Faculty
Robert Croninger
Associate
Professor
2110D
Benjamin Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-1818
croninge@umd.edu
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Joined faculty in 1997
Teaching and Research
Interests
Dr. Croninger has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Education Policy and Leadership since 1997, when he first came to the
University of Maryland. He earned an M.A. in Sociology from the College
of William and Mary (1976) and a Ph.D. in Education Studies from the
University of Michigan (1997). Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland,
he worked for 19 years as a Researcher and Associate Director with the
Programs for Educational Opportunity, a federally funded Desegregation
Assistance Center, in Ann Arbor, MI. Dr. Croninger teaches courses in
Quantitative Methods, Policy Analysis, the Sociology of Education, and
Educational Equity. His research focuses on how school policies and
practices affect the educational experiences of at-risk students. He
is especially interested in how the social organization of schools and
classrooms influences teaching, student learning, and the distribution
of educational opportunities. In both his research and teaching, he
tries to promote scholarship that is academically rigorous and useful.
In doing so, he hopes to contribute, albeit in a small way, to the improvement
of elementary and secondary schools within the state and across the
nation.
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Recent Publications
- Croninger, R. G., & Douglas, K. M. (2005). Missing
data and institutional research. In Umbach, P. D. (Ed.), Survey
research. Emerging Issues. New directions for institutional research,
#127 (Chapter 3, pp. 33-50). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Croninger, R. G., & Finkelstein, B. (in press). Listening to communities:
An ecological perspective on education and human services. In Furman-Brown,
G. (Ed.), School as community: From promise to practice. New
York: SUNY Press.
- Croninger, R. G., & Lee, V. E. (in press). Social capital and dropping
out of high school. Benefits to at-risk student of teachers' support
and guidance. Teachers College Record.
- Lee, V. E., Croninger, R. G., & Smith, J. B. (1997). Coursetaking,
equity, and mathematics learning: Testing the constrained curriculum
hypothesis in U.S. secondary schools. Educational Evaluation and
Policy Analysis, 19, 99-122.
- Lee, V. E., Smith, J. B., & Croninger, R. G. (1997). How high school
organization influences the equitable distribution of learning in
mathematics and science. Sociology of Education, 70, 128-150.
- Lee, V. E., Croninger, R. G., Linn, E., & Chen, X. (1996). The culture
of sexual harassment in secondary schools. American Educational
Research Journal, 33, 383-418.
- Lee, V. E., & Croninger, R. G. (1996). The social organization of
safe high schools. In K. M. Borman, P. W. Cookson, A. R. Sadovnik,
& J. Z. Spade (Eds.), Implementing educational reform: Sociological
perspectives on educational policy (pp. 359-392). Norwood, NJ:
Ablex Press.
- Lee, V. E., Croninger, R. G., & Smith, J. B. (1996). Equity and
choice in Detroit. In B. Fuller & R. F. Elmore (Ed.), Who chooses?
Who loses? Culture, institutions, and the unequal effects of school
choice (pp. 70-94). New York: Teachers College Press.
- Croninger, R. G., & Lee, V. E. (1995). Review essay. 'School Choice:
The Struggle for the Soul of American Education by Peter W. Cookson.'
Educational Policy, 9, 315-319.
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Presentations (Refereed)
- Career academies and the reform of American high schools. Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington DC, August
2000 (with D. J. Johnson).
- Resource generation, reallocation, or depletion: Economic and sociological
perspectives on school reconstitution. Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, April 2000 (with
J. K. Rice).
- Creating school failure: A case study of the effects of reconstitution
on pedagogical knowledge and practice. Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, April 2000 (with
D. E. Muncey & D. R. Jones).
- Schools-within-schools. A high school reform for what and for whom?
Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New
Orleans, LA, April 2000 (with D. J. Johnson & F. Bodone).
- Considerations for entry level students in schools-within-schools:
The interplay of social capital and student identity formation. Annual
Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans,
LA, April 2000 (with D. Oxley & E. DeGroot).
- Creating high performance learning communities. Annual Meeting of
the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada, April
1999.
- The impetus for creating social capital in American high schools.
Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal,
Canada, April 1999.
- Elements of social capital in the context of six high schools. Social
capital: An international conference bridging disciplines, policies,
and communities, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, April 1998
(With V. E. Lee).
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Awards
- 1998 Burke Aaron Hinsdale Scholar for Professional Promise, University
of Michigan, Educational Studies.
- 1998 Lester W. Anderson Memorial Award for Best Dissertation in
the Area of Secondary Education, University of Michigan, Educational
Studies.
- 1998 Best Dissertation Award, University of Michigan, Educational
Studies.
- 2000 Advisor of the Year Award, University of Maryland, University
Parent Association.
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Funded Research
- Researcher, High Quality Teaching of Foundational Skills in Mathematics
and Reading, Planning Grant. Funded by the National Science Foundation,
2000-2001.
- Co-Principal Investigator, National Partnership for Excellence and
Accountability in Education, Sub-contract for a study of the development
of schools as learning communities. Funded by the Office of Education
Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education, 1998-2000.
- Researcher, Study of Prince George's County Twenty-First Century
Schools Initiative. Funded by a partnership between Prince George's
County School District and the University of Maryland at College Park,
1998- 2000.
- Co-Principal Investigator, Social Capital and Its Effects on the
Academic Development of Adolescents At Risk of Educational Failure.
Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of
Education, 1996-1999.
Dr. Croninger's Curriculum
Vitae 
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Courses Taught
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