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NEW EdWorkingPapers
Head Start Plus: The Case for Piloting a Cadillac Public ECE Program
The long-term impacts of early childhood education (ECE) programs at scale are smaller than those produced by influential demonstration programs half a century ago. Several factors likely contribute, some of which are in the control of policymakers and the designers of ECE programs (e.g., targeting and quality), and some of which are not (quality of conditions for children not served by ECE… more →
23 Years of State Pre-K Expansion: How States Balance Investment, Access, and Quality in the Modern Era
We describe state-funded pre-kindergarten (pre-K) expansion in the modern era from 2002 to 2024, documenting patterns of investment and reach. Although spending and enrollment increased substantially, states pursued widely varying expansion strategies. A 200% increase in pre-K enrollment did not reduce spending on enrolled children. Instead, we observed an average increase of 21% in per-pupil… more →
Unpacking Treatment Effect Heterogeneity in a Large-Scale Dropout-Prevention Experiment
Timely high school completion is a critical step in successful transitions to post-secondary schooling and the labor market. This randomized controlled trial, deployed in two urban, disadvantaged school districts, tests the effectiveness of a mature and comprehensive student-support program on an unusually large scale (n=2,528). While overall effects on graduation rates are small and… more →
Mapping the Mechanisms of Interdisciplinary Learning Transfer from Reading to Math Achievement: Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial
Far transfer—the application of learning across distant domains—remains elusive in intervention research, and even when it is found, its mechanisms remain unclear or unexplored. This study analyzes data from the Model of Reading Engagement (MORE), a sustained content literacy intervention implemented in Grades 1-3 that demonstrated positive treatment effects on both near transfer reading and… more →
Tracking to Retain Higher-Income Students: Evidence from the Addition of Advanced Courses
Public schools may introduce academic tracks to attract or retain higher-income students. The role of intra-school policies in shaping higher-income families’ demand for public schools has been underexplored. Using variation in the timing of advanced course introductions in Texas high schools, I find that adding an advanced course increases lower-income students’ share of higher-income… more →
Do Faculty Affect Student Partisanship?
We study whether Democratic college professors make their students more liberal. We link voter data to salary records from 33 state flagships and show that faculty skew Democratic, especially in the humanities and social sciences. We then use student transcripts from one flagship to estimate causal effects. Students become more liberal during college regardless of major and sort toward… 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?
Weigh in: What’s on your mind regarding AI and the teaching profession? >>
We’ll soon record a conversation about the future of the teaching profession in an AI-enabled education system, grounded in two recent EdWorkingPapers.
Maya Kaul representing Landscape Analysis of the Teaching Profession
Dorottya Demszky representing Practitioner Voices Summit: How Teachers Evaluate AI Tools through Deliberative Sensemaking
Constance Lindsay, EdWorkingPapers Review Board member, facilitating the conversation