Feb. 29, 2024
Professor Gema Zamarro was recently chosen as a member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP).
Expressing her enthusiasm for the new role, Zamarro, the Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Teacher Quality at the U of A, stated, “AEFP is a pivotal education policy association that unites researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to address crucial education finance and policy matters.”
AEFP provides a platform for members to interact and exchange ideas on substantial research that can shape education finance and policy determinations. The organization’s website emphasizes their commitment to enhancing education policy to ensure all students have equal access to educational opportunities and the support needed to excel in both school and life.
Commenting on the competitive nature of board elections within AEFP, Patrick Wolf, the interim head of the Department of Education Reform, remarked, “Dr. Zamarro’s victory in this competition to guide the organization’s endeavors for the next three years is a testament to her exceptional standing in the education policy realm.”
At the U of A, Zamarro imparts knowledge on education policy and economics, while also serving as an adjunct senior economist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR). Her professional background includes roles as an economist at the RAND Corporation, a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy, and an assistant professor in the Department of Econometrics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.
Zamarro’s research primarily focuses on education policy and labor economics, delving into areas such as the correlation between teacher quality and student performance, the impact of school closure policies on student outcomes, and the effects of dual-language immersion programs on student achievements. Currently, her research is centered on teacher labor markets and the gender and education implications stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. Her contributions have been prominently featured in both American and Spanish media, playing a significant role in shaping policies at national and state levels.