Matthew Kraft is an Associate Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University. His research and teaching interests include the economics of education, education policy analysis, and applied quantitative methods for causal inference.  His primary work focuses on efforts to improve educator and organizational effectiveness in K–12 urban public schools.  He has published on topics including teacher coaching, teacher professional growth, teacher evaluation, teacher-parent communication, teacher layoffs, social and emotional skills, school working conditions, and extended learning time.  His research has been featured in The Economist, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Education Week, The 74 Million, public radio, and several blog sites.

He is the recipient of the Brown University Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  In 2015, he was named a William T. Grant Scholar for his 5-year research project, Teacher Effects on Students’ Non-Cognitive Competencies: A Study of Impacts, Instruction, and Improvement.  The American Educational Research Association (AERA) selected his article with coauthor John Papay on the relationship between professional school environments and teacher development for the 2014 Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award.  This award recognizes the most outstanding publication appearing in the AERA journals each year.  Kraft received a National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship in 2012 in support of this research.  Previously, he taught 8th grade English in Oakland USD and 9th grade humanities at Berkeley High School in California.  He holds a doctorate in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education as well as a master's in International Comparative Education and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.

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