F. Chris Curran
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy; Director of the Education Policy Research Center
Phone
352-273-4342
Address
PO Box 117049
Gainesville, FL 32611
Connect
About
F. Chris Curran is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Section Head and Coordinator of the Educational Leadership and Policy Program Area, and Director of the Education Policy Research Center at the University of Florida’s College of Education. Prior to joining the University of Florida, he was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) School of Public Policy. He received his Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies with a doctoral minor in quantitative methods from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College in 2015 and holds a masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Mississippi. He also holds a Specialization Certificate in Data Science. Dr. Curran’s research applies quantitative causal inference techniques, mixed methodologies, and data science approaches to the study of education policy, with a goal of improving outcomes for all students. In particular, his recent work has focused on the ways that school discipline and safety contribute to educational outcomes and how such policies can differentially impact subgroups of students. He also has an active body of research that examines early childhood education, particularly in science. His work has been supported by over $3 million in external grants from the National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the American Educational Research Association, the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation, among others. His work has been published in outlets including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, AERA Open, the American Educational Research Journal, and Education Finance and Policy. His work has also been featured in a number of media outlets including NPR, Politico, Education Week, and The Atlantic. He is an active public scholar and regular contributor to The Conversation. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Curran was a middle school science teacher and department chair.
Affiliations
- School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education
- Education Policy Research Center
Research Interests
Children and Poverty, Early Childhood, Mixed Methods, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Research Design, Social/Behavioral Interventions
Education
- Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies, 2015 Doctoral minor in quantitative methods- Vanderbilt University's Peabody College
- M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, 2011 University of Mississippi
- B.A. in Philosophy, 2009 University of Florida
- B.S. in Biochemistry, 2009 University of Florida
Professional Appointments
- Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County School of Public Policy, 2015 - 2019
Activities and Honors
- 2024-2025 Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professorship
- 2019 National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
- Emerging Education Policy Scholar, Thomas B. Fordham and the American Enterprise Institute
Selected Grants
Expanding Access to Real-Time School Safety Data: Development of a State-wide School Safety Dashboard. Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Role
- PI
Funding Agency
- US Department of Justice
Project Period
- 2021-2021
Award Amount
- $1,998,585
Developing a Research Foundation and Agenda around The Five Conditions that Support Great Teaching.
Role
- PI (Co-PI's): Philip Poekert & Christopher Redding
Funding Agency
- Impact Florida
Project Period
- 2021-2022
Award Amount
- $66,814
Early Childhood Policy in Institutions of Higher Education.
Role
- PI (Co-PI): Patricia Snyder
Funding Agency
- Teachers College, Columbia University with support from Buffett Early Childhood Fund.
Project Period
- 2021-2023
Award Amount
- $174,500
Exploratory Evidence on the Factors that Relate to Elementary School Science Learning Gains Among English Language Learners
Role
- PI (Co-PI): Mark Pacheco
Funding Agency
- National Science Foundation
Project Period
- 2021-2013
Award Amount
- $313,159
The Expanding Presence of Police in Schools: An Analysis of Florida's Expansion of School Resource Officers in Schools
Role
- PI
Funding Agency
- American Civil Liberties Union
Project Period
- 2020
Award Amount
- $30,518
New Data Frontiers in School Discipline Research: Charting a Path for Enhanced Data Collection to Better Understand the Entire School Discipline Pipeline and Equity Therein
Role
- PI
Funding Agency
- AERA Research Conference Grant
Project Period
- 2019-2021
Award Amount
- $35,000
Ban the Discipline Box? How University Applications that Assess Prior School Discipline Experiences Impact College Acceptance of Youth Disciplined in High School
Role
- PI
Funding Agency
- National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Project Period
- 2019-2021
Award Amount
- $70,000
Understanding the Adoption, Function, and Consequences, of School Resource Officer Use in Understudied Settings
Role
- PI - (Co-PI: Benjamin Fisher; Project Coordinator: Samantha Viano)
Funding Agency
- National Institute of Justice Comprehensive School Safety Initiative Grant
Project Period
- 2016-2019
Award Amount
- $623,047
Early Elementary Science Instruction: Estimating the Impacts of Instructional Time, Content Coverage, and Pedagogy on Equity in and Achievement on Science in Kindergarten through Second Grade
Role
- PI (Co-PI's) Benjamin Fisher; Project Coordinator: Samantha Viano
Funding Agency
- AERA/NSF Research Grant
Project Period
- 2017-2018
Award Amount
- $19,999
Selected Publications
Articles
- Curran, F.C. (2022). Ban the discipline box? How university applications that assess prior school discipline experiences relate to admissions of students suspended in high school. Research in Higher Education. Online First.
- Gerlinger, J., Viano, S., Gardella, J., Fisher, B., Curran, F.C., & Higgins, E. (2021). Exclusionary School Discipline and Delinquent Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50, 1493-1509. (Authors 2-5 listed in reverse alphabetical order to reflect equal contribution).
- Kent, J. (g) & Curran, F.C. (2021). Pulling the Trigger: The Decision of Arming School Staff in a Large, Diverse School District. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 24(3), 87-104.
Other Publications
- Viano, S., Curran, F.C., & Fisher, B. (2021). Kindergarten cop: A case study of how a coalition between school districts and law enforcement led to school resource officers in elementary schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(2), 253-279.
- Curran, F.C., Viano, S., Kupchik, A, & Fisher, B. (2021). Do interactions with school resource officers predict students' likelihood of being disciplined and feelings of safety? Mixed-methods evidence from two school districts. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(2), 200-232.
- Curran, F.C. & Finch, M. (2021). Reforming school discipline: Responses by school district leadership to revised state guidelines for student codes of conduct. Educational Administration Quarterly, 57(2), 179-220.
- Cohen-Vogel, L., Sadler, J. (g), Little, M., Merrill, B., Curran, F.C. (2020). The adoption of public pre-kindergarten among the American states: An event history analysis. Educational Policy. Online First.
- Fisher, B., Higgins, E., Kupchik, A., Viano, S., Curran, F.C., Overstreet, S. (g), Plumlee, B. (g), & Coffey, B. (g) (2020). Protecting the flock or policing the sheep? Differences in school resource officers' perceptions of threats by school racial composition. Social Problems. Online First.
- Curran, F.C. (2020). A matter of measurement: How different ways of measuring racial gaps in school discipline can yield drastically different conclusions about racial disparities in discipline. Educational Researcher, 49(5), 382-387.
- Curran, F.C., Fisher, B., Viano, S. (2020). Mass school shootings and the short-run impacts on use of school security measures and practices: National evidence from the Columbine tragedy. Journal of School Violence, 19(1), 6-19.
- Curran, F.C., Little, M. (g), Cohen-Vogel, L., & Domina, T. (2020). School readiness assessments for class placements and academic sorting in kindergarten. Educational Policy, 34(3), 518-547.
- Curran, F.C., Fisher, B.W., Viano, S., Kupchik, A. (2019). Why and when do school resource officers engage in school discipline? The role of context in shaping disciplinary involvement. American Journal of Education, 126(1), 33-63.