Education

  • Ph.D. 2013 – Stanford University, Education Policy
  • M.A. 2010 – Stanford University, Economics
  • B.A. 2003 – Williams College, Psychology and Mathematics

Areas of Expertise

  • Higher Education Policy
  • College Choice
  • Affirmative Action
  • Higher Education Stratification
  • College Admissions
  • Quantitative Methods

Background

Daniel Klasik’s interest in college choice and the potential for policy to help students make those choices began during his early-career work as an admissions officer for a selective liberal arts college and developed further in his subsequent job as a research assistant at the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute. These experiences exposed him to the many ways students consider their college options and the power of rigorous research to both describe policy problems and highlight effective solutions.

Research

Daniel Klasik uses a wide array of quantitative methods to produce sophisticated descriptions and causal analyses of students’ pathways into and through college and the policies and practices that support student success on these pathways. This work has a strong equity focus and touches on issues of racial and socioeconomic stratification in higher education; race-conscious and race-neutral admissions policies; how where a student lives shapes her college opportunities and choices; the complicated process of successfully enrolling in college; and how we measure the quality of both colleges and students.

  • EDUC 994, Doctoral Research and Dissertation
  • EDUC 824, Fundamentals of Educational Research
  • EDUC 796B, Independent Study Doctoral Level
  • EDUC 956, Applied Quantitative Methods
  • EDUC 805A, Professional Seminar I
  • EDUC 871, Seminar in Education
  • EDUC 570, History of American Higher Education
  • EDUC 543, Higher Education in the US
  • EDUC 390, Special Topics in Education
  • EDUC 697, Education Minor Capstone Course

“How Do Unrepresentative College Grades Shape Race and Gender Gaps in the STEM Pipeline?”, Klasik, D., Lead Principal Investigator; Hutt, E., Co-Principal Investigator; Sartain, L., Co-Principal Investigator; NSF, $498,250. (September 1, 2021 – August 31, 2025).

“Impact of College Advising Corps in North Carolina”, Springer, M., Lead Principal Investigator; Lindsay, C., Co-Principal Investigator; Klasik, D., Co-Principal Investigator; Worsham, R., Postdoctoral Research Associate; John M Belk Endowment, $315,870. (September 1, 2021 – August 31, 2025).

“Accelerating Attainment: Identifying High-Leverage Strategies in Support of North Carolina’s 2030 Attainment Goal”, Springer, M., Lead Principal Investigator; Kelly, A., Co-Principal Investigator; Klasik, D., Investigator; Sartain, L., Investigator; John M Belk Endowment, $1,500,000. (May 16, 2021 – May 15, 2025).

“The UNC-CH & NCSSM Research Practice Partnership”, Sadler, T., Lead Principal Investigator; Klasik, D., Co-Principal Investigator; UNC-CH North Carolina Policy Collaboratory, $135,000. (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022).

“Does Applied STEM CTE Strengthen the College and Career Pipeline for Low-Income High School Students?”, Klasik, D., Lead Principal Investigator; University of Pennsylvania, $25,000. (December 2, 2020 – August 31, 2021).

Journal Article

Klasik, D. (accepted). A chill from the desert: How education deserts shape students’ pathways to college. Research in Higher Education.

Klasik, D., Zahran, W., Worsham, R., & Springer, M. (published). Do Students Respond to Sticker-Price Reductions?: Evidence from the North Caorlina Promise. AERA Open.

Zahran, W., & Klasik, D. (2025). Tuition Reduction and Student Loan Debt: Evidence from the North Carolina Promise. Research in Higher Education, 66(6). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-025-09853-7

Gottfried, M., Freeman, J., Odle, T., Plasman, J., Klasik, D., & Daugherty, S. (2023). Does High School STEMM Career Coursework Align With College Employment?. Teachers College Record, 125(3), 207–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231175199

Klasik, D., & Cortes, K. E. (2022). Uniform admissions, unequal access: Did the top 10% plan increase access to selective flagship institutions?. Economics of Education Review, 87, 102199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102199

Plasman, J. S., Gottfried, M. A., & Klasik, D. (2021). Do career-engaging courses engage low-income students. AERA Open. Published.

Kramer, D., Klasik, D., & Balu, R. (accepted). Orders by Email: Experimental Evidence of Targeted Communications on Short-term Enrollment Effects for Active Post 9/11 GI Bill Beneficiaries. Education Finance and Policy.

Hutt, E., Klasik, D., & Tang, A. (2020). How Do Judges Decide School Finance Cases?. Washington University Law Review, 97(4), 1047–1130.

Holzman, B., Klasik, D., & Baker, R. (2020). Gaps in the College Application Gauntlet. Research in Higher Education, 61(7), 795–822. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09566-8

Plasman, J. S., Gottfried, M. A., & Klasik, D. (2020). Trending Up: A Cross-Cohort Exploration of STEM Career and Technical Education Participation by Low-Income Students. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 25(1), 55–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2019.1670066

Klasik, D., & Hutt, E. (2019). Bobbing for bad apples: Accreditation, quantitative performance measures, and the identification of low-performing colleges. The Journal of Higher Education, 90(3), 427–461.

Klasik, D., & Hutt, E. L. (2019). Bobbing for Bad Apples: Accreditation, Quantitative Performance Measures, and the Identification of Low-Performing Colleges. The Journal of Higher Education, 90(3), 427–461. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1512804

Klasik, D., Blagg, K., & Pekor, Z. (2018). Out of the Education Desert: How Limited Local College Options are Associated with Inequity in Postsecondary Opportunities. Social Sciences, 7(9), 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7090165

Klasik, D., & Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). The Complexity of College Readiness: Differences by Race and College Selectivity. Educational Researcher, 47(6), 334–351. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189×18778598

Reardon, S. F., Baker, R., Kasman, M., Klasik, D., & Townsend, J. B. (2018). What Levels of Racial Diversity Can Be Achieved with Socioeconomic‐Based Affirmative Action? Evidence from a Simulation Model. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(3), 630–657. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22056

Baker, R., Klasik, D., & Reardon, S. F. (2018). Race and Stratification in College Enrollment Over Time. AERA Open, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417751896

Reardon, S., Kasman, M., Klasik, D., & Baker, R. (2016). Agent-Based Simulation Models of the College Sorting Process. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.18564/jasss.2993

Klasik, D. (2013). The ACT of Enrollment: The College Enrollment Effects of State-Required College Entrance Exam Testing. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 151–160.

Klasik, D. (2013). The ACT of Enrollment: The College Enrollment Effects of State-Required College Entrance Exam Testing. Educational Researcher, 42(3), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189×12474065

Klasik, D. (2012). The College Application Gauntlet: A Systematic Analysis of the Steps to Four-Year College Enrollment. Research in Higher Education, 53(5), 506–549. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9242-3

Book Chapter

Klasik, D. (2025). College Admissions. In AEFP Live Handbook.

Klasik, D., & Holzman, B. (accepted). Frameworks for college access and choice. In The state of college access and completion (2nd ed.). Rutlage.

Klasik, D., & Zahran, W. (2022). The Art of Sophisticated Quantitative Description in Higher Education Research. In Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research: Vol. 37 (pp. 649–743). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76660-3_12

Netz, N., Klasik, D., Entrich, S., & Barker, M. (2020). How do socio-demographics influence the likelihood of studying abroad? A research overview with implications for practice. In Eduation Abroad: Bridging Scholarship and Practice. Routledge.

Netz, N., Klasik, D., R. Entrich, S., & Barker, M. (2020). Socio-Demographics: A Global Overview of Inequalities in Education Abroad Participation. In Education Abroad: Bridging Scholarship and Practice (pp. 28–42). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429431463-2

Technical Report

Cortes, K., & Klasik, D. (2020). Uniform Admissions, Unequal Access: Did the Top 10% Plan Increase Access to Selective Flagship Institutions?. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28280

Professional

  • Editor, High School Journal. (May 15, 2022 – 2050).
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Journal of Higher Education. (August 2025 – 2028).
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Research in Higher Education. (October 2019 – December 2028).
  • Committee Member, Association for the Study of Higher Education. (November 2025 – November 2026).
  • Editor, Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis. (December 2023 – June 2026).
  • Reviewer/Referee, National Science Foundation. (January 2019 – February 2025).
  • Committee Member, Association for the Study of Higher Education. (January 2023 – November 2023).

University

  • Committee Member, PhD in Educaiton Working Group. (September 2025 – 2026).
  • Member, Appointments Promotion and Tenure Committee. (June 2023 – 2026).
  • Member, Curriculum Committee. (August 2022 – 2025).
  • Search Committee Member, Tenure-line position in Organizational Learning and Leadership. (July 2024 – December 2024).
  • Committee Member, Race Neutral Admissions Committee. (August 2021 – 2024).
  • Committee Member, Undergraduate Admissions Advisory Committee. (September 2020 – 2024).
  • Member, Digital and Lifelong Learning Advisory Committee. (January 2023 – August 2024).
  • Chair, Search Committee – Open Rank, Tenure Line in Organiational Learning and Leadership. (September 2023 – February 2024).
  • Member, Search Committee – EdD in OLL Program Director. (August 2023 – December 2023).
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