It is with great sadness that we report the unexpected passing of one of our Editorial Board members, Professor Jaap Dronkers, on March 30, 2016. On Easter Sunday he was struck by a CVA, from which he did not recover.
Jaap served as a distinguished member of the Editorial Board of Educational Research and Evaluation from the very moment that the first issue was launched in April 1995. He published several articles in our journal and served as a Guest Editor for two Special issues: “Cross-National Studies in Student Performance With PISA and TIMSS Data” and “Education Markets and School Choice”. He reviewed many manuscripts for the journal, and thanks to his critical comments he substantially contributed to the quality of the published articles.
Jaap worked from 1990 until 2001 at the University of Amsterdam, first as Full Professor in Educational Science (1990–1999), and later as Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Pedagogy. From 1999 to 2001, he was Full Professor of Sociology, also at the University of Amsterdam.
Following a Professorship at the European University Institute in Florence (2001–2009), he returned to The Netherlands and became Honorary Professor at the University of Maastricht.
With Jaap Dronkers we lose one of the most influential educational scientists in The Netherlands and Europe. He published some two hundred articles and book chapters on inequality of educational opportunities, school quality, educational system differences, migrants, divorce, and nobility. His work appeared in the most renowned social-scientific journals. Until his death, he was active as a researcher and still published many important articles. He also appeared regularly in the news and social media with his research and communicated clearly his opinions about policy measures for which there was, in his view, a lack of evidence.
Jaap’s open-mindedness, integrity, erudition, and enthusiasm for educational research will be dearly missed by all scholars in our field. We are grateful for his work and his contribution to the journal.