Professor (PhD)
Available for Graduate Advisement
Office: WH 277
(905) 688-5550 ext. 6707
lvolante@brocku.ca
Louis Volante (PhD) is a Professor of Education Governance and Policy Analysis at Brock University and a Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT / Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG). He has also held Visiting Professor appointments in England (University College London), the Netherlands (UNU-MERIT), and Canada (University of Toronto). Among his various leadership roles, Dr. Volante is the current President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE) and Past-President of the Canadian Educational Researchers’ Association (CERA).
Professor Volante is an expert with UNESCO’s Inclusive Policy Lab and a member of the United Nations University Migration Network. He recent served on the Executive of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE), which develops and updates standards for the evaluation field across North America. Dr. Volante regularly engages as a consultant and policy advisor for International Organisations as well as regional and national governments around the world.
Professor Volante’s research is primarily focused on global education governance, comparative education policy, international education surveys and policy diffusion, inequality in educational opportunities and achievement, and impact evaluation of policies and programs. His scholarship is widely cited in both academic and policy communities and has been generously supported by international and national agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). He is currently leading a five-year SSHRC project with Professors Don Klinger (University of Waikato) and Melissa Siegel (UNU-MERIT), which examines the relationship between migrant integration policies and student achievement outcomes. He is fortunate to have a publication record that has included collaborations with over 100 academics in more than 25 countries.
Among his various distinctions, Professor Volante is a two-time recipient of the R.W.B. Jackson Publication Award, which is awarded annually by CSSE to recognize the most outstanding English language journal article. He has been featured as an educational change expert by research societies such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA). At Brock University, Professor Volante teaches graduate courses that focus on politics and policy in education, educational leadership, educational change, comparative education, and innovative assessment. At the undergraduate level, he teaches courses in assessment/evaluation as well as research methods. Louis completed his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto with a focus on policy studies after receiving a UofT Open Scholarship from the School of Graduate Studies.
My current research is focused on the following interconnected themes:
- Global education governance
- Comparative education policy
- International education surveys and policy diffusion
- Inequality in educational opportunities and achievement
- Impact evaluation of policies and programs
- American Educational Research Association (AERA)
- Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)
- Canadian Educational Researchers’ Association (CERA)
- Canadian Evaluation Society (CES)
- Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE)
- Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)
- UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab
- United Nations University Migration Network
- World Education Research Association (WERA)
Edited Books
Volante, L., & Schnepf, S., & Klinger, D. (Eds.) (2022). Cross-national achievement surveys for monitoring educational outcomes: Policies, practices, and political reforms within the European Union. Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2eefff1b-e21a-11ec-a534-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
Chapters in Books
Volante, L., & Klinger, D. A. (in press). Migrant integration, equality of opportunity, and education policy: a scoping review with future research and strategic planning implications. In M. Sardoc, (Ed.), Handbook of Equality of Opportunity. Springer.
Volante, L. (in press). The PISA pendulum: Political discourse and education reform in the age of global reference societies. In P. Mattei, X. Dumay, E. Mangez, & J. Behrend (Eds.), OUP Handbook on Education and Globalization. Oxford University Press.
Refereed Journal Articles
Volante, L., & Klinger, D. A. (2022). PISA, global reference societies, and policy borrowing: The promises and pitfalls of academic resilience. Policy Futures in Education. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14782103211069002
Volante, L., Lara, C., Klinger, D. A., & Siegel, M. (2022). Academic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A triarchic analysis of education policy developments across Canada. Canadian Journal of Education, 45(4), 1112-1140.
Hassan, E., Groot, W., & Volante, L. (2022). Education funding and learning outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review of reviews. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 1-13. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666374022000577
Volante, L. & Klinger, D. (2021). PISA and education reform in Europe: Cases of policy inertia, avoidance, and refraction. European Education, 53(1), 45-56.
Volante, L., Klinger, D., & Siegel, M. (2021). Confronting the challenge of immigrant and refugee student underachievement: A comparative analysis of education policies and programs in Canada, New Zealand, and England. Comparative and International Education, 49(2), 35-50.
Volante, L., DeLuca, C., Baker, E., Harju-Luukkainen, H., Heritage, M., Schneider, C., Stobart, G., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2020). Synergy and tension between large-scale and classroom assessment: International trends. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 39(4), 21-29
Volante, L., Lara, C., Klinger, D., & Siegel, M. (2020). The use of a multi-dimensional support model to examine policies and practices for immigrant students across Canada. Canadian Journal of Education, 43(1), 121-169. [Note: Winner of the R.W.B. Jackson Award]
Non-Refereed Articles
Volante, L., & Klinger, D. A. (in press). COVID-19 and the learning loss dilemma: the danger of catching up only to fall behind. Education Canada.
Volante, L., Klinger, D., & Siegel, M. (2021). Immigrant student resilience: Policy directions for a post-COVID world. Migration Policy Practice, 11(2), 39-43. https://publications.iom.int/books/migration-policy-practice-vol-xi-number-2-july-september-2021
Volante, L., Klinger, D., & Barrett, J. (2021). Academic resilience in a post-COVID world: A multi-level approach to capacity building. Education Canada, 61(3), 32-34. https://www.edcan.ca/articles/academic-resilience-in-a-post-covid-world/
Conversation Articles
Volante, L., & DeLuca, C., & Klinger, D. A. (2023, February). ChatGPT and cheating: 5 ways to change how students are graded. The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-cheating-5-ways-to-change-how-students-are-graded-200248
Klinger, D. A., Klinger, C. R., & Volante, L. (2022, April 18). High school grades matter for post-secondary study, but is pandemic assessment fair? The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/high-school-grades-matter-for-post-secondary-study-but-is-pandemic-assessment-fair-177187
Volante, L., Klinger, D., Tossutti, L., & Siegel, M. (2021, April 19). Student achievement depends on reducing poverty now and afterCOVID-19. The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/student-achievement-depends-on-reducing-poverty-now-and-after-covid-19-153523. Explainer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mUkoNO8dU
Volante, L., Wyse, D., & Gutierrez, G. (2021, February 1). ‘School choice’ policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class. The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/school-choice-policies-are-associated-with-increased-separation-of-students-by-social-class-149902
Volante, L., DeLuca, C., & Klinger, D. (2020, November 9). University admissions tests like the SAT are under scrutiny especially in the age COVID-19. The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/university-admissions-tests-like-the-sat-are-under-scrutiny-especially-in-the-age-covid-19-142963
Volante, L. (2020, April 7). What will happen to school grades during the coronavirus pandemic? The Conversation Canada. https://theconversation.com/what-will-happen-to-school-grades-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-135632
Policy Briefs
Borgonovi, F., & Volante, L. (2020). PISA 2018 indicates gender reading gaps are closing: Is it time to celebrate? European Training Network – Outcomes and Causal Inference in International Comparative Assessment Brief Series (ETN-OCCAM). https://international-education.blog/en/pisa-2018-indicates-gender-reading-gaps-are-closing-is-it-time-to-celebrate/ [Note: This brief is available in English, German and Spanish]
Principal Investigator – SSHRC Insight Grant – $129,141 (2017-2023)
Immigrant Student Achievement and Education Policy: A Pan-Canadian Analysis. Collaborators: Don Klinger (University of Waikato) & Melissa Siegel (UNU-MERIT / Maastricht Graduate School of Governance)
- EDBE 8P71: Student Assessment, Practice and Policy (Undergraduate)
- EDUC 4P80: Research Methods in Education (Undergraduate)
- EDUC 5P21: Comparative and International Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P42: Innovative Practices in Curriculum/Assessment (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P62: Politics, Power, and Policy in Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P63: Accountability and Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P72: Effecting Change in Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P73: Challenges in Educational Leadership (Graduate)
- EDUC 5P87: Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness (Graduate)
