Laura Schifter, Ed.D.

Senior Fellow, K12 Climate Action initiative Aspen Institute

Laura Schifter, Ed.D., is a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she teaches courses on federal policy and special education. Laura is also a senior fellow with the Energy and Environment program at the Aspen Institute leading the K12 Climate Action initiative and a fellow with the Century Foundation. Previously, she worked as the policy director for Education 2020, a coalition of organizations advocating for a comprehensive vision to advance education birth through career, a senior education and disability advisor for Rep. George Miller (D-CA) on the Committee on Education and Labor, and an education fellow for Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. She also taught elementary school in San Francisco. Schifter earned an Ed.D. in Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice and an Ed.M. in Mind, Brain, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in American Studies from Amherst College.

Press Clippings:

• “Back to a Normal Level of Crazy | Laura Schifter,” OnEducation Podcast, January 2021. 41:10
• The ADA Has Fallen Short for Black Students. It’s Past Time to Fix That. EdWeek, 2020.
• Racial Differences in Special Education Identification, Harvard EdCast, 2020.
• Income Differences Alone Cannot Explain the Overrepresentation of Students of Color in Special Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2020.
• Advocate’s Reaction in POLITICO Weekly Education, 2019.
• Big school bond with reforms, new pitch to presidential candidates, EdSource, 2019.
• The Better Question: How can we improve inclusive education?, Education Next, 2018.
• One Year After Landmark Special Education Decision, Gaps Remain, The Century Foundation, 2018.
• Vouchers for students with disabilities aren’t always what they seem, Harvard Medium, 2017.
• OPINION: Will Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions stumble over his history on disabled students?, Hechinger Report, 2017.