Education
Ph.D., Stanford University (Education)
M.A., Stanford University (Sociology)
B.A. Harvard University, magna cum laude

Dr. Gerald K. LeTendre is a professor of education policy studies, chair of the Educational Theory and Policy Program in the College of Education and a member of the governing faculty of the School of International Affairs. His current research focuses on global trends in teacher working conditions and the diffusion and institutionalization of drug prevention programs in public schools worldwide. An associate editor of the American Journal of Education and board member for the Comparative Education Review, Dr. LeTendre has published on a broad range of topics in comparative and international education, including tracking, the Heyneman-Loxley Effect, and national education policy. He recently presented his work on teacher work roles, mathematics and international testing to both the National Presidential Math Panel and the National Academy of Education.

Dr. LeTendre has also served as chair of the Comparative and International Education Program. He has been the recipient of a Japan Foundation Fellowship, a Johann Jacobs Young Scholar Award, and most recently, spent an academic year as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Bremen in Germany (2003). Dr. LeTendre was awarded the Outstanding Faculty of the Year by the College of Education in 2002.

Contact Information
E-mail: letendre@psu.edu
Phone: (814) 863-3774

Selected Publications
“What is tracking? Cultural expectations in the U.S., Germany and Japan,” American Educational Research Journal, v. 40 no. 1, pp. 43-90 (2003).

“Socio-economic status, school quality, and national economic development: a cross-national analysis of the “Heyneman-Loxley Effect” on mathematics and science achievement,” (Baker, D. and Goesling, B., co-authors), Comparative Education Review v.46, no.3:291-312 (2002).

“The policy trap: National educational policy and the third international math and science study,” (Baker, D., Akiba, M., Wiseman, A., co-authors), International Journal of Educational Policy Research and Practice, 2 (1), 45-64 (2001).

National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and Current and Future Institutional Trends in Mass Schooling, (David Baker, co-author), Stanford University Press, 2005.

Learning to be Adolescent: Growing Up in U.S. and Japanese Middle Schools, Yale University Press, 2000.

Additional information about Professor LeTendre can be found through the College of Education web site.