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The Details Matter: A Systematic Review of School Choice Policy and Implementation Research
At least one-third of students no longer attend their neighborhood public schools due to the growth of school choice policies. We systematically review the empirical literature on nine key elements of policy that affect how choice works (e.g., transportation, information, and choice school accountability). We conclude, first, that many aspects of choice policy improve access to choice schools.… more →
How do government regulations affect private school decisions to participate in choice programs? Experimental evidence from a national sample
School choice legislation continues to expand in the United States. Currently, 35 states plus Washington, D.C., offer some form of a private K-12 choice program, which allows families to receive a taxpayer subsidy to offset the costs of sending their children to a private school or other private education provider. Some have argued for more stringent regulations under these programs to hold… more →
The Effects of Standalone Digital Learning Programs on PreK–12 Mathematics and Science Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Most reviews of educational technology pool programs that supplement teachers with programs that teach on their own. We synthesized 68 randomized controlled trials (147 effect sizes) of standalone digital learning programs in PreK–12 mathematics and science, compared with traditional in-person classroom instruction. Using correlated and hierarchical effects models with robust variance… more →
Does in-service training in special education increase the effectiveness of general classroom teachers? Evidence from the large-scale “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” program in Sweden
Causal evidence on the effectiveness of general teacher training in special education is scarce. This study evaluates the “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” (SFL) program, a professional development program for general classroom teachers in Sweden involving approximately 60,000 teachers. Linking program administrative data to full-population register data, we estimate dynamic difference… more →
Navigating Conflicting Pressures: How Districts Spend Federal COVID-19 Relief Funds
Federal COVID-19 relief funds provided a large increase in school district revenue, with fewer requirements than usual. Districts received widespread criticism, based on little systematic evidence, for spending federal funds slowly or ineffectively. Institutional theories predict a common response to funds across districts, while other theories predict variation in use of these funds. How have… more →
Interpreting Null Effects in Education: Insights from a Tutoring Experiment
We learn not only from when interventions work—but also from why they do not. Policymakers embraced high impact tutoring to address pandemic learning loss, but scaling promising practices is difficult, and not all implementations prove effective. Using random assignment, we find null (math and a low-stakes reading test) and negative (-0.09 SD on state reading scores) impacts from assignment to… more →
EdWorkingPapers in the News
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Education Week reports on a dashboard that forecasts district-level teacher turnover, built by Joshua Bleiberg of the University of Pittsburgh and Tuan Nguyen of the University of Missouri. It cites their October working paper's estimate that turnover was about 14.6% in 2025-26 and is projected to fall to 13.2% the following year.
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Connect Education's weekly research roundup for parents features two EdWorkingPapers on tutoring. One tests ways to get more Arkansas families to sign up for free literacy tutoring; the other, by Huffaker and colleagues, looks at a Texas district's virtual tutoring program that did not deliver.
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A SIEPR news story summarizing the new working paper by Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne on school and staffing counts after pandemic enrollment losses. It relays their findings that school numbers were essentially unchanged while teacher counts rose, and includes Dee's comments on district responses.
Policy and Practice Series
EdTalks
Centering Teachers in the AI Era
What happens when teachers are treated as professional decision-makers, not just end users of AI tools?
Watch the conversation about the future of the teaching profession in an AI-enabled education system, grounded in two recent EdWorkingPapers.