KARA S. FINNIGAN, Ph.D., has studied educational policies and programs at the local, state, and federal level for more than 30 years. She has written extensively about high-stakes accountability and school choice and focuses on issues of racial justice and equity in policy design, implementation, and outcomes. Finnigan's research blends perspectives in education, sociology, and political science and employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, including social network analysis and GIS mapping.
She is currently studying connections between education and housing policies; social movements around integration in metropolitan areas; and the social networks of educational leaders around research evidence. She teaches courses on education policy, sociology of education, politics of education, and research methods (including mixed methods, advanced qualitative methods, and social network analysis). She joined the Educational Studies faculty in 2022 and served a 2-year term as Senior Vice President of the Spencer Foundation from 2022-2024. Previously she was a professor at the University of Rochester for 19 years where she also served as a Distinguished Equity, Inclusion, and Social Transformation Fellow with the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Inclusive Climate Leadership Fellow with the Provost’s Office, Chair of the Research Policy Committee of the Faculty Senate, and Director of the Education Policy Programs (both M.A. and Ph.D.). She also worked at SRI International, RPP International, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation. She began her work in K-12 education as a substitute teacher in Anchorage, Alaska. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2003), M.A. from Stanford University (1994), and B.A. from Dartmouth College (1990).