Dr. David Conley

Dr. Conley is Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership in the College of Education, University of Oregon. He is the founder and director of the Center for Educational Policy Research (CEPR), and founder and chief executive officer of EPIC, a 501(c)3 not-for profit educational research organization.

Before joining the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1989, he spent a total of 20 years in Colorado and California as a school-level and central office administrator in several districts, an executive in a state education department, and as a teacher in two public, multicultural, alternative schools.

In 2003, Dr. Conley completed a groundbreaking three-year research project to identify the knowledge and skills necessary for college readiness: Standards for Success (funded by the Washington, D.C.-based Association of American Universities and the Pew Charitable Trust). This project analyzed course content at a range of American research universities to develop the "Knowledge and Skills for University Success" standards. His most recent book, published in 2005 and based on this research, is College Knowledge: What It Takes for Students to Succeed and What We Can Do to Get Them Ready.

Over the past 12, years Conley has received over $15 million in grants and contracts from federal and state governments, national education organizations, and foundations to conduct research on issues such as adequacy funding, accountability systems, alternative methods of assessment, proficiency-based admission, and high school-college alignment. He has published the results of this research and other studies in numerous journal articles, technical reports, conference papers, book chapters, and books, including Who Governs Our Schools?, which analyzes changes in educational policy and governance structures at the federal, state, and local levels.