BU Wheelock’s Chard and Goodman among Top Educational Policy Influencers
David J. Chard, dean of BU Wheelock, and Joshua Goodman
BU Wheelock’s Chard and Goodman among Top Educational Policy Influencers
BU Wheelock Dean David Chard and Joshua Goodman, an associate professor of education and economics, were recently included among the top 200 university-based scholars in the United States whose work has influenced educational policy and practice.
Rick Hess Straight Up (RHSU), an Education Week blog, releases the Edu-Scholar Public Influence rankings every January. Hess, the director of educational policy at the American Enterprise Institute, is a “formidable scholar in the field,” Chard says.
Using metrics ranging from Google Scholar citations to social media followers, Hess and his 28-person selection committee determine which scholars make the grade. Chard was named 118th on the list; Goodman 162nd. Although this is Chard’s first time on the RHSU list, Goodman was 177th in the 2022 rankings.
Research becomes practice
For Chard and Goodman, public lists like the RHSU rankings matter because they draw attention to the influence scholars can have outside the world of academia. “It’s not about the research itself, but how it gets translated to teachers, parents, school psychologists, and other professionals who use research and scholarship to transform their practice,” says Chard. “How do we get evidence to them?”
“It’s an honor to be on the list because it suggests that my work is having an influence on other academics,” adds Goodman. “I’m getting my work into the policy sphere and beyond universities.”
Chard emphasizes, however, that the RHSU rankings cannot capture the totality of a scholar’s influence: “I think there are many other people on our faculty who are as influential, if not more influential, than I am, and they also deserve to be recognized,” he says.