Rate My Professor Robert Maranto

Robert Maranto is Professor and Twenty-First Century Chair in Leadership in the Department of Education Reform, College of Education and Health Professions, at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in government from the University of Maryland. Appointed to the endowed chair in 2008, Maranto previously served as professor of political science at Villanova University and taught at Bryn Mawr College, Arizona State University, the University of Virginia, Lafayette College, James Madison University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern Mississippi. With over two decades of research, writing, and teaching on education and leadership, he has conducted fieldwork in more than 200 schools, served five years on his local school board, and more than ten years on a cyber charter school board. His research interests include the role of leaders in education, developing effective school leaders, incentives for working in low-performing schools, charter schools, civil service reform, political correctness in universities, and reforming urban schools.

Maranto's scholarship has garnered over 4,000 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include 'How do we get them on the farm? Efforts to improve rural teacher recruitment and retention in Arkansas' (2013), 'Boys will be superintendents: School leadership as a gendered profession' (2018), and 'Why they choose and how it goes: Comparing special education and general education cyber student perceptions' (2014). He has authored or co-authored 17 books, such as 'Beyond a Government of Strangers' (2005), 'President Obama and Education Reform' (2012), 'Educating Believers: Religion and School Choice' (2020), 'COVID-19 and Schools: Policy, Stakeholders, and School Choice' (2024, co-editor), 'School Choice in Europe' (2025, lead editor), and 'The Free Inquiry Papers' (2025). Since 2015, he has edited the Journal of School Choice, including special sections on COVID-19 and school reopening. Maranto's influence is evident in his repeated inclusion in Education Week's annual Edu-Scholar Influence Rankings, advancing to a tie for 103rd place in 2026. His work informs education policy on school choice, leadership, and reform.