Marcus A. Winters is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Winters conducts research and writes extensively on education policy, including topics such as school choice, high school graduation rates, accountability, and special education.

He has performed several studies on a variety of education policy issues including high-stakes testing, performance-pay for teachers, and the effects of vouchers on the public school system. His research has been published in the journals Education Finance and Policy, Economics of Education Review, Teachers College Record, and Education Next. His op-ed articles have appeared in numerous newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today and he is often quoted on education issues. Winters previously worked as the Senior Research Associate with Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jay P. Greene at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Winters received his B.A. in political science from Ohio University in 2002, an Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arkansas in 2008. He resides in Manhattan.

Select Media

• NY1 News, 4-8-10
• C-SPAN 3, 5-4-10
• FOX & Friends 5-21-10
• FOX 5 News, 7-5-10

Articles/Op-eds:

• Vouchers Work In Fla., and They'll Work Here, The Star-Ledger, 06-13-10
• Race to the Top Pushing Incentives For Reform, Washington Examiner, 06-02-10
• For Minorities, a Charter-School Boost, New York Post, 04-27-10
• Despite What You've Read, Paying Kids To Excel In School Does Work, New York Daily News, 04-15-10
• Public Schools Should Experiment Like Charter Schools, Washington Examiner, 04-07-10
• Charter Schools Lose in L.A., National Review Online, 03-02-10
• City Charter Schools Aren't Just Better - They Cost Less, New York Daily News, 03-01-10
• How To Get States To Improve School Testing, Dallas Morning News, 02-12-10
• What Obama Should Say In His State of the Union, Washington Examiner, 01-27-10
• The Amazing Randi, National Review Online, 01-18-10
• Raising the Education bar, Los Angeles Times, 01-18-10
• Charters & Special Ed: The Truth: Don't Believe the UFT's Distorted Claims, New York Daily News, 01-06-10
• Race to the Top Program Prioritizes Reform, Washington Examiner, 12-16-09
• Testing for Tenure, National Review Online, 12-02-09
• How Charters Help Kids 'Left Behind', New York Post, 10-28-09
• Data Proves Charter Schools Work, Washington Examiner, 10-28-09
• End the Special-Ed Racket, National Review Online, 10-19-09
• A Teachers' Contract That Helps Kids, New York Post, 10-05-09
• Funding May Push Special Ed Labeling, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 09-23-09
• Grading Teachers, National Review Online, 09-16-09
• Vouchers Control Special Ed Growth, Tampa Bay Online, 09-03-09
• Special Ed Vouchers Work For Everybody, Washington Examiner, 08-18-09
• Special-Education Stigmatization, Forbes.com, 08-18-09
• A Plan Without Political Fallout, Education Week, 08-17-09
• Making the Best of a Flawed System, The New York Times, 08-03-09
• Robots Don’t Pay Dues, National Review Online, 07-29-09
• Exams We Can Rely On, New York Post, 07-25-09
• Book Review: Private Schooling For The Poor, Washington Times, 07-09-09
• The Limits of Democracy, Gotham Gazette, 05-18-09
• Klein's Teacher Hiring Freeze Will Leave City Kids Behind, New York Daily News, 05-09-09
• Straight A's for Performance Pay, Washington Times, 04-24-09
• For Better Schools, Fix Teacher Pay, New York Post, 04-23-09
• Tossing Out the Bad Apples, National Review Online, 04-17-09
• School Funding Doesn't Add Up, Washington Times, 03-20-09
• Lessons of Charter Schools, Times Union, 03-20-09
• Mass Teacher Layoffs + Seniority Rules = Bad News For Kids, New York Daily News, 02-04-09
• The Smart Fiscal Choice, National Review Online, 01-21-09
• A Threat to Charter Schools, New York Post, 01-15-09
• Offer vouchers for special education, New York Daily News, 12-28-08
• Grading NYC Schools: How It Helps, New York Post, 11-12-08
• Challenging tenure in D.C., Washington Times, 11-05-08
• Beyond Bloomberg, New York Post, 10-27-08
• Time for McCain To Answer, The New York Sun, 09-26-08
• Teachers Matter, National Review Online, 09-09-08
• Qualified Teachers Wanted, Washington Times, 08-15-08
• Playing Politics With School Vouchers, Washington Times, 06-18-08
• School Choice Helps Disabled Ariz. Students, East Valley Tribune, 05-03-08
• The Politics of Special-Ed Vouchers - Part III, Washington Times, 05-01-08
• A Special-Ed Fix, New York Post, 04-30-08
• Vouchers and Special Education - Part I, Washington Times, 04-29-08
• When Kids FAIL, New York Post, 03-19-08
• Merit Pay Will Improve N.Y.�s Schools, Providence Journal, 10-24-07
• Merit Pay Could Boost Learning, The Oklahoman, 08-05-07
• Debunking a Special Education Myth, Education Next, 03-15-07
• Reason To Rethink Social Promotion, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10-01-06
• Promoting The End of Social Promotion: Students Should Be Held Back If They Can't Pass the Test, Says a New Study, Chicago Sun-Times, 09-17-06
• School Officials Shouldn’t Go Wobbly On Social Promotion, Washington Examiner, 09-14-06
• Social Promotion Is Running Before Walking, The Tampa Tribune, 09-14-06
• Advancement, National Review Online, 09-13-06
• "Losing Ground" in Education Reform, National Review Online, 07-27-06
• The Boys Left Behind, National Review Online, 04-19-06
• Chicago Must Find Way To Help Students Finish High School, Chicago Sun-Times, 04-19-06
• Missing the Mark on Graduation Rates, Education Week, 03-29-06
• Stupid Judge Tricks, National Review Online, 01-11-06
• Education myths cry out for debunking, Providence Journal, 10-19-05
• Five Myths . . ., Albuquerque Journal, 10-01-05
• The Teacher-Pay Myth, New York Post, 09-22-05
• Education Myths, National Review Online, 09-07-05
• Tougher Standards Are Already Yielding Results, USA Today, 05-30-05
• The Public Schools' Dirty Little Secret, New York Post, 07-02-04
• Competition Passes the Test, Education Next, 06-12-04
• High School Exit Exams Don't Cause Dropouts, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 05-19-04
• It’s Elementary, National Review Online, 05-12-04
• The Voucher Challenge, National Review Online, 05-11-04
• Exit Exams Don't Cause Increase In Dropout Rate, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 05-02-04
• The Positive Effects Of Exit Exams, The Indianapolis Star, 05-02-04
• High-Stakes Editorializing, National Review Online, 02-23-04
• S.C. Schools Need Vouchers, Charleston Post and Courier, 12-08-03
• ------------
• The effects of exemptions to Florida's test-based promotion policy: Who is retained? Who benefits academically? Jay P. Greene and Marcus Winters, Economics of Education Review, April, 2008 (subscription only)
• Vouchers for special-ed students By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, Washington Times, 04-30-08 Part II
• Placing test scores off limits hurts education Buffalo News, 04-14-08
• Reforming Drop-Out Rates By Marcus A. Winters and Jay P. Greene, New York Sun, 04-08-08
• Freston as Scapegoat By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, New York Sun, 11-08-07
• Merit Pay Will Improve NY's Schools, Providence Journal, 10-24-07
• The Myth of the Underpaid Teacher By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, Philadelphia Daily News, 02-07-07
• Teachers are better paid than you think By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, Providence Journal, 02-09-07
• School officials shouldn't go wobbly on social promotion By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, Examiner, 9-14-06
• Try altering incentives for teachers By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters, The Inquirer, 5-4-06
• The dropout crisis By Jay P. Greene & Marcus A. Winters, Examiner, 4-19-06
• Testing High-Stakes Tests: Can We Believe the Results of Accountability Tests? By Jay Greene, Marcus Winters & Greg Forster, TCRecord.com, 3-15-06

Reports

• New Jersey Teacher Salaries Are Comparable to Professional Pay Issue Brief 5, July 2010
• Black and Hispanic Charter Students More Likely To Gain Admission To Selective NYC High Schools Issue Brief 4, April 2010
• Everyone Wins: How Charter Schools Benefit All New York City Public School Students Civic Report 60, October 2009
• How Special Ed Vouchers Keep Kids From Being Mislabeled as Disabled Civic Report 58, August 2009
• The NYC Teacher Pay-for-Performance Program: Early Evidence from a Randomized Trial Civic Report 56, April 2009
• Grading New York: An Evaluation of New York City's Progress Reports Program Civic Report 55, October 2008
• Building on the Basics: The Impact of High-Stakes Testing on Student Proficiency in Low- Stakes Subjects Civic Report 54, July 2008
• The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence From Florida's McKay Scholarship Programs Civic Report 52, April 2008
• How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid? Civic Report 50, January 2007
• Getting Farther Ahead by Staying Behind: A Second-Year Evaluation of Florida's Policy to end Social Promotion Civic Report 49, September 2006
• Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School Graduation Rates Civic Report 48, April 2006
• An Evaluation of the Effect of D.C.'s Voucher Program on Public School Achievement and Racial Integration After One Year Education Working Paper 10, January 2006
• The Effect of Residential School Choice on Public High School Graduation Rates Education Working Paper 9, April 2005
• Public High School Graduation and College-Readiness Rates: 1991–2002 Education Working Paper 8, February 2005
• An Evaluation of Florida's Program to End Social Promotion Education Working Paper, December 2004
• Pushed Out or Pulled Up? Exit Exams and Dropout Rates in Public High Schools Education Working Paper 5, May 2004
• When Schools Compete: The Effects of Vouchers on Florida Public School Achievement Education Working Paper 2, August 2003
• Apples to Apples: An Evaluation of Charter Schools Serving General Student Populations Education Working Paper 1, July 2003
• Testing High Stakes Tests: Can We Believe the Results of Accountability Tests? Civic Report 33, February 2003
• Public School Graduation Rates in the United States Civic Report 31, November 2002

Testimony

• House Education and Labor Committee Hearing—Supporting America's Educators: The Importance of Quality Teachers and Leaders, 05-04-10

City Journal articles

• The Optimist, 4 June 2010
• Experience Doesn’t Teach, 27 April 2010
• How Not to Lay Off Teachers, 2 April 2010
• How New York Could Lose by Winning, 5 March 2010
• No State Left Behind, Winter 2010
• Stonewalling Charters, 8 January 2010
• Teachers’ Unions vs. Progress—Again, 14 December 2009
• How Efficient Are New York’s School Districts?, 1 October 2009
• Charters’ Promise, 28 September 2009
• Compstat for Teachers, 14 July 2009