Taylor Named Associate Professor

Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Bridget Long has announced that Eric Taylor has been promoted to the rank of associate professor. A researcher focused on labor and employment relationships in education, Taylor received the 2020 Early Career Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy. He joined the HGSE faculty in 2015.

“This promotion is a reflection of the tremendous impact that Eric has had in our community and in the field," said Long. "As an accomplished scholar, his work promotes a deeper understanding of multiple stages of teachers’ careers, from how they are recruited and hired to on-the-job skill development and the evaluation of their performance. His students have applauded him as a dedicated educator and a caring and thoughtful mentor. It is a pleasure to recognize his contributions with this well-deserved promotion.”

Taylor's research on the teacher workforce has included questions on hiring decisions, job design, training, and job performance evaluation. A recent study with researchers from the University of Bristol and the Oxford Partnership for Educational Research and Analysis found that low-stakes peer evaluations resulted in improvements in teacher job performance, as measured by test scores. Taylor developed and implemented, with researchers from Brown, a program which leverages robust teacher evaluation data and peer feedback to match teachers with one another in mutually beneficial mentoring relationships with the goal of improving instructional practice. Research on these peer partnerships was supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences.

Taylor just co-authored a research brief about making tough school budgeting decisions in the era of COVID-19. The brief is part of the EdResearch for Recovery Project, a joint initiative of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University and Results for America.

Taylor, who at HGSE teaches courses in applied econometrics and personnel economics, was recognized for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring by the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 2013.