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NEW EdWorkingPapers
Why aren’t online learning programs working better in schools: Maybe they need to be more integrated with what is actually taught during whole classroom instruction?
Computer-assisted learning (CAL)—educational software providing instruction to help students learn concepts and skills—is ubiquitous in US schools. Despite meta-analyses suggesting benefits, national test scores have declined during rapid CAL adoption. This may reflect insufficient research on how and when CAL complements instruction. Using a fixed effect model, we find 60 additional minutes… more →
Heterogeneous Fadeout of Cognitive Gains: Evidence from Head Start Preschool
Fadeout is defined as the decline in an intervention's initial treatment effect in subsequent follow-up periods. This paper uses the Head Start Impact Study to examine heterogeneity in the fadeout of cognitive gains from access to Head Start preschool. I find that Black children experience substantially less fadeout than non-Black children and retain a 0.23 standard deviation gain at the end… more →
Immigration Enforcement Actions and Empty Desks: Persistent and Acute Attendance Effects
How do changes in immigration policy affect student attendance? We use student-by-day administrative records from a mid-sized school district to estimate the causal effect of heightened federal immigration enforcement following the January 2025 presidential inauguration on student attendance using a difference-in-differences design.
Assistant Principals’ Career Aspirations: Exploring the Supply Side of the School Leadership Pipeline
Most assistant principals (APs) seek to become principals in the future. However, little is known about why some APs aspire to the principalship while others wish to remain in the AP role. This study examines the factors that predict APs’ aspirations to the principalship, which is key to understanding the supply of future principals.
Impact of States' Adoption of Response to Intervention (RTI) on Disability Identification
The rise of specific learning disability (SLD) identification from 1975 to the early 2000s prompted the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to permit states to use a student's response to intervention (RTI) in eligibility determination to improve identification. Single-state studies report that RTI adoption reduced SLD identification by 11% to 15%.
Persisting Income-Based Preschool Enrollment Gap in the U.S., 2000 to 2023
This study aims to understand whether access to early childhood education (ECE) has become more equitable over a period of substantial growth in public pre-K investment. This study describes and statistically tests the differential trends across income groups in center-based ECE enrollment among 3- and 4-year-olds. Across descriptive, regression, and decomposition analyses, the income-based… more →
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.