Brooks Bowden
Director
Brooks Bowden is the Director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education. She is an Assistant Professor in the Education Policy Division at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Bowden is interested in using rigorous methods to evaluate the effectiveness and costs of programs and policies that are designed to mitigate the effects of poverty on the value of schooling. In particular, this relates to comprehensive student support, early education and child policy, transition from high school to postsecondary and the labor market, and special education or health policy for children with autism.
Prof. Bowden is an expert in program evaluation and economic analysis, focusing on applications and the methodology of the ingredients method to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses. She serves as Associate Editor at the American Journal of Evaluation and is a board member of the AERA journal, Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis. She is a co-author of the primary text on cost-effectiveness, Economic Evaluation in Education: Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis, 3rd Edition. Her work was recently published in: American Journal of Evaluation, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
In 2018, Prof. Bowden was recognized as a top “40 for 40” early career scholar by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. She is an elected member of the board of the Association for Education Finance and Policy. She is the PI of the IES methods training program in cost-effectiveness and Co-PI of the IES predoctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Bowden holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in education policy with a specialization in economics and a MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania in education policy. She also holds a B.A. and M.S. in psychology from Auburn University.
Other Publications, Blogs and News
With Fewer Funds and Greater Needs, Schools Should Consider Cost-Effectiveness. Brown Center Chalkboard, Brookings.
More Education Studies Look at Cost-Effectiveness. Education Week.
Wrap-around cost estimates for wrap-around services. Brown Center Chalkboard, Brookings.