Dr. Iris Rotberg

We are saddened to report that Dr. Iris Rotberg passed away on January 1, 2025. Dr. Rotberg was a remarkable person, in so many ways — a distinguished and revered colleague, a generous friend, and a committed contributor to the repair of the world. View "A Tribute to Dr. Rotberg" to learn more.

The GW Hatchet published an article honoring Dr. Iris Rotberg and her legacy called, "Education equality researcher, steadfast thesis adviser dies at 91."

Iris C. Rotberg was a Research Professor of Education Policy at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington University.

Prior to that she was a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, Senior Social Scientist at RAND, Principal Investigator for the Technology Policy Task Force of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Assistant Director of the National Institute of Education, where she directed the Office of Planning and Program Development, and Deputy Director of a comprehensive study of compensatory education conducted for Congress by the National Institute of Education. She also held research positions with the Office of Economic Opportunity, the President's Commission on Income Maintenance Programs, the Human Resources Research Office, and The Johns Hopkins University, where she conducted research on psycholinguistics and learning.

Dr. Rotberg's research focuses on school reform, science education, testing and accountability, school choice, international education, federal policy in financing education, and the development of methods for evaluating educational programs in a public policy setting.

She has published numerous research reports, articles, and commentaries, including RAND reports on federal policy options for improving the education of low-income students, reports on technology and human resources prepared for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and reports on compensatory education used by Congress in formulating major education legislation.

Her articles on school reform, international education, and the education of low-income students appear in such publications as Science, Phi Delta Kappan, The Bridge, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, Tech-nos, Prospects, The Education Digest, The Washington Post, and Education Week, and she is the editor of Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform, a book that brings together examples of current education reforms in sixteen countries, written by “insiders” (Rowman & Littlefield Education: 2004, 2010).

Dr. Rotberg has testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, and presented papers at national and international conferences, professional societies, education organizations, research institutions, and forums sponsored by federal, state, and local governments.

She was a National Science Foundation Fellow at Johns Hopkins, a member of Sigma Xi (the National Honorary Science Society), a recipient of the University of Pennsylvania's Sociology Award, and a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award, Educational Press Association of America.

She has served on the Committee on Employment and Human Resources, American Psychological Association; the Educational Accountability Oversight Committee, Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools; the Technical Advisory Committee for Education Week’s “Quality Counts 2012;” and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lab School of Washington and the Free the Children Trust.