Kenneth Wong’s Impact: Transforming Urban Education Policy at Brown University and Beyond

Celebrating Professor Emeritus Wong's career of scholarship, visionary leadership, and dedication to equity in urban education.

Dr. Kenneth Wong, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor Emeritus of Education Policy and Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Political Science.

When Dr. Kenneth Wong, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor Emeritus of Education Policy and Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Political Science, founded the Urban Education Policy (UEP) program at Brown University, he sought to create a pipeline of leaders capable of confronting systemic challenges facing urban schools. Nearly two decades later, that vision has helped shape the trajectories of UEP students and alumni, as well as education policy and practice in Rhode Island.

The Founding Vision: A New Era in Graduate Education

Wong designed the UEP program as a yearlong, intensive graduate curriculum integrating policy analysis, quantitative skills, and practical engagement with urban communities. From the start, he emphasized a small, diverse, and collaborative cohort model that fosters mentorship, research opportunities, and leadership development.

Reflecting on the program’s origins, Wong described its creation as one of his “signature accomplishments,” noting that “with commitment and support from faculty colleagues in the Education Department and the Annenberg Institute over the years, UEP has earned its national reputation as a rigorous academic program for our next generation of urban education policy change agents.”

“Launching the UEP master’s program nearly 20 years ago faced a unique challenge at Brown when the dominant academic culture was undergraduate centric,” Wong explained, noting that as one of the university’s earliest master’s programs, UEP helped set the stage for Brown’s broader commitment to multidisciplinary graduate education.

“Dr. Wong’s Systems and Governance course was one of my first introductions to the Urban Education Policy program, and it immediately set the tone for the depth and rigor that define UEP,” said Sam Stockwell, UEP'20 and Director of Communications and Strategy at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. “The class was a fantastic immersion into the complex, overlapping systems of governance that shape the experiences of students and educators. His depth of knowledge and understanding of how policy, leadership, and systems interact left a lasting impression that continues to inform how I think about educational improvement.”

Dr. Kenneth Wong founded the Urban Education Policy (UEP) program at Brown University. Nearly two decades later, that vision has helped shape the trajectories of UEP students and alumni, as well as education policy and practice in Rhode Island.

A Legacy of Changemakers

The UEP program quickly became a model for training education policy leaders. Alumni now serve in state education departments, urban district offices, charter schools, policy organizations, and philanthropy. In Rhode Island, they have shaped Race to the Top, the state’s funding formula, and charter accountability. Nationally, they have taken on roles in Providence, Boston, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago, among others, launching or supporting charter schools, after-school initiatives, community engagement, and college access programs.

Wong said that one of his proudest achievements has been establishing the Urban Education Fellowship, which “for about 20 years has enabled dozens of UEP and MAT graduates to support high-needs schools, districts, and communities in Rhode Island upon graduation.” He added that he remains inspired by updates from alumni on their career trajectories and “ideas on how to improve urban education policy and schooling opportunities for all students.”

“Dr. Wong’s leadership has never been about personal recognition, but about transforming systems and reshaping policy,” reflected Ramona Santos Torres, UEP'24 and UEF recipient, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Parents Leading for Educational Equity. “His humility has always belied the magnitude of his impact, and generations of students, scholars, and education leaders, myself among them, are better because he believed that meaningful change begins with reimagining the structures that shape learning and opportunity. He believed in his students not just as learners, but as changemakers, capable of tackling the most complex challenges in education with courage, intellect, and purpose. I am deeply grateful for Dr. Wong’s generosity with his time and expertise; he has always been willing to answer questions, offer thoughtful guidance, and support both students and community leaders. He exemplifies what it means to lead with integrity, humility, and care, and his legacy will continue to shape the way we learn, teach, and build a more just education system.”

Dr. Wong with the Urban Education Policy Class of 2024.

Research and Scholarship

Trained as a political scientist, Wong has researched education policy, federalism, school governance, policy innovation, and accountability systems. His study of mayoral involvement in urban school systems is the most comprehensive nationwide, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. He has also examined charter school effectiveness, education finance, and the intersection of governance and equity. Further, Wong has advised policymakers at every level, including the U.S. Congress, U.S. Secretaries of Education and Interior, governors, state legislatures, mayors, and urban school systems.

In Rhode Island, Wong has applied his policy research, often in collaboration with UEP students, to improve education quality and strengthen state and local systems. He played a central role in designing the state’s 2010 school funding formula, which “redistributed much-needed resources to high-needs communities” such as Providence and Central Falls. “The guiding principles of the formula remain largely intact up to the present,” he noted. More recently, with support from the Annenberg Institute, he partnered with the City of Central Falls to help re-establish local school governance after more than thirty years of state control.

"Dr. Wong is an exemplary public intellectual. Combining his mentorship, teaching, and research, he's impacted education on the international, national, state, and local levels,” said Jonathon Acosta, Ph.D., UEP'16, Rhode Island State Senator and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. “Collectively, his former students and colleagues touch the lives of millions of students in and outside of classrooms. Never content to just sit in an Ivory Tower, Dr. Wong supported Rhode Island in creating a funding formula and worked to make sure that Brown MAT and UEP graduates embedded themselves in the local education landscape. We are indebted to Dr. Wong for his contributions to education and hope to live up to the example he's set for us all."

In Rhode Island, Dr. Wong has applied his policy research, often in collaboration with UEP students, to improve education quality and strengthen state and local systems.

A Look Ahead and the Continuing Legacy

In the classroom, Wong taught across public policy, political science, and urban studies. Courses included policy redesign, implementation, and evaluation; the politics of education reform; intergovernmental relations and federalism; and American politics. UEP students benefited from training that blended theory and practice, equipping them not only as policymakers but also as critical “consumers” of reliable evidence and research design.

As he looks to the future, Wong plans to extend his focus beyond the United States. “I am excited to get more involved in the international policy arena,” he said. “As global relationships become increasingly uncertain, there is an urgent need to create new learning and research opportunities for global understanding, respect, collaboration, and governance.”

The program’s momentum continues under new leadership. Dr. Emily Kalejs Qazilbash, the current Director of the Urban Education Policy program, affirmed the program's commitment to Wong’s founding principles: "Dr. Wong established a model of rigorous, practice-based policy education built on an unwavering commitment to equity. Our responsibility now is to honor that vision by expanding our reach and preparing the next generation of change agents to meet the evolving challenges of urban education."

Reflecting on his time at Brown, Wong described founding and leading the UEP program as “incredibly meaningful,” adding that “together, we have helped prepare a group of leaders to address the challenges of urban education. I am grateful for the opportunity to have built this program at Brown, and I look forward to seeing how it continues to grow and serve both the local community and the field at large.”