo" highlights the importance of addressing student absenteeism, now incorporated as an accountability metric under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The first book on the issue of school absenteeism summarizes what we know about…