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Robert M. La Follette
School of Public Affairs
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Telephone: 608.262.3581
Fax: 608.265.3233
Last updated:
March 5, 2012
© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
John Witte
Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science;
Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Research on Poverty
Office: 217 North Hall
Phone: 608 262-5715
Fax: 608 265-2663
E-mail:
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin - Madison
110 North Hall, 1050 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706-1389
John Witte is professor of political science and public affairs and was director of the La Follette School for three years. Following three years as a naval officer, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1978. His research has focused on tax policy, politics and education, including school choice, vouchers and charter schools. His recent work, supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the Spencer Foundation, examined charter schools. He was principal investigator for a research team studying the longitudinal effects of the Milwaukee school voucher program. He has been a fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.
Professor Witte is author or co-author of eight books and more than 75 articles or book chapters. Witte has made seminal research contributions in budget and tax policy and in education policy. His books, The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985) and The Market Approach to Education: Analysis of America's First Voucher Program (Princeton University Press, 2000), are considered landmark works by scholars and policy practioners alike.
Curriculum vitae
Courses
- PA 874 Policymaking Process: spring 2011, fall 2009, fall 2008, fall 2007, fall 2005 course materials
- PA 890 Federal Budget and Tax Policy and Administration: spring 2010, fall 2007
- PA 974 Seminar in Education Policy in the United States: spring 2005
- PA 974 Education Policy and Reform: fall 2011, spring 2009
- POLI SCI 219 Introduction to Public Policy: spring 2005
Research
Wisconsin Charter Schools Study
School Choice Demonstration Project
The Impact of Milwaukee Charter Schools on Student Achievement, Brookings Institute Issues in Governance Studies, No. 23, March 2009
Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition, RAND Corporation, 2009
La Follette School Working Paper Series
- Is University of Wisconsin Education Becoming More Elite? A Partial Answer / La Follette School Working Paper No. 2009-005 (shorter version is in spring 2009 La Follette Policy Report)
- The Political Economy of School Choice / La Follette School Working Paper No. 2004-002
- Private and Public Education in Wisconsin / La Follette School Working Paper No. 1995-002
- Fifth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program / La Follette School Working Paper No. 1995-001
- Fourth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program/ La Follette School Working Paper No. 1994-001