Angela Boatman

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Higher Education, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University

Angela Boatman is a higher education scholar whose work focuses on the evaluation of college access and completion policies, particularly in the areas of remediation, financial aid, and community college student success. Her research explores the outcomes of policies designed to increase college completion for populations traditionally underrepresented in higher education, and to identify the pathways and mechanisms which aid in students’ postsecondary success. Her work informs policy discussions at institutional, state, and national levels as to the most effective ways in which to move more students into, and successfully through, postsecondary education.

Dr. Boatman is currently conducting several large-scale studies on the impact of innovations in the delivery of remedial courses, including the use of instructional technology, on collegiate student outcomes.  With support from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she is examining the impact of technology-centered instruction in remedial courses on students’ long-term academic success.  This work explores the timing of remediation, looking at the effects of high school-based programs compared to courses offered in college, particularly for students further down the academic preparation distribution. Additional projects include the evaluation of state transfer policies for community college students, and the ways in which principles of behavioral economics can better inform the design and delivery of federal student loan programs.

Dr. Boatman is a faculty affiliate of the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) housed at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, and the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University. She holds a doctoral degree in Higher Education from Harvard University and a M.P.P in Public Policy and a M.A. in Higher Education, both from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the faculty at Vanderbilt, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University, and an intern at the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) researching state tuition, fees, and financial aid policies.

Professor Boatman teaches courses in the economics of higher education, the management of colleges and universities, and public policy issues and analysis.