The Annenberg Institute at Brown University, in partnership with the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, offers this national working paper series to provide open access to high-quality papers from multiple disciplines and from multiple universities and research organizations on a wide variety of topics related to education. EdWorkingPapers focuses particularly on research with strong implications for education policy. EdWorkingPapers circulates papers prior to publication for comment and discussion; these papers have not gone through a peer review processes.
NEW EdWorkingPapers
Disparate Teacher Effects, Comparative Advantage, and Match Quality
Does student-teacher match quality exist? While prior research documents disparities in teachers' impacts across student types, it has not distinguished between sorting and causal effects as the drivers of these disparities. I develop a flexible disparate value-added model (DVA) and introduce a novel measure of teacher quality–revealed comparative advantage (CA)–that captures the degree to… more →
What are Promises Made of? The Design of Local College Affordability Programs
U.S. postsecondary education is populated by hundreds of state and local affordability initiatives sometimes referred to as “Promise programs”, many of which claim to make college free or tuition-free. These programs vary tremendously in terms of what they provide, where they can be used, and who is eligible for them. But we know little about the details of their structuring, or about the… more →
Unveiling Racism: A Systematic Review of Survey Measures of Racism in Education
Education policy research aimed at eliminating racism necessitates methodological innovation that fosters both equity-centered approaches and robust empirical analysis of the systemic nature of racism. Most quantitative research in educational psychology omits the racist environment that students in K-12 education exist in (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014; Strunk & Andrzejewski, 2023).
Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead? Evaluating the Effects of Virginia’s Workforce-Targeted Free College Program
Tuition-free college programs are gaining momentum as policymakers address rising college costs and workforce readiness. Despite their growing adoption, limited research examines how workforce-focused eligibility criteria impact student outcomes beyond enrollment. This pre-registered study employs two within-study quasi-experimental designs—regression discontinuity and difference-in-… more →
Buying time: Financial aid allows college students to work less while enrolled
Many empirical studies have found that financial aid improves college attainment. Few have been able to test why. This study used administrative records of employment and earnings to get a more complete picture of students’ finances during college and test one potential mechanism: financial aid buys students time by allowing them to work less in off-campus jobs. We studied recipients of New… more →
The inequity of opt-in educational resources and an intervention to increase equitable access
Billions of dollars are invested in opt-in educational resources to support struggling students. Yet, there is no guarantee these students will use these resources. We report results from a school system’s implementation of on-demand tutoring. The take up was low. At baseline, only 19% of students ever accessed the platform and low-performing students were even less likely to log in. We… more →