With an MA in History and a PhD in Education (Stanford University), he conducts research on the influence of rhetoric, politics, history, and culture on educational policy. Specifically, his work looks at how and why key stakeholders in K-12 education - parents, teachers, and policymakers - come to think the things they do about schools. His scholarship has addressed phenomena like white flight, school choice, teacher licensure, curricular reform, standardized testing, and teacher evaluation.