If we compare this year’s Edu-Scholar top 25 to 2011’s, there are a lot of familiar faces--and some interesting movement. New to the top ten this year, from 2011, are Terry Moe, Richard Arum, and David Cohen. Moe rocketed up the chart, from 34th to sixth, with a big assist from his influential new treatise Special Interest. David Cohen’s jump was similarly impressive, as he shot from 35th to tenth.

New to the top 20 from last year are Dan Koretz, Bob Pianta, and Camilla Benbow. And new to the top 25 from last year were Andy Porter and Jay Greene. (See just below for the 2012 Top 25, and the second table for 2011’s Top 25).

2012 Top 25 RHSU Edu-Scholar Rankings

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2011 Top 25 RHSU Edu-Scholar Rankings

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It’s no surprise that there’s a lot of stability when it comes to bodies of work, in terms of influential scholarship and books authored. But I find it interesting that there’s also a lot of consistency year-over-year as to which scholars are most visible when it comes to the press, blogs, and even Amazon standing.

This year, Arum, Diane Ravitch, and Linda Darling-Hammond, in that order, racked up the most appearances in the mainstream press. A year ago, in 2010, Ravitch, Rick Hanushek, and Darling-Hammond were tops.

In the education press, this year, the top three were Ravitch, Arum, and Darling-Hammond. The three outpaced everyone else by a good distance. A year ago, in 2010, Ravitch, Darling-Hammond, and Hanushek topped the category, outpacing everyone else by a mile.

When it came to Amazon rankings, this year, the top scorers were Ravitch, Arum, and Darling-Hammond. A year ago, in 2010, they were Ravitch, Darling-Hammond, and Richard Elmore.

Finally, this past year, three universities placed more than one scholar within the top 25. The leaders were: Stanford, with seven scholars; Harvard, with four; and NYU, with three. That’s remarkably similar to the 2011 results, when Stanford placed seven scholars in the top 25; Harvard four; the University of Virginia three; NYU two; and Columbia Teachers Colleges two.