About

Michael Kirst is an Emeritus Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. His research interests include Educational Policy, Higher Education, Leadership and Organization, School Choice, and Standards. He is associated with the Academic Council at the Graduate School of Education and has a full profile available on Stanford Profiles. His work focuses on improving lives through learning, and he is actively involved in research related to educational leadership and policy.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Mathematics education
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Hong Kong: The Political Economy of Education

  2025-06-09

  book-chapterSenior author

  Hong Kong, with its population of 5½ million (98 per cent of them Chinese) in an area of 400 square miles (about the same as New York city), seems to have more than its share of social and economic problems. 1 As a colony under the British Crown, Hong Kong is composed of three parts that were acquired by the British in three stages: (i) Hong Kong Island (thirty-two square miles) from the 1842 Treaty of Nanking which ended the Opium War and started the humiliating century of ‘Unequal Treaties’ for China; (ii) Kowloon Peninsula (three and three-quarter square miles across the harbor from the island) from the First Convention of Peking in 1860; and (iii) the New Territories (365 square miles, covering the land area north of Kowloon and over 200 adjacent islands) from a ninety-nine year lease under the Second Convention of Peking in 1898. Legally, most of the present British-administered territory of Hong Kong must revert to China on 1 July 1997, when the leasehold expires, while in theory, the Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula are ceded to the British in perpetuity. However, with the international airport, the container terminus, the main water supply reservoirs, the majority of industrial concerns and population located in the soon-to-expire leased territory, the island and peninsula part of Hong Kong can hardly function in isolation. Thus, the 1997 issue transcends legal necessities and assumes crisis proportion. There is a lack of confidence in the future of Hong Kong as an international market economy and open free society under Chinese Communist rule. This has led to widespread panic and depression among the local Chinese population. This uncertainty over the ‘1997 China Syndrome’ could not have come at a worse moment, because Hong Kong is still suffering from the most severe economic recession in recent history.

  PublisherDOI

• 8. Explaining Policy Change in K–12 and Higher Education

  Stanford University Press eBooks · 2020 · 2 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

• Separation of K-12 and Postsecondary Education Policymaking: Evolution, Impact, and Research Needs

  Routledge eBooks · 2020

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  PublisherDOI

• Higher Education and Silicon Valley: Connected but Conflicted

  2017-08-25 · 12 citations

  bookSenior author

• Disconnect by Design

  2017-09-27 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  A starting point for understanding many of the difficult challenges facing policy makers who are committed to helping young people in the US become ready for colleges and careers is to review the long-standing disconnect between public K–12 and higher education. K–12 and postsecondary education operate in fundamentally different worlds in the United States Core structures–governance, funding, and accountability; curriculum and assessment; and pedagogy and training–are kept separate, while large numbers of students regularly flow across the system divides. The nation's education governance systems have a deeply rooted history of institutional divides. The divided cross-system governance situation is particularly problematic for students who attend the nation's broad or open access institutions, and especially for community college-bound students. The origin of the disconnect between K–12 and higher education in the United States stemmed, in part, from the way the nation created education systems to deliver curriculum for both K–12 and higher education.

  PublisherDOI

• Breaking the Mold: A Radical Proposal to Decentralize School Governance

  Education next · 2015-06-22

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A Democratic Constitution for Public Education By Paul T. Hill and Ashley E. Jochim University of Chicago Press, 2014, $28.96; 152 pages. Who should control our schools is a long-standing debate, but there has never been a proposal like the one in this book. It provides the rationale and operational details for a radical decentralization of school governance and preserves the legitimacy of a much-diminished, locally elected governing entity. It distinguishes this radical governance overhaul from school vouchers for parents. Governance is brought to the center of policy discussion, while the limitations of governance regimes for improving classroom instruction are acknowledged. Currently, local school districts and boards have no intrinsic powers except those provided by state government. Under the Hill and Jochim plan, the key governance unit becomes each school site, which is empowered with a constitutional bill of rights. School control cannot be undermined by a local authority, state, or federal government. There is a specific and limited role for a central authority (called a Civic Education Council or CEC) that provides economies of scale, such as a central data system. But the CEC cannot hire or set terms of employment for teachers and school administrators. Only each school can make these decisions. The authors envision a significant reduction in the historic federal and state education roles. For example, students would carry backpacks of federal, state, and local funding as they choose to move from school to school. Consequently, schools will want to recruit students rather than seek grants specified for federal and state purposes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The authors envision a phase-in of the plan, most likely starting in cities with many struggling students and spreading last to wealthy suburbs and rural areas. Past attempts to provide school-site control basically failed because, the authors contend, there was a lack of school-site power to make decisions. The CEC can close failing schools and set weights for pupil-based funding. But it cannot mandate such things as a particular salary schedule, curriculum, or instructional method. The CEC cannot require schools to purchase central services or to enter collective bargaining agreements. Bargaining could be implemented if school sites want it, but teachers unions strongly prefer centralized contracts with districts or larger agencies. School sites would be protected from CEC late or partial payments, changes in attendance boundaries, admission rules, reporting requirements, and other actions without review by an independent body or through financial compensation. The state role is primarily to hold the CEC accountable, including by way of state takeover of poorly performing CECs. The federal government would deregulate in numerous areas and consolidate funding so that it is tied to individual students (rather than to districts or schools). Would It Work? What is the research base for how this bold plan would work? The most surprising aspect of this concise volume is how little data or analysis are provided about school-level politics or school-site capacity to improve instruction. Much literature suggests that governance is only one factor in successful schools and effective site management. Principals were never prepared at colleges or induction programs to implement the enhanced role envisioned in this book. Most school principals do not know how to devise an effective site budget because budgeting has always been done at the central office. …

  Publisher

• Commentary on Part I: Admissions Testing in a Disconnected K–16 System

  2013-04-15 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Role of Intergovernmental Relations in K-12 to Higher Education Transitions

  VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · 2011-01-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The majority of American students who successfully complete high school today reach graduation without satisfying even the minimal qualifications for admission to a four-year college or university (Green and Forster, 2003). For some students, this is neither surprising nor troubling, as they understand the paths ahead of them and have little interest in pursuing postsecondary education. In this paper, the authors explore the transition between American secondary and postsecondary institutions and how it is shaped by intra- and intergovernmental relations. At its core, the authors claim that the problem is one of failed governmental coordination. Then, greater coordination between state agencies and across local, state, and federal governments could hold the key to ensuring that students are prepared to succeed in college and the workforce.

  Publisher

• Improving Middle Grades Math Performance: A Closer Look at District and School Policies and Practices, Course Placements, and Student Outcomes in California. Follow-Up Analysis.

  2011-02-01 · 6 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Preparation, Placement, Proficiency: Improving Middle Grades Math Performance. Policy and Practice Brief.

  2011-02-01 · 6 citations

  article
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• David L. Wilson

  9 shared

• Elizabeth Ferris

  9 shared

• Stanley Guard

  9 shared

• George Polsby

  Revolution Analytics (United States)

  9 shared

• Marsha A. Chandler

  9 shared

• Gladys Engel

  University of South Carolina Union

  9 shared

• Paul G. Lewis

  9 shared

• James P. Nichol

  9 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Education

  Stanford University

  1966

• M.A., Education

  Stanford University

  1963

• B.A., Political Science

  Stanford University

  1961