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Robert Balfanz

Principal Investigator and Researcher

Robert Balfanz, PhD, is a research professor at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where he is the director of the Everyone Graduates Center.

He has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, early warning systems, chronic absenteeism, school climate, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. He focuses on translating research findings into effective school interventions. His work was featured in PBS Frontline’s The Education of Omarina.

Dr. Balfanz is the first recipient of the Alliance For Excellent Education’s Everyone a Graduate Award and the National Forum’s to Accelerate Middle Grade Reform Joan Lipsitzs Lifetime Achievement award. In 2013 he was named a Champion for Change for African American Education by President Obama and he is also an education fellow for the Middle School Matters program at the George W. Bush Institute.

He holds a B.A. in history from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in education from the University of Chicago.

Early Intervention Drives Graduation Success

Early Intervention Drives Graduation Success

The path to dropout starts early. So the earlier a struggling student is identified, ideally ...

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CNN Op/Ed: What You Won’t Hear at Graduation

CNN Op/Ed: What You Won’t Hear at Graduation

(CNN) -- Graduation season is in full swing, bringing with it a lot of discussion ...

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Grad Nation Community Guidebook provides roadmap for communities and states

Grad Nation Community Guidebook provides roadmap for communities and states

America’s Promise Alliance (America’s Promise) has updated the Grad Nation Community Guidebook, a research-based toolkit ...

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Robert Balfanz named “Champion of Change” by White House

Robert Balfanz named “Champion of Change” by White House

Robert Balfanz, a senior research scientist at The Johns Hopkins University, is among 10 education ...

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2013 Building a Grad Nation Report

2013 Building a Grad Nation Report

This fourth annual update on America’s high school dropout crisis shows that for the first ...

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Overcoming the Poverty Challenge to Enable College and Career Readiness for All: The Crucial Role of Student Supports

Overcoming the Poverty Challenge to Enable College and Career Readiness for All: The Crucial Role of Student Supports

This white paper focuses on an important and under-conceptualized thread in the weave of efforts ...

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Schools Battle Chronic Absenteeism – CNN

Schools Battle Chronic Absenteeism – CNN

(CNN) - Millions of students are chronically absent. CNN's Athena Jones looks at what schools ...

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Middle School Moment on PBS’s Frontline

Middle School Moment on PBS’s Frontline

PBS’s Frontline highlights Johns Hopkins professor Bob Balfanz’s research on middle school students’ attendance, behavior ...

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The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools

The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools

America’s education system is based on the assumption that barring illness or an extraordinary event, ...

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