Expert Profile
Richard Arum

Professor of Education and Sociology
Richard Arum's research is focused on education, social stratification and formal organizations.
Areas of Expertise
- Social Stratification
- Legal and Institutional Environments of Schools
- Digital Education
Biography
Richard Arum's research is focused on education, social stratification and formal organizations. In this vein, he has studied stratification patterns across tertiary systems, the transition between college and the labor market, and the quality of American higher education institutions. Also, as Director of the Education Research Program at the Social Science Research Council, Arum participated in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) longitudinal study, which identified variation in the development of generic higher order skills of a recent cohort of American college students. Arum has also conducted extensive research on K-12 education. Specifically, he has analyzed student achievement gaps by race and class, school segregation and stratification, the effects of legal and institutional environments, and the evolution of discipline in American schools. Currently, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, Arum is studying the relationships between neighborhood disadvantage, digital media and educational outcomes. His research on educational interventions is designed to identify policies and practices that could mitigate the relationship between social background, disadvantaged neighborhood context and educational outcomes.
Media






Media Appearances
Opinion: Selective Admissions on Trial
Inside Higher Ed, 7/31/2023
Opinion: For Most College Students, Affirmative Action Was Never Enough
The New York Times, 7/3/2023
Teaching in an Age of ‘Militant Apathy’
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/15/2023
How Higher Ed Can Help Remedy K-12 Learning Losses
Inside Higher Ed, 10/26/2022
Startups & Innovations – Launch
Orange County Business Journal, 4/12/2021
Global
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/24/2021
Good Grades, Stressed Students
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/17/2021
These colleges went to remote learning but hiked tuition anyway
CNBC, 1/22/2021
Why Pay $200,000 For A Piece Of Paper?
Forbes, 6/1/2020
Articles
A Framework for Measuring Undergraduate Learning and Growth
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning
Can schools fairly select their students?
Theory and Research in Education
Student Experiences in College
Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century
Navigating College
Educational Leadership
The More You Talk, the Worse It Is: Student Perceptions of Law and Authority in Schools
Social Currents
In-services and empty threats: The roles of organizational practices and workplace experiences in shaping U.S. educators’ understandings of students’ rights
Social Science Research
Education
University of California, Berkeley
PhD, Sociology, 1996
Harvard Graduate School of Education
MEd, Teaching and Curriculum, 1988
Tufts University
BA, Political Science, 1985
Accomplishments
- Golden Dozens Teaching Award
Affiliations
- Samueli Academy Charter School : Board Member
- Value of Liberal Arts Education Research Forum, Mellon Foundation : Advisory Board
- Sociological Research Association : Member