Navigating the intersection between education and public policy on the national level is no easy task, but for Shaun Dougherty, it’s a mission driven by rich experience and passion.
Dougherty, a professor of education and policy in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, brings this focus to his role as senior advisor in the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Education. His work centers on bridging the gap between education and workforce development.
“The single most important thing that I do on a day-to-day basis is just be open to pivoting to whatever comes next,” Dougherty said. “In general, it’s some combination of meeting with people, figuring out what they need, and finding creative ways to think about what information or research can help answer questions.”
One of Dougherty’s recent projects focuses on improving communication between three key U.S. government agencies: the Department of Labor, the Executive Office of the President, and the Department of Education.
“I helped coordinate data sharing between the U.S. Department of Labor, the Executive Office of the President, and the Department of Education to link information about large-scale federal investments in industries, workforce needs, and educational programs,” Dougherty said. “We looked at the connection between these data and put together a dataset to help answer questions about that relationship and inform federal investments.”
Since his appointment last May, Dougherty has identified two major challenges to the U.S. education system today. First, both COVID-19 and the shift to classes on Zoom significantly disrupted students’ learning.
“I don’t think ‘learning loss’ is a productive way to frame what happened,” Dougherty said. “Nobody lost learning—they lost opportunities to learn. We need to continue thinking about the fact that the formal education of a whole generation of people was substantially disrupted by COVID-19. We need to make sure that these people are prepared to continue to navigate the education system and have skills for long-term success.”
The second major challenge? Growing skepticism about the value of four-year degrees and the need to provide students with clearer information about career options.
“We need to navigate the balance between the excessive cost and low completion rates of college and the actual skill demands of the workforce and the continuing changes in the economy—figuring out how to get that balance right, both for people who are considering going to college but also those thinking about adult retraining,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty suggested that one solution is ensuring people receive accurate information about their educational and career options.
“We need to get people better information on their choices,” Dougherty said. “What do you think you’re going to study? How much money are you going to earn with the occupation you can get, having studied that relative to how much it’s costing you to get that training?’”
With the recent shift in administration from President Biden to President Trump, Dougherty said there is a lot of uncertainty in the office.
“A current challenge that I’m navigating is that we had a really clear chain of command and protocols a few weeks ago, but now until leadership roles get filled, there will be more uncertainty,” Dougherty said.
He believes that this shift in leadership could lead to further challenges for the newly formed office.
While most large executive branch agencies, such as the Department of Labor and the Department of Energy, have long had chief economists or offices of economists, this position is a new addition to the Department of Education.
“A core challenge is making clear to the new administration that we’re not a political office, that we’re there to support the core work of the agency, and that it’s an endeavor that they should continue, because there’s value that that can be added that can support administrations, regardless of their policy priorities,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty’s tenure is expected to last until May 19. Despite the current administration’s intense scrutiny of the Department of Education, he remains focused on driving meaningful changes in the U.S. education system.
“Right now, despite these changes, we are just trying to continue the work that we were doing on core research projects about loan repayment, about college accountability, and about their relationship between education and workforce,” Dougherty said.
Beyond his federal work, Dougherty is regarded as a mentor to many of his peers. Before entering his current profession, he taught education and policy at both Vanderbilt and Boston College.
Hannah Kistler, a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University and former advisee of Dougherty at Vanderbilt, emphasized the optimism Dougherty conveyed while teaching.
“I could just tell he was one of the nicest, kindest people I had ever met,” Kistler said. “Whenever he reads anything, regardless of whether it might be really bad, he always finds a way to find something positive about it and be encouraging.”
Walter Ecton, also a former advisee of Dougherty, is currently an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. Ecton said he was inspired by Dougherty before getting the chance to meet him in person.
“Before I even met Dr. Dougherty, I was a huge fan of his research,” Ecton said. “One of his papers was assigned in a class that I took in my first semester of graduate school, and his work just spoke to me so much.”
Yet, aside from Dougherty’s scholarly work, what stood out most to Ecton about Dougherty was how he valued his students as individuals.
“He really conducts himself in a way that I think makes those who are in his orbit feel good and feel as if they are doing work that is important and valuable, but also that they’re human beings that matter as people,” Ecton said.
Not only has Dougherty influenced his students, but he has also shaped the work of professionals in the education sector.
“There’s very few scholars that I know of who can credibly claim to have influenced such a high percentage of people who are researching a field,” Ecton said. “When you go to a conference and you see people studying career and technical education, it seems like Dr. Dougherty has at least in some way influenced almost every single person in a presentation related to the topic.”
Kistler agrees. Additionally, she noted that Dougherty looks beyond himself in his work, choosing to focus on how his profession can affect the lives of others.
“He is an amazing researcher,” Kistler said. “And more importantly, he thinks a lot about doing work that is actually impactful and meaningful for real students and families.”
Dougherty, reflecting on his own journey, said the career path he would follow was not always clear to him.
“It’s easy for me to tell the story after the fact about, like, how this all fits together, it was not at all clear to me,” Doughterty said. “For instance, when I was in my third year at the University of Massachusetts, I was still undecided because I liked everything that I took classes in. I kept taking math courses and I was taking economics, but I liked philosophy, I liked history, I liked English.”
Dougherty encouraged students to stay open to different opportunities and embrace the unexpected.
“Stopping and starting and just being willing to ask myself, ‘Do I think this is what I want to do? What other options might I want to consider? Am I willing to make a change to make that happen?’” Dougherty said. “And I think that’s the most productive thing—be open to considering a change and not defining change as failure.”
At the core of it all, however, Dougherty emphasizes the importance of keeping a people-focused approach when making decisions about your future.
“All of this is a human endeavor—education, public policy, building a pluralistic society—all aimed at benefiting people,” Dougherty said. “The goal is always to serve the greatest number of people in the best possible way, no matter whether you’re in federal service, academia, or an educational institution.”
