Angela R. Watson is a senior research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and an assistant research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. Her research examines the impact of schooling and learning, with an emphasis on homeschool and informal learning options, on academic and social emotional outcomes.
Dr. Watson has publications in several scholarly journals, including Education Researcher, Politics and Policy, and the Journal of School Choice. Her co-authored article on homeschooling for Ed Next was the publication’s top five most read blog in 2020. Her research has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe and she has written book chapters on Promise programs, homeschooling, and learning pods. Dr. Watson serves as a peer-reviewer for multiple academic journals and conferences, and served as a grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts.
She earned a Ph.D. in education policy from the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas where her dissertation examined the impact of multiple arts-related field trips on students’ academic, cultural, and social-emotional outcomes. She also holds an MAT and a B.A. in elementary education and a graduate certificate in STEM education.
EDUCATION
2019 Ph.D., Education Policy, University of Arkansas
2019 Graduate Certificate, STEM Education in Early Childhood, University of Arkansas
2019 M.A.T, Mid-Level Education, Harding University
2014 B.S.E., Elementary Education, University of Arkansas, Highest Distinction
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Assistant Research Professor, Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, July 2021 to present
Senior Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, May 2019 to June 2021
Contract Researcher, Theatre Forward, New York, 2017 to present
Quill Interactive Curriculum, 2019 to present
Arkansas Certified Teacher, Mid-Level Science, History, and ELA, 2019 to present
National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab, Co-researcher, spring 2017 to present
Academic Advisory Committee, Fayetteville School District, appointed fall 2018 to 2020
Assistant to the Editor, Journal of School Choice, appointed fall 2018 to spring 2019
University of Arkansas Teaching Experience
Instructor, STEM 5203 Problem Based Mathematics, spring 2020
Instructor, EDST 3113 Legal and Historical Developments in Education, fall 2018
Co-Instructor, STEM 5023 Creativity and Innovation, spring 2018
University of Arkansas, Department of Education Reform
Senior Graduate Assistant to Dr. Jay P. Greene, spring 2016 to spring 2019
Research Assistant to Dr. Robert Maranto, fall 2015 to spring 2016
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Wolf, P., Lee, M., & Watson, A. (2020). Harvard Law professor’s attack on homeschooling is flawed. And terribly timed, too. Education Next blog. May 5, 2020. Available at https://www.educationnext.org/harvard-law-professors-attack-on-homeschooling-flawed- failure-terribly-timed/ (Top 5 Ed Next Blog of 2020)
Swanson, E., Watson, A., & Ritter, G. (2020). Promises Fulfilled? A systematic review of the impacts of Promise Programs. Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs Edited Volume, Laura Perna, editor. Table of Contents available at: https://www.aera.net/Portals/38/8607-B%20aera_BookFlyer2_PERNA_PRINT.pdf
Beck, D., Watson, A., & Maranto, R. (2019). Do testing conditions explain cyber charter schools failing grades? American Journal of Distance Education, 33 (1), p46-58. Available at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1204478
Watson, A. (2018). Is homeschool cool? Current trends in American homeschooling. Journal of School Choice. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2018.1490378
Greene, J., Erickson, H., Watson, A., & Beck, M. (2018). The play’s the thing: Experimentally examining the social and cognitive effects of school field trips to live theater performances. Education Researcher. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2604854
Maranto, R., Trivitt, J., Nichols, M., & Watson, A. (2017). “No Contractual Obligation to Improve Education: School Boards and Their Superintendents,” Politics and Policy Vol. 45, No. 6 (August). Available
at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12216/pdf
OTHER PUBLICATIONS & INVITED COMMENTARY
International School Choice and Reform Conference. January, 2021. Invited keynote moderator on Hybrid Homeschooling and panel discussant on Homeschool Research. Program available at http://iscrweb.org/2021-iscrc/2021-agenda/
Global Home Education Exchange Conference. Responding to the New Homeschool Challenge.
November, 2020. Invited Speaker. Available at https://ghex-virtual- summit.heysummit.com/talks/responding-to-the-new-homeschool-challenge/
Columbia Medical School, ASPIRE! Managing it all: Research, clinical, and life priorities during COVID: A peer mentoring series. October 2020. Invited presentation. Available at https://www.aspirepeermentoring.com/events
Lee, M., Watson, A., & Wolf, P. (2020). Homeschooling: Innocent until proven guilty. Redefine ED. Available at https://www.redefinedonline.org/2020/05/homeschooling-innocent- until-proven-guilty/
Watson, A. (2020). Parent-Created “Schools” in the US. Journal of School Choice. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15582159.2020.1836801
Bjorklund-Young, A., & Watson, A. (2020). Suddenly homeschooling? A parent’s survival guide to schooling during COVID-19. Available at https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/62952/COVID19Homeschool ingResource.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Watson, A. (2020). How the other half learns: Equality, excellence, and the battle over school choice. Book review. Journal of School Choice. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2020.1756716
Providence Public School District: A Review, June 2019. Available at https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/62961/ppsd-revised- final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Watson, A. (2019). Homeschooling: The history and philosophy of a controversial practice.
Book review. Journal of School Choice. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2019.1691853?journalCode=wj sc20
Watson, A. (2018). Greene grows the arts research in Arkansas. Incite/Insight, American Alliance for Theatre and Education, (3) p.32-35. Available at https://view.joomag.com/2018-fall-incite-insight-incite-insight-2018-summer- 4/0995738001536762042
Watson, A., Maranto, R., & Bell, D. (2018). The fall and rise of home education.
Homeschooling in the 21st Century. Book chapter, Routledge, New York, NY, 2018.
Watson, A. (2018). Arts Afield. National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab, University of Arkansas. Blog post available at: https://nea-research-lab.uark.edu/arts-afield-feeling-a- little-exposed/ https://nea-research-lab.uark.edu/arts-afield-cut-it-out/ https://nea- research-lab.uark.edu/arts-afield-the-changing-of-the-guard/
Trivitt, J., Nichols, M., Watson, A., & Maranto, R. (2016). School superintendents have no contractual obligation to improve learning. Brookings, Brown Center Chalkboard. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center- chalkboard/2016/05/04/school-superintendents-have-no-contractual-obligation-to- improve-learning/
Advanced Placement in Arkansas: Increasing Equity (2016). Office for Education Policy, 13 (2). (Contributed as Lead Author) Available at: http://www.officeforeducationpolicy.org/advanced-placement-in-arkansas-increasing- equity/
SELECT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Watson, A. (2020). State of the Art: Declining Trends in Art Museum Field Trip Attendance. Accepted at American Education Researcher Association Conference, San Francisco, CA, May 2020.
Greene, J., Erickson, H., Watson, A., Beck, M. (2018). Multi-visit field trip study year two results. Paper presented at Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Conference, Washington, D.C., November 2018.
Greene, J., Erickson, H., Watson, A., Beck, M. (2017). The play’s the thing: Experimentally examining the social and cognitive effects of school field trips to live theater performances. Paper presented at the American Education Researcher Association Conference, New York City, NY, May 2018.
Watson, A. (2018). Where all the girls at? School superintendent gender gap. Poster presented at the Association for Education Finance and Policy Conference, Portland, OR, March 2018.
Watson, A. Beck, M.I. (2018). College-Going in the Promise Land. Poster presented at the Association for Education Finance and Policy Conference, Portland, OR, March 2018.
Watson, A., Beck, M., Sude, Y., Ritter, G. (2017). A promising culture: College going culture and the El Dorado Promise. Poster presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Conference, Chicago, IL, November 2017.
Swanson, E., Watson, A., Ritter, G., Nichols, M. (2017). Promises fulfilled? A systematic review of the impacts of Promise Programs. Paper presented at Improving research-based knowledge of college Promise Programs Conference, Penn AHEAD, Philadelphia, PA, October 2017.
Watson, A., Maranto, R., Beck, D. (2017). Do testing conditions explain cyber charter schools failing grades? Paper presented at the American Education Research Association Conference, San Antonio, TX, May 2017.
Watson, A. (2017). Differences in male and female students’ STEM identity and course uptake.
Paper presented at the Association for Education Finance and Policy Conference, Washington D.C., March 2017.
Insights into gender disparities in achievement, attitudes towards STEM fields and ultimate STEM pursuit (2017). Panel discussant and presenter at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Conference, Washington D.C., November 2016.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF RESEARCH
The Importance of High Quality Curriculum in the Age of COVID, 2020. Available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/importance-high-quality-curriculum-in-age- covid/id403710198?i=1000501089425
Another Benefit to Going to Museums? You May Live Longer. The New York Times, December 22, 2019. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/us/arts-health-effects-ucl- study.html
Why Rhode Island’s Governor is taking Over Providence’s Public Schools. The Atlantic, October, 29, 2019. Available at https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/10/rhode- island-governor-explains-providence-school-takeover/601003/
Education Hell Revisited. The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2019. Available at https://www.wsj.com/articles/education-hell-revisited-11567033423
Alumni Aid Johns Hopkins Research Into Systemic Dysfunctions in Rhode Island School System. UARK Newswire, July 3, 2019. Available at https://news.uark.edu/articles/48468/alumni-aid- johns-hopkins-research-into-systemic-dysfunctions-in-rhode-island-school-system
Blistering Report Details Abject Dysfunction and Dangerous Schools in Providence, RI. The Washington Post, June 26, 2019. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/26/blistering-report-details-abject- dysfunction-dangerous-schools-providence-ri/
The Condition of Providence’s Schools had a review team in Tears. The Boston Globe, June 25, 2019. Available at https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/06/25/team-hardened- school-reviewers-had-never-shed-tear-then-they-saw-providence- schools/u3lZeLaZqQXEjX32YjeCWN/story.html
An Education Horror Show. The Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2019. Accessed at https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-education-horror-show-11562532467
U of A Grad Tells Boozman about STEM Initiative, University of Arkansas Newswire (June 23, 2014). Available at http://newswire.uark.edu/articles/24520/u-of-a-grad-tells-boozman-about- stem-initiative
SURVEY DESIGN & FIELD RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Israel Field Research Seminar, education policy, school visits, and observation in multiple sites throughout Israel, 2018
Theater Study consultant, Theatre Forward, New York, NY, 2017 to present, survey design and data analysis, program report to stakeholders.
Barriers in Postsecondary Decision-Making Study, fall 2017, survey administration Crystal Bridges Field Trip Study, fall 2017 to 2019, survey design and data collection Arkansas Teacher Corps Program Evaluation, fall 2016 to 2017, survey administration
Woodruff Multi-Visit Study, August 2016 to 2020, all aspects of survey design, site visits, interviews, data collection and analysis
College Going Culture Project, 2016-18. Project lead. Designed and implemented survey of 3000 Arkansas students
SERVICE
ACE, University of Notre Dame, Reform Leaders’ Summit, cohort 12 participant, 2020-21 National Endowment for the Arts, grants panelist, 2020
American Education Researcher Association, submissions reviewer, 2020 International School Choice & Reform Conference reviewer, 2020 Journal of School Choice, peer reviewer, 2018-2021
Journal of Public Budgeting and Finance, peer reviewer, 2020