William Schmidt

Michigan State University

Director, University Distinguished Professor

William H. Schmidt is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University and director of the Center for the Study of Curriculum Policy. He holds faculty appointments in Statistics and Education. Previously he served as National Research Coordinator and Executive Director of the US National Center which oversaw participation of the United States in the IEA sponsored Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). He has published in numerous journals including the Journal of the American Statistical Association, Education Researcher, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, American Affairs Journal, Journal of Educational Statistics, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Curriculum Studies, and the Journal of Educational Measurement. He has co-authored eleven books including Why Schools Matter, Inequality for All, and Schooling Across the Globe: What We Have Learned From Sixty Years of Mathematics and Science International Assessments. His current research interests focus on the effects of curriculum on academic achievement. He is also concerned with educational policy related to mathematics, science and testing in general. Dr. Schmidt received the 1998 Willard Jacobson Lectureship from The New York Academy of Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Education. In 2019 he was elected as Fellow of the International Academy of Education. Dr. Schmidt was also selected as one of the first to receive the Thomas J. Alexander fellowship for work on PISA 2012. In 2009 he was elected in the first group of Fellows in the American Educational Research Association. He received his A.B. in mathematics from Concordia College in River Forrest, IL and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in psychometrics and applied statistics. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Concordia University in 1997.