Susanna Loeb, the Barnett Family Professor of Education at Stanford University, was elected earlier this month to membership in the National Academy of Education on the basis of her outstanding scholarship in the economics of education and the relationship between schools and federal, state and local policies.

 Founded in 1965, the NAEd seeks to advance education research and its use in policy formation and practice. The group has undertaken research studies that address pressing issues in education and that typically include both NAEd members and other scholars with an expertise in a particular area of inquiry. In addition, members are involved in NAEd’s professional development fellowship programs that focus on the preparation of the next generation of scholars.

 Loeb is one of 12 scholars elected to the NAEd this year. Prior to her election, Stanford had 19 of the 162 members in the group — the most of any university.

 Nominations are submitted by individual members once a year for review and election by the entire membership. “The newly elected members are preeminent leaders in their respective areas of educational research, and they are recognized for the extraordinary influence that they have had on education in the U.S. and abroad,” said Susan Fuhrman, NAEd president.

 Loeb’s research addresses teacher policy, looking specifically at how teachers' preferences affect the distribution of teaching quality across schools, how pre-service coursework requirements affect the quality of teacher candidates, and how reforms affect teachers' career decisions. She also studies school leadership and school finance, for example looking at how the structure of state finance systems affects the level and distribution of resources across schools.

 She is faculty director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis, and a co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education. Susanna is a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.