crpe@u.washington.edu
Paul T. Hill is the John and Marguerite Corbally Professor at the University of Washington. He is Director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which studies alternative governance and finance systems for public K-12 education.
Dr. Hill's current work on public elementary and secondary education reform focuses on school choice plans, school accountability, and charter schools. He chaired the National Working Commission on Choice in K-12 Education, which issued its report, School Choice: Doing It the Right Way Makes a Difference, in November 2003. He is the editor of Charter Schools Against the Odds: An Assessment of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education (Hoover, October 2006).
Dr. Hill works closely with city and state leaders and has written a series of books designed as resources for mayors and community leaders facing the need to transform their urban public school systems, including: Making School Reform Work: New Partnerships for Real Change (Brookings, 2004); Charter Schools and Accountability in Public Education (Brookings, 2002); It Takes A City: Getting Serious About Urban School Reform (Brookings, 2000); and Fixing Urban Schools (Brookings, 1998).
From 2000-2004, Dr. Hill led a series of studies on school and district leadership, funded by a major grant from the Wallace Foundation. This work suggests how alternative governance systems can transform public education leadership and attract high-ability people into those roles.
Dr. Hill is the lead author (with Lawrence Pierce and James Guthrie) of Reinventing Public Education: How Contracting Can Transform America's Schools (University of Chicago Press, 1997). This book concludes that public schools should be operated by independent organizations under contract with public school boards, rather than by government bureaucracies. His ideas profoundly influenced the Education Commission of the States 1999 national commission report, Governing America's Schools.
Before joining the University of Washington faculty, Dr. Hill worked for 17 years as a Senior Social Scientist in RAND’s Washington office, where he served as Director of Washington Operations (1981-87) and Director of the Education and Human Resources program (1979-80). He conducted studies of site-based management, governance of decentralized school systems, effective high schools, business-led education reforms, and immigrant education. He also contributed to studies of defense research, development, and acquisition policy.
As a government employee (1970-77), Hill directed the National Institute of Education's Compensatory Education Study (a Congressionally mandated assessment of federal aid to elementary and secondary education) and conducted research on housing and education for the Office of Economic Opportunity. He also served two years as a Congressional Fellow and Congressional staff member.
Dr. Hill is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Economic Studies Program. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Ohio State University and a B.A. from Seattle University, all in political science.
Paul's Publications
Portfolio School Districts for Big Cities: An Interim Report Paul Hill, Christine Campbell, David Menefee-Libey, Brianna Dusseault, Michael DeArmond, Betheny Gross
Performance Management in Portfolio School Districts Robin Lake, Paul Hill
Ohio at the crossroads: School funding—more of the same or changing the model? Paul Hill
The Productivity Imperative: Getting More Benefits From School Costs in an Era of Tight Budgets Marguerite Roza, Dan Goldhaber, Paul Hill
Ch. 3: Equal Opportunity: Preparing Urban Youth for College (HFR '08) Paul Hill
Facing the Future: Financing Productive Schools Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza, James Harvey
Financing Schools for Results Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza
Spending Money When It Is Not Clear What Works Paul Hill
The End of School Finance As We Know It Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza
Putting students first: Playing second fiddle to finances, teacher contracts, politics Shelley De Wys, Paul Hill
Mayoral Intervention: Right for Seattle Schools? Ashley Jochim, Paul Hill
The School Finance Redesign Project: A Synthesis of Project Work to Date Paul Hill
Waiting for the ‘Tipping Point’: Why school choice is proving to be so hard Paul Hill
Making Resource Decisions Amidst Technical Uncertainty James Guthrie, Paul Hill
Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2006 Robin Lake, Paul Hill
Educational Accountability in a Regulated Market Jacob E. Adams, Jr, Paul Hill
Charter School Achievement Studies Paul Hill, Lawrence Angel, Jon Christensen
Ch. 3: A One-Day Ceasefire: What Charter School and Teachers Union Leaders Say When They Meet (HFR '06) Lydia Rainey, Andrew J. Rotherham, Paul Hill
Ch. 4: Improving State and Local Assessments of Charter School Performance (HFR '06) Paul Hill, Julian Betts
How Can Anyone Say What’s Adequate If Nobody Knows How Money Is Spent Now? Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza
The Future of Charter Schools and Teachers Unions: Results of a Symposium Paul Hill, Lydia Rainey, Andrew J. Rotherham
Charter Schools Against the Odds: An Assessment of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education Paul Hill
Money, Momentum, and the Gates Foundation: What Will Warren Buffett’s Gift Mean for U.S. Schools? Paul Hill
Getting Hold of District Finances: A Make-or-Break Issue for Mayoral Involvement in Education Paul Hill
Poor Parents Can Be Good Choosers Paul Hill, Paul Teske
Doing School Choice Right: Preliminary Findings Paul Hill, James Harvey
Comparability: What It Does (And Doesn't Do!) for Equity Marguerite Roza, Paul Hill
Put Learning First: A Portfolio Approach to Public Schools Paul Hill
The Future of Public Education in New Orleans Paul Hill, Jane Hannaway
A Foundation Goes to School Paul Hill
Ch. 2: Assessing Achievement in Charter Schools (HFR '05) Paul Hill
Ch. 7: Challenges of a Maturing Reform (HFR '05) Paul Hill, James Harvey
Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2005 Robin Lake, Paul Hill
Re-Creating Public Education in New Orleans Paul Hill
Equalizing Education Dollars Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza
Strengthening Title I To Help High-Poverty Schools: How Title I Funds Fit Into District Allocation Patterns Marguerite Roza, Larry Miller, Paul Hill
Strengthening Title I To Help High-Poverty Schools: How Title I Funds Fit Into District Allocation - Research Brief Larry Miller, Paul Hill, Marguerite Roza
Lessons from Blair's School Reforms Paul Hill
How Within-District Spending Inequities Help Some Schools to Fail Marguerite Roza, Paul Hill
Making School Reform Work: New Partnerships for Real Change Paul Hill, James Harvey, Michael DeArmond, Abigail Schumwinger, Sarah R. Brooks, Marguerite Roza
Pennywise and Pound Foolish In Education Marguerite Roza, Paul Hill
Broadening What's Meant by School Paul Hill
Attracting the Best Teachers Paul Hill
School Choice: Doing It the Right Way Makes a Difference Paul Hill
Baselines for Assessment of Choice Programs Paul Hill, Kacey Guin
Administrative Costs of Education Voucher Programs Paul Hill
The Chasm Remains Paul Hill, Kacey Guin, Mary Beth Celio
School Boards: Focus on School Performance, Not Money and Patronage Paul Hill
Big City School Boards: Problems and Options Paul Hill, Kelly Warner-King, Christine Campbell, Meaghan McElroy, Isabel Munoz-Colon
