Researcher Bios:

Nate joined NWEA as a research specialist after working as senior research associate in the Office for Education Policy in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. He has also worked as a school-based therapist, and taught at a school for children and young adults with special needs. Nate is currently completing his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Arkansas, and holds a M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Framingham State University and a B.S. in Psychology from South Dakota State University. 

If you could live anywhere, where would that be?

Rockport, Massachusetts is a great little coastal town just north of Boston. I have great memories of combing the beach with my wife, and there are incredible places to eat where you can watch them pull your food right out of the water. If/when I retire and if/when I am filthy rich, that would be an amazing place to retire (if/when my wife says it is okay).

What intrigues you most about the work you do?

With the increased emphasis on accountability and evaluation, I think it is important that school personnel use as much information and data as possible to help make informed decisions about what is best for their students. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to come to the Kingsbury Center – I want to help bridge that gap between policy and practice, between data-collection and decision-making, so that teachers and school leaders are able to best meet the needs of their students.

If you could research anything – time and money are no object! – what would it be?

I’d like to conduct a rigorous, mixed-methods analysis of the quality of food and beer at all of the Major League ballparks across the United States. There is currently a major void in this area of research, and I think the skills I have as a researcher can fill this void with precise and thought-provoking work. If anyone is interested in funding this endeavor, please let me know.

If you had the authority to make one major national educational policy change, what would it be?

A large number of students across the country are severely limited in their choice of educational options simply as a function of where they live. While I don’t think school choice is *the* answer, I do think that students should be allowed to have the option to seek out better school options, and that we should remove as many restrictions as possible that are impeding this process. Where you live should not be the determinant for where you go to school. Because of this, I would work to ensure that students and families were able to take advantage of the schooling options that were best for them, regardless of where that school was located.

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment?

My three-year old son continues to remind me each day how blessed my wife and I are, and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our next son to see what joy he brings. There is a lot I have done that I am proud of, but my family takes the cake.