Robert Berne

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Centers & Institutes

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The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is home to research and policy centers, institutes, and initiatives that focus on solving urban problems and strengthening public policy and public service nationally and around the world.

The Financial Access Initiative (FAI) is a consortium of researchers at NYU, Yale, Harvard and IPA focused on finding answers to how financial sectors can better meet the needs of poor households.

Since its founding in 1994, the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has become the leading academic research center in New York City devoted to the public policy aspects of land use, real estate development and housing.

The Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS) is a research and education center founded in January 1998, located at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and directed by Professor Rae Zimmerman. ICIS promotes interdisciplinary approaches to planning, building, and managing the complex world of civil infrastructure systems to meet their social and environmental objectives.

A university-wide, multidisciplinary enterprise, the Institute for Education and Social Policy was founded by former Wagner Dean and NYU Executive Vice President Robert Berne, the Aaron Diamond Foundation's Norm Fruchter, and NYU Steinhardt School of Education Dean Ann Marcus. The Institute investigates urban education issues and studies the impact of public policy on students from poor, disadvantaged, urban communities.

New York University is proud to announce the establishment of the John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The Center is named in honor of NYU President Emeritus and former Member of Congress, Dr. John Brademas.

The NYUAD Center for Global Public Service and Social Impact's mission is to advance international understanding and effective practice for strengthening the global public service as a driver of social impact in a constantly changing international environment. It is designed to support the entrepreneurial, effective and efficient production of public value by governments, nongovernmental organizations and private social ventures, by working through networks of scholars, opinion leaders and senior executives across the world.

Housed within the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) creates collaborative learning environments that break down this isolation, foster needed connections and networks, and yield new and practical insights and strategies.

Established in 1996 at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and named in September 2000 in recognition of a generous gift from civic leader Lewis Rudin, the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management is currently led by Mitchell Moss.

The Mission
The purpose of the project is to create and convene an interdisciplinary network of thinkers and doers (the "Network") that could help with making the transition from closed-and-centralized to open-and-collaborative institutions of governance.

The Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is a central address for Jewish communal and social policy, both on the web and in its home at NYU Wagner. Named for its principal funder, The Berman Foundation, BJPA's primary focus is on making the vast amount of policy-relevant material accessible and available to all those who seek it.

Global forces are dramatically changing the environments of children, youth and adults both in the United States and throughout the world. First- and second-generation immigrant children are on their way to becoming the majority of children in the U.S., bringing linguistic and cultural diversity to the institutions with which they come in contact.

NYU Wagner is affiliated with the Nathan Kline Institute, the National Hispanic Health Foundation, and the Transatlantic Policy Consortium.

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Ranked #6 in Public Affairs by U.S. News & World Report, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service educates the future leaders of public, nonprofit, healthcare and private sector organizations addressing the world's critical issues.

Students who wish to take only a few courses at Wagner must apply as a non-degree student by the appropriate deadlines; however, non-degree and advanced certificate applicants are not eligible for scholarship consideration.

NYU Wagner offers more than 150 different courses, allowing students to select not only by degree and specialization within that degree, but also by topic area.

Capstone is learning in action. Part of the core curriculum of the MPA and MUP programs at NYU Wagner, the Capstone program combines critical learning with an opportunity to perform a public service.

The flexible and fluid world of public service requires a broad and transferable education. Housed in a school of public service, rather than a school of public policy or public affairs, the Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy program at NYU Wagner educates professionals committed to public service in all sectors.

NYU Wagner's Health Policy and Management program has been recognized as one of the best in the country. Located in a school of public service rather than in a medical or public health school, our program crosses traditional boundaries, linking management, finance, and policy, and provides students with the cutting-edge concepts and skills needed to shape the future of health policy and management.

NYU Wagner's Master of Urban Planning program prepares students for the full set of challenges of today's cities, balancing development, community needs and social justice, provision of critical public services, sustainability and security.

Through theoretical and methodological training, Wagner's doctoral students learn how to produce insights required for effective and equitable public and nonprofit programs and policies.? Our program is interdisciplinary, flexible, and provides a wide range of academic opportunities for students.

With a powerful professional network and a flexible curriculum, the Executive MPA program helps mid-career professionals prepare for the highest levels of public service leadership.

NYU Wagner offers a number of dual degrees in conjunction with other NYU schools. Programming and academic resources can include exclusive speaker events, tailored orientations and designated faculty and administrative advisors.

The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service offers a set of courses and minors open only to undergraduates. All of the courses are taught by Wagner School faculty who are recognized experts in their fields and provide students with an opportunity to explore some of the most important public policy issues facing policy-makers and practitioners at the local and national level today.

Students arrive at NYU with the desire to serve the public. They leave with the skills and experience to bring about change. Combining coursework in management, finance and policy with cutting-edge research and work experience in urban communities, the NYU Wagner education will enable you to transform your personal commitment into public leadership.

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These procedures supplement the Student Disciplinary Procedures of New York University, as approved by the vote of the Wagner school faculty on December 16, 2010.

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Composing Your Career is a guide to help you on your path to work that matters to the public and to you.

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NYU Wagner's Office of Career Services (OCS) provides students and alumni with the resources needed to build successful public service careers. Explore our resources for Job seekers and employers.

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Date	Publication/Paper
2005	Stiefel, L., Schwartz, A.E., Berne, R. & Chellman, C. 2005. *School Finance Court Cases and Disparate Racial Impact: The Contribution of Statistical Analysis in New York.* Education and Urban Society, February 2005, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp 151-173. Abstract Although analyses of state school finance systems rarely focus on the distribution of funds to students of different races, the advent of racial discrimination as an issue in school finance court cases may change that situation. In this article, we describe the background, analyses, and results of plaintiffs' testimony regarding racial discrimination in Campaign for Fiscal Equity Inc. v. State of New York. Plaintiffs employed multiple regression and public finance literature to show that New York State's school finance system had a disparate racial impact on New York City students. We review the legal basis for disparate racial impact claims, with particular emphasis on the role of quantitative statistical work, and then describe the model we developed and estimated for the court case. Finally, we discuss the defendants' rebuttal, the Court's decision, and conclude with observations about the role of analysis in judicial decision making in school finance.
2000	Stiefel, L., Berne, R., Iatarola, P. & Fruchter, N. 2000. *High School Size: The Effects on Budgets and Performance in New York City.* Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Spring. Abstract Combines budget and performance information to study the effects of high school size. Suggests that since small high schools are more effective for minority and poor students, and the budget per student is found to be similar for small and large schools, policymakers might support the creation of more small high schools. (SLD)
1999	Berne, R., Stiefel, L., Ladd, H.F., Chalk, R. & Hansen, J.S. 1999. *Concepts of Equity: 1970 to Present.* Equity and Adequacy Issues in Education Finance: Background Papers, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. .
	Berne, R., Fruchter, N. & Parrish, T. 1999. *Financing Special Education: Proposed Reforms in New York City.* in Thomas Parrish, Jay Chambers, and Cassie Guarino, eds., Funding Special Education, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corw.
	Berne, R. & Stiefel, L. 1999. *School Site Based Financing in Large U.S. Cities.* in Margaret Goertz and Allan Odden, eds., School-Based Financing, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corw.
1998	Berne, R., Moser, M. & Stiefel, L. 1998. *Equity and Efficiency in K-12 Education: Thirty Years of History.* in Stuart Nagel, ed., Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 9. Stanford, Conn.: JAI Press.
	Stiefel, L., Rubenstein, R. & Berne, R. 1998. *Intra-District Equity in Four Large Cities: Methods, Data, and Results.* Journal of Education Finance, Volume 23, No. 4, Spring 1998, pp 447-467. Abstract Reviews the school-level resource-allocation literature and presents findings of a study of school-district expenditures in Chicago, Forth Worth, New York, and Rochester. Horizontal equity results show that in Chicago, New York, and Fort Worth, most coefficients of variation are below 0.15. Rochester's system is slightly less equitable. For general funds, all cities show mixed vertical-equity results.
	Iatarola, P. & Stiefel, L., Fruchter, N., Berne, R. 1998. *The Effects of Size of Student Body on School Costs: New York City High Schools.* Small Schools, Big Imaginations: A Creative Look at Urban Public Schools. Edited by Fine, Michelle and Janis Somerville. Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform. View Book Abstract School reform leaders from Chicago (Illinois), Denver (Colorado), New York (New York), Seattle (Washington), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and Los Angeles (California) created the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform to work to improve urban education so that all urban youth are well-prepared for postsecondary education, work, and citizenship. Papers in this volume provide insights into an approach advocated by the Cross City Campaign, the small schools movement.
1997	Berne, R. & Stiefel, L. 1997. *Student-Level School Resource Measures.* in William J. Fowler, editor, Selected Papers in School Finance. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center on Education Statistics, NCES 97-536.
	Berne, R., Moser, M. & Stiefel, L. 1997. *The Coming of Age of School-Level Finance Data.* Journal of Education Finance, Vol. 22, No. 3, Winter 1997, pp 246-254. Abstract Discusses implications for school finance data collection and analysis of shifting to schools as key management and policy units. Discusses questions that school-level data can answer concerning resource utilization efficiency, effectiveness, intent, and equity. Outlines conceptual issues (school definition and identification) and database realities. Illustrates issues problems, and principles, using examples from Rochester, New York.
1996	Berne, R. 1996. *Cost-Effectiveness in Education, A Synopsis.* Albany, N.Y.: New York State Board of Regents.
	Berne, R., Ascher, C. & Fruchter, N. 1996. *Hard Lessons: Public Schools and Privatization.* New York, NY: Twentieth Century Fund. .
	Berne, R. 1996. *Measuring and Reporting Financial Condition.* in James Perry & Associates, Handbook of Public Administration, Second Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
1995	Berne, R. & Fruchter, N. 1995. *A Modest Proposal for Improving New York State's Educational Outcomes.* in Temporary New York State Commission on Constitutional Revision, Effective Government Now for the New Century. Albany, N.Y.: Temporary New York State Commission on Constitutional Revision.
	Berne, R. & Netzer, D. 1995. *Discrepancies Between Ideal Characteristics of a Property Tax System and Current Practice in New York.* in David Monk, editor, Final Report. Study on the Generation of Revenues for Education. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Board of Regents, February 3. Published in Journal of Education Finance, Vol. 21, No. 1, Summer 1995, pp 38-56.
	Berne, R., Cipollina, N., Netzer, D. & Stiefel, L. 1995. *Estimating the Fiscal Impact of Secession: The Case of Staten Island and New York City.* Public Budgeting and Financial Management, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 1995, pp 147-169.

Although analyses of state school finance systems rarely focus on the distribution of funds to students of different races, the advent of racial discrimination as an issue in school finance court cases may change that situation. In this article, we describe the background, analyses, and results of plaintiffs' testimony regarding racial discrimination in Campaign for Fiscal Equity Inc. v. State of New York. Plaintiffs employed multiple regression and public finance literature to show that New York State's school finance system had a disparate racial impact on New York City students. We review the legal basis for disparate racial impact claims, with particular emphasis on the role of quantitative statistical work, and then describe the model we developed and estimated for the court case. Finally, we discuss the defendants' rebuttal, the Court's decision, and conclude with observations about the role of analysis in judicial decision making in school finance.

Combines budget and performance information to study the effects of high school size. Suggests that since small high schools are more effective for minority and poor students, and the budget per student is found to be similar for small and large schools, policymakers might support the creation of more small high schools. (SLD)

Reviews the school-level resource-allocation literature and presents findings of a study of school-district expenditures in Chicago, Forth Worth, New York, and Rochester. Horizontal equity results show that in Chicago, New York, and Fort Worth, most coefficients of variation are below 0.15. Rochester's system is slightly less equitable. For general funds, all cities show mixed vertical-equity results.

Robert Berne
NYU Executive Vice President for Health

Contact Details

Areas of Expertise

Robert Berne

Robert Berne NYU Executive Vice President for Health

Contact Details

Areas of Expertise

Robert Berne
NYU Executive Vice President for Health