Rate My Professor Hope Casto

Hope Casto, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Department Chair in Education Studies at Skidmore College. She holds a Ph.D. in Learning, Teaching, and Social Policy from Cornell University, an M.S. in Educational Studies from the University of Edinburgh, an M.A. in Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in History of Art from Haverford College. Her academic specializations encompass educational policy, politics, and law; multicultural education; school and society; and rural school-community relationships. Casto's research examines school-community partnerships, rural education challenges, universal pre-kindergarten implementation, child care access, and community capacity in educational contexts.

Casto has an extensive publication record in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, policy briefs, and reports. Notable articles include "Leading for educational equity and community vitality: A comprehensive school-community framework" (School Community Journal, 2024, co-authored with LeBeau and Sipple); "Child care deserts in New York State: Factors related to the community capacity to care for children" (Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2020, with Sipple and McCabe); "We're nine miles from the Board building, but the perception is that we're 100 miles away out in farm country": The case of a rural school in a non-rural district (Journal of Rural Studies, 2019); "Community aware education policy: Enhancing individual and community vitality" (Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 2016, with McGrath, Sipple, and Todd); "Just one more thing I have to do: In search of sustainable school community partnerships" (School Community Journal, 2016); and "A Typology of School-Community Relationships: Partnering and Universal Pre-Kindergarten Policy" (Educational Policy, 2016, with Sipple and McCabe). Book chapters feature "Continuous program improvement through an integrated student support system" (2024, with Lee) and "Rural school-community partnerships: Creating community-aware educational practices" (2022, with Sipple). Earlier contributions include policy briefs such as "How schools can help communities in NYS" (2009, with Sipple and Blakely) and reports on universal pre-kindergarten and early care in rural New York (2008-2009, with Sipple, McCabe, and others). Her scholarship, cited over 340 times on Google Scholar, advances understanding of equitable educational practices and rural policy impacts.