KevinÌýWelner

  • Professor Emeritus
  • Research Professor
  • NEPC Director
  • EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS, POLICY & PRACTICE
  • NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY CENTER
Kevin Welner Photo 2026
Address

Miramontes Baca Education Building, Room 506
°µÍø½ûÇø
249 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0249

Kevin G. Welner is a professor emeritus and research professor at the °µÍø½ûÇø, School of Education, specializing in educational policy and law.

Welner’s researchÌýexplores various policy issues, including those at the intersection between education rights litigation and educational opportunity scholarship.

Dr. Welner no longer teaches courses at the School of Education or takes on new advisees. His publications include Ìý(2001, SUNY Press); Ìý(2008, Rowman & Littlefield); Ìý(2013, Oxford Univ. Press, with Prudence Carter); and Ìý(2021, Teachers College Press, with Wagma Mommandi.

Welner is an elected member of the National Academy of Education (NAEd), and he serves on the NAEd Board of Directors. He has received the Early Career Award (in 2006) and Palmer O. Johnson Award (best article in 2004) from the American Educational Research Association (AERA)Ìýand was elected a Fellow of AERA. He has also received the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency and the Post-Doctoral Fellowship awarded by the NAEd and the Spencer Foundation. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Education Law Center.

For prospective PhD students: Please know that as of 2024 I am not bringing in new advisees.

Education

PhD Educational Policy, University of California, Los Angeles, 1997
JD University of California, Los Angeles, 1988
BA Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1985

I direct the National Education Policy Center, housed at the CU-Boulder School of Education. My research Ìýexplores various policy issues, including those at the intersection between education rights litigation and educational opportunity scholarship.

Dr. Welner no longer teaches courses at the School of Education or takes on new advisees.

Professor Welner is the Director of the (NEPC) at the School of Education. HeÌý chairs the Board of Trustees of the Education Law Center, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Education.ÌýÌý

For a complete list of publications, please see the faculty member's curriculum vitae. Hyperlinks to many pre-2014 are provided below.

Articles

Welner, K. G. (April 2014). . Phi Delta Kappan, 95(7), 39-40.

Welner, K. G., & Miron, G. (2014). . Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2013). . Teachers College Record, 115(9), pp. 1-6.

Welner, K. G. (April 2013). . Teachers College Record.

Welner, K. G. & Burris, C. C. (2013, June 29). . Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Welner, K. G. & Burris, C. C. (2013, June 7). Albany Times Union.

Welner, K. G. (2013, April 1). . USA Today.

Welner, K. G. (2013). . Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2012). . American Educational Research Journal, 49(1), 41-63.

Baker, B. D. & Welner, K. G. (2012). . Educational Researcher, 41(3), pp. 98-101.

Lubienski, C., Scott, J. T., Rogers, J., & Welner, K. G. (2012). . Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.

Camilli, G. & Welner, K. G. (2011). Journal of College and University Law, 37(3), 491-526.

Baker, B.D., & Welner, K.G. (November 2011). School Finance and Courts: Does Reform Matter, and How Can We Tell?Teachers College Record. 113(11), pp. 2374-2414.

Welner, K.G. (Spring 2011). Free-Market Think Tanks and the Marketing of Education Policy. , (2), pp. 39-43. Penn Press.

Welner, K.G. (December 2009). Teachers College Record.

Welner, K. G. (June 2009). . School Administrator, 66(6), p. 6.

Welner, K. G. & Molnar, A. (February 20, 2008). . Education Week, 27(24), pp. 28-29.

Welner, K. G. (2008). Under the voucher radar. Education Week, 28(2), 27-32.

Burris, C. C., Wiley, E. W., Welner, K. G. & Murphy, J. (March 2008). Accountability, Rigor, and Detracking: Achievement Effects of Embracing a Challenging Curriculum as a Universal Good for All Students. Teachers College Record. 110(3), pp. 571-608.

Chi, W. C., & Welner, K. G. (2008). Charter ranking roulette: An anlaysis of reports that grade states' charter school laws.American Journal of Education, 114(2), 273-298.

Welner, K. G. (2007). . The School Administrator 64(11), 6.

Welner, K. G., & Oakes, J. (2007). Structuring curriculum. In F. Michael Connelly (Ed.), The Sage handbook of curriculum and instruction (pp. 91-112). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Welner, K. G. (2007, January 14). The Denver Post.

Silverstein, J., Yettick, H., Foster, S., Welner, K. G., & Shepard, L. (2007). Dropout policies: Research-based strategies. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2007). The School Administrator, 64(6), p. 6.

Linn, R. L., & Welner, K. G. (2007). Race-conscious policies for assigning students to schools: Social science research and the Supreme Court cases.Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.

Welner, K. G., & Molnar, A. (2007). Truthiness in education.Education Week, 26(25), 32-44.

Welner, K. G., & Martinez, K. (2007). The use of assessment for curricular differentiation. In K. Borman, S. Cahill, & B. Cotner (Eds.), The Praeger handbook of American high schools, V. 1 (pp. 36-41). New York:

Burris, C. C., Welner, K. G., Wiley, E. W., & Murphy, J. (2007). A world-class curriculum for all.Educational Leadership, 64(7), 53-56.

Welner, K. G., & Burris, C. C. (2006). Alternative approaches to the politics of detracking. Theory Into Practice, 45(1), 90-99. Journal homepage:.

Welner, K. G. (2006). K-12 race-conscious student assignment policies: Law, social science, and diversity. Review of Educational Research, 76(3), 349-382.

Welner, K. G. (2005). Can irrational become unconstitutional? NCLB's 100% presuppositions. Equity & Excellence in Education,38, 171-179.

Burris, C. C., & Welner, K. G. (2005). Closing the achievement gap by detracking.Phi Delta Kappan, 86(8), 594-598.

Welner, K. G., & Weitzman, D. Q. (2005). The soft bigotry of low expenditures. Equity & Excellence in Education, 38, 242-248.

Bartels, B., & Welner, K. G. (2004). Colorado charter school authorization and funding reform: An analysis of HB 04-1141. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2004). Colorado's voucher law: Examining the claim of fiscal neutrality.Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(31).

Ready, D., Lee, V,. & Welner, K. G. (2004). Educational equity and school structure: School size, overcrowding, and schools-within-schools. Teachers College Record, 106(10), 1989-2014.

Welner, K. G. (2004). The overrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education. Published by the National Center for Culturally Responsive Education Systems.

Welner, K. G., & Kupermintz, H. (2004). Rethinking expert testimony in education rights litigation.Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, 26(2), 127-142.

Howe, K. R., & Welner, K. G. (2003). An analysis of Colorado's school voucher proposals. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). An examination of Colorado's tuition tax credit proposal. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). Education tax credits: No net benefit to Arizona's impoverished students. Tempe, AZ: EPRU Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2003). Locking up the marketplace of ideas and locking out school reform: Courts' imprudent treatment of controversial teaching in America's public schools. UCLA Law Review, 50(4), 959-1030.

Welner, K. G. (2002). Ability tracking: What role for the courts?Education Law Reporter, 163(2), 565-571.

Howe, K.R., & Welner, K. G. (2002). School choice and the pressure to perform: Deja vu for children with disabilities?Remedial and Special Education, 23(4), 212-221.

Welner, K. G. (2002). Peer analysis of proposal to expand educational scholarships. Tempe, AZ: EPRU Policy Center.

Welner, K. G., & Escamilla, K. (2002). The unintended consequences of Colorado's anti-bilingual education initiative. Boulder, CO: EPIC Policy Center.

Welner, K. G. (2001). Education Policy Analysis Archives, 9(24).

Losen, D., & Welner, K. G. (2001). Disabling discrimination in our public schools: Comprehensive legal challenges to services for minority children. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 36(2), 407-460.

Welner, K. G. (2001). Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8(36).

Welner, K. G. (2001). Tracking in an era of standards: Low-expectation classes meet high-expectation laws. Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, 28(3), 699-738.

Welner, K. G., & Mickelson, R. (2000). School reform, politics, and tracking: Should we pursue virtue?Educational Researcher, 29(4), 22-26.

Welner, K. M., & Welner, K. G. (1999). Education Policy Analysis Archives, 7(13).

Welner, K. M., & Oakes, J. (1996). Harvard Educational Review, 66(3), 451-470.

Book Chapters

Welner, K. G. & Oakes, J. (2005). Mandates still matter: Examining a key policy tool for promoting successful equity-minded reform. In A. S. Wells & J. Petrovich (Eds.), Bringing equity back: Research for a new era in American educational policy (pp. 77-102). New York: Teachers College Press.

Books

Carter, P. L. & Welner, K. G. (Eds) (2013). . New York: Oxford University Press.

Miron, G., Welner, K. G., Hinchey, P., & Mathis, W. (Eds.) (2012). . Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G., Hinchey, P., Molnar, A., & Weitzman, D. (Eds.) (2010). . Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Mathis, W. J. & Welner, K. G. (Eds.) (2010). . Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G., & Chi, W. C. (Eds.) (2008). Education Policy and Law: Current Issues. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, K. G. (2008). . New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Welner, K. G., & Chi, W. C. (Eds.) (2008). . Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Welner, S. K., & Welner, K. G. (2005). New York: Hamilton Press.

Welner, K. G. (2001). New York: SUNY Press.

Welner, K. G., & Oakes, J. (2000). Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight Publications.