Herbert J. Walberg
Distinguished Visiting Fellow
member of the K–12 Education Task Force

Expertise: Psychology, education policy, education productivity

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Herbert J. Walberg, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, is a University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research focuses on educational productivity and human accomplishments.

Walberg was confirmed as a member of the National Board for Education Sciences. He joined with two other Koret Task Force members in an oversight role to the research arm of the Department of Education. Walberg is also chairman of the board of directors of the Heartland Institute, an independent, nonprofit research center headquartered in Chicago. The Heartland Institute provides policy analysis to national and state governments and journalists. Walberg joined the board of directors in 1993 and has served as its chairman since 1995.

Walberg has written or edited more than 60 books, including Radical Education Reforms with Hoover Institution distinguished visiting fellow and Koret Task Force member Chester Finn. He has also written approximately 350 articles on such topics as the causes and effects of learning, teaching and instructional effectiveness, national comparisons of achievement, and educational measurement and evaluation. His articles have appeared in widely circulated journals, including Daedalus, Educational Leadership, Kappan, and Nature and in such newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. His most recent book is Advancing Student Achievement (Hoover Institution Press, 2010).

Walberg was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Statistical Society (London), the American Psychological Association, and the Australian Association for Educational Research. Additionally, he a member of the International Academy of Education.

Walberg held research posts at the Educational Testing Service and the University of Wisconsin and has taught at Harvard University. He has been frequently called to testify before U.S. congressional committees and federal courts on educational matters.

Walberg earned his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Chicago.