Taylor Odle
Taylor Odle
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Taylor Odle (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As an applied quantitative policy scholar, his work leverages causal inference and data science techniques to study issues in the economics of education with a specific focus on college access and success. Throughout this work, Taylor uses field experiments and quasi-experimental evaluations to study “what works” for improving students’ transitions to and through college—and at reducing inequality. Much of this research focuses on college admissions practices, financial aid, and college advising examined through research-practice partnerships. He is a faculty affiliate in Data Science, the Institute for Research on Poverty, the Institute for Diversity Science, and the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Education Sciences. He teaches courses in the economics of education, higher education policy, quantitative methods, and cost-effectiveness. Taylor is ranked among the nation's top scholars who influence education policy and practice. He is also the 2026 recipient of the Early Career Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy, and his work received the 2023 Raymond Vernon Memorial Award from the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management.
Taylor has secured over $3 million in competitive awards and contracts as Principal Investigator since 2020, and his work has been published in leading peer-reviewed outlets, including the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Economics of Education Review, Educational Researcher, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance and Policy, The Journal of Higher Education, The Review of Higher Education, and Research in Higher Education. These works have also been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, The Hill, Forbes, Bloomberg, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and others.
Among other roles at UW-Madison, Taylor co-chairs the university's Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid; represents UW-Madison's faculty on the Universities of Wisconsin System Shared Governance Council; sits on the Director's Advisory Council of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the executive committee of the Data Science Institute; serves on the School of Education's Budget Committee and the Office of Research and Scholarship's advisory board; and is a member of the steering committee of the Public Representation Organization of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate. Taylor is also a member of the editorial boards of The Journal of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and the American Journal of Evaluation.
Taylor is a former Summer Fellow with the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and his dissertation, Three Essays in Economics, Education Policy, and Inequality, was supported by an AERA-NSF Dissertation Grant and won the 2023 American Educational Research Association (Division J) Outstanding Dissertation Award.
Taylor holds a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania, an A.M. in statistics and data science from The Wharton School, and a M.Ed. in higher education from Vanderbilt University. He previously led fiscal policy and research activities for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, apprenticed at MDRC and the National Student Clearinghouse, and interned with the College Board and U.S. Senate.
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