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Emily K. Penner
Discipline Beyond Suspensions: Racial/Ethnic Disparities Across the Spectrum of Disciplinary Actions
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceLittle research examines whether the alternatives to suspension reduce racial/ethnic discipline disparities. Using unusually rich administrative data from a large district in the South, we investigate how schools use a range of disciplinary actions and the racial/ethnic gaps in their use. School… more →
Cultural Relevance at Scale: The Effects of an Ethnic Studies Expansion on Academic Outcomes
Ethnic Studies is a culturally relevant curriculum designed to address the instructional needs of an increasingly diverse student population. However, evidence regarding its effectiveness at scale remains limited. This study evaluates the impact of district-wide implementation using a student-… more →
Gifted Identification Across the Distribution of Family Income
Nicholas Ainsworth, Aaron J. Ainsworth, Christopher Cleveland, Leah R. Clark, Quentin Brummet, Emily K. Penner, Jacob Hibel, Andrew Saultz, Michelle Spiegel, Paul Hanselman, Andrew Penner.Topics: Student LearningCurrently, 6.1 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive gifted education. Using education and IRS data that provide information on students and their family income, we show pronounced differences in who schools identify as gifted across the distribution of family income. Under 4… more →
School-Based Disability Identification Varies by Student Family Income
Nicholas Ainsworth, Christopher Cleveland, Leah R. Clark, Jacob Hibel, Quentin Brummet, Andrew Saultz, Emily K. Penner, Michelle Spiegel, Paul Yoo, Juan Camilo Cristancho, Paul Hanselman, Andrew Penner.Topics: Student LearningCurrently, 18 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive additional supports through the identification of a disability. Socioeconomic status is viewed as central to understanding who gets identified as having a disability, yet limited large-scale evidence examines how disability… more →
The Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Workforce: Descriptive Evidence on Demographics and Turnover from Oregon
Early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services for children with disabilities have expanded substantially across the U.S. over the past few decades, necessitating efforts to recruit and retain a qualified workforce to meet their needs. Despite widespread reports of… more →
Peer Income Exposure Across the Income Distribution
Michelle Spiegel, Leah Clark, Thurston Domina, Emily K. Penner, Paul Hanselman, Paul Yoo, Andrew M. Penner.Topics: Families and CommunitiesChildren from families across the income distribution attend public schools, making schools and classrooms potential sites for interaction between more- and less-affluent children. However, limited information exists regarding the extent of economic integration in these contexts. We merge… more →
Less is More: The Causal Effect of Four-Day School Weeks on Employee Turnover
The use of four-day school weeks (4dsw) in the United States has expanded rapidly over the past two decades. Previous work examines the impact of 4dsw on student outcomes, but little research to date examines the effect on school employees even though schools in some locales have adopted 4dsw to… more →
Should They Pay, or Should I Go? Differential Responses to Base Salary Increases
This study uses administrative data from Oregon to estimate the extent to which base salary increases reduce teacher turnover and to investigate whether these effects are heterogeneous by teacher characteristics. Using multiple sets of fixed effects to isolate plausibly exogenous variation in… more →
Access to Ethnic Studies in California Public Schools
We examine access to high school Ethnic Studies in California, a new graduation requirement beginning in 2029-30. Data from the California Department of Education and the University of California Office of the President indicate that roughly 50 percent of public high school students in 2020-21… more →
Revolving School Doors? A Longitudinal Examination of Teacher, Administrator and Staff Contributions to School Churn
Non-teaching staff comprise over half of all school employees and their turnover may be consequential for school operation, culture, and student success, yet we lack evidence documenting their attrition. We use 11 years of administrative data from Oregon to examine mobility and exit among… more →
Troublemakers? The Role of Frequent Teacher Referrers in Expanding Racial Disciplinary Disproportionalities
Topics: Student Well-BeingTeachers’ sense-making of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined.
School Discipline and Racial Disparities in Early Adulthood
Miles Davison, Andrew M. Penner, Emily K. Penner, Nikolas Pharris-Ciurej, Sonya R. Porter, Evan Rose, Yotam Shem-Tov, Paul Yoo.Topics: Student Well-BeingDespite interest in the role of school discipline in the creation of racial inequality, previous research has been unable to identify how students who receive suspensions in school differ from unsuspended classmates on key young adult outcomes. We utilize novel data to document the links between… more →
Teacher Effects on Student Achievement and Height: A Cautionary Tale
Topics: MethodsTags: AssessmentEstimates of teacher “value-added” suggest teachers vary substantially in their ability to promote student learning. Prompted by this finding, many states and school districts have adopted value-added measures as indicators of teacher job performance. In this paper, we conduct a new test of the… more →
My Brother’s Keeper? The Impact of Targeted Educational Supports
Topics: Student LearningTags: Race, ethnicity, and education, Culturally responsive schooling, Social and emotional learningThe My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Challenge developed by President Obama supports communities that promote civic initiatives designed to improve the educational and economic opportunities specifically for young men of color. In Oakland, California, the MBK educational initiative features the African… more →
Restorative for All? Racial Disproportionality and School Discipline Under Restorative Justice
Topics: Student Well-BeingThe well-documented racial disparities in school discipline have led many school districts in the U.S. to adopt restorative justice practices. The restorative justice philosophy differs from traditional disciplinary action by placing an emphasis on restitution and improving behavior rather than… more →
Stress in Boom Times: Understanding Teachers’ Economic Anxiety in a High Cost Urban District
Despite growing concern over teachers’ ability to live comfortably where they work, we know little about the systematic impacts of affordability on teachers’ well-being, particularly in high-cost urban areas. We use novel survey data from San Francisco Unified School District to identify the… more →