College of Education

Education

PhD, History and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University 

Biography

Matt Kautz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling. His research uses historical methods to understand the roots and consequences of educational inequality and racism and how communities have challenged these with their own educational visions. He is currently working on a book manuscript that examines the solidification of the contemporary school-prison nexus in the decades following the Supreme Court’s Brown decision.

Interests and Expertise

Research Interests

• School-prison nexus
• History of Education
• Social Movements for Educational Change
• Democratic Leadership
• Urban Education

Courses

• 514-Organization and Administration of K-12 Schools
• 515-Instructional Leadership
• 812-Ethics and Philosophy for Educational Leaders

Publications and Presentations

Selected Publications

• Matthew B. Kautz, “From Segregation to Suspension: The Solidifcation of the Contemporary School-Prison Nexus in Boston, 1963-1985,” Special section on Public Education and the Carceral State in The Journal of Urban History, (Forthcoming).
• Matthew B. Kautz and Yianella Blanco, “Youth Historians and the Radical Possibilities of Writing History,” The History Teacher, 55, no. 4.

Selected Presentations

• “The School-Prison Nexus and the Rise of Mass Incarceration,” Malgeri Modern American Society and Culture Seminar, Massachusetts Historical Society, April 2023.
• Kristin Henning, Jason Nance, and Matt Kautz, “School Discipline and (De)Segregation,” The National Coalition on School Diversity, October 2021. https://discipline_ncsd.eventbrite.com
• “From Tutors to Collaborators: The Northern Student Movement, 1961-1966,” History of Education Society Conference, November 2021.
• “Suspending Integration: Boston Public Schools and the Making of a Police State,” History of Education Society Conference (Virtual), November 2020.