Katherine Magnuson, PhD
Inducted in 2019
Current Position
Professor, University of Wisconsin - MadisonEducation
BA, Brown University; Ph.D., Northwestern UniversityKatherine Magnuson is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research focuses on the well-being and development of economically disadvantaged children and their families. She examines how disparities in socioeconomic status (SES) affect children’s development, and how these effects may be altered by policies and programs, especially early childhood education programs. She also investigates how maternal education impacts child development.
Specifically, Katherine blends two streams of research that are often considered separately: (1) research on the influence of parents’ employment, income, and education, as well as welfare policies, on children’s well-being, with a special emphasis on the extent to which differences in SES across racial and ethnic groups explain disparities in children’s school performance; and (2) research on direct child interventions, particularly early education, that may serve a compensatory role for disadvantaged children.