Art Wise first came to national prominence as the author of Rich Schools, Poor Schools: The Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity. That 1968 book conceived the idea of the school finance reform lawsuit. Since then, a majority of state supreme courts have ordered the equalization of state school finance systems, boosting spending in poor districts and narrowing the disparity with affluent districts.

Wise served as president of NCATE (The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) from 1990 to 2008. At NCATE he introduced performance-based accreditation and led efforts to develop a system of quality assurance for the teaching profession. He is co-author of A License to Teach, a blueprint for the professionalization of teaching.

His 1979 book, Legislated Learning, anticipated the call for teacher professionalism. As senior social scientist and director of the RAND Corporation's Center for the Study of the Teaching Profession, he proposed education policies concerned with teacher licensing, teacher evaluation, and teacher compensation. Many of these proposals have been incorporated into state laws and regulations.

Long active in federal education policy, Wise was associate director for research, National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Subsequently, at the Office of Management and Budget, he helped to create the separate, cabinet-level Department of Education. On a number of occasions he has testified before Congress on policies to improve education and educational research.

Wise's previous positions include: associate dean and associate professor of education at the University of Chicago; captain in the U.S. Army and assistant director of research at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point; and Visiting Scholar, ETS. He is a graduate of the Boston (Public) Latin School , Harvard College , and received an MBA and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago . He has made hundreds of presentations, published scores of articles, and has been the recipient of numerous awards.

He is President Emeritus of NCATE and currently serves as chair, Board of Directors of the North Carolina-based Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ).