EdWorkingPapers
Assessing School District Decision-Making: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic
… The COVID-19 pandemic drew new attention to the role of school boards in the U.S. In this paper, we examine school districts' choices of learning modality -- whether and when to offer in-person, virtual, or hybrid instruction …The COVID-19 pandemic drew new attention to the role of school boards in the U.S. In this paper, we examine school districts' choices of learning modality -- whether and when to offer in-person, virtual, or hybrid instruction -- over the course of the 2020-21 pandemic school year. The analysis takes advantage of granular weekly data on learning mode and COVID-19 cases for Ohio school districts.… more →
Teacher Policy and Racial/Ethnic Gaps in Access to Advanced Coursework: Evidence from Across the United States
… signal to college admissions officers, helps reduce the cost and time to complete a post-secondary degree, and increases … economic, and policy factors that are predictive of racial gaps in AP enrollment and access to DE across the …Advanced course-taking in high school sends an important signal to college admissions officers, helps reduce the cost and time to complete a post-secondary degree, and increases educational attainment and future earnings. However, Black and Hispanic students in the U.S. are underrepresented in Advanced Placement coursework and dual enrollment (i.e. early college). In this paper, we systematically… more →
Improving Average Treatment Effect Estimates in Small-Scale Randomized Controlled Trials
… Researchers often include covariates when they analyze the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), valuing the increased … to better model the relationship between the covariates and the outcomes. We conclude with a simulation, which …Researchers often include covariates when they analyze the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), valuing the increased precision of the estimates over the potential of inducing small-sample bias when doing so. In this paper, we develop a sufficient condition which ensures that the inclusion of covariates does not cause small-sample bias in the effect estimates. Using this result as a… more →
The Design of Promises: The Structure of Local College Affordability Programs in the United States
… (provision), where they may be used (applicability), and who may use them (eligibility). We perform three sets of … and more/less universal eligibility by examining the internal consistency of these sets of program rules. That … education … Higher education … The Design of Promises: The Structure of Local College Affordability …We analyze 314 local college affordability programs (i.e., “Promise” or “free college” programs) using a novel dataset detailing, for each program, rules stipulating what programs provide (provision), where they may be used (applicability), and who may use them (eligibility). We perform three sets of analyses. First, we ask whether programs can be cogently described as involving greater or lesser… more →
Scaffolding Middle-School Mathematics Curricula With Large Language Models
… highquality curriculum scaffolds, which we define as the adaptations and supplements teachers employ to ensure all students can … higher than those created by expert teachers in terms of alignment to learning objectives, accessibility to …Despite well-designed curriculum materials, teachers often face challenges implementing them due to diverse classroom needs. This paper investigates whether large language models (LLMs) can support middle school math teachers by helping create highquality curriculum scaffolds, which we define as the adaptations and supplements teachers employ to ensure all students can access and engage with the… more →
Impacts of Oversubscribed Boston Pre-K Programs through Middle School
… In this pre-registered study, we explored the impacts of Boston Pre-K on children’s educational trajectories, school progress/engagement, and academic achievement in late elementary and middle school …In this pre-registered study, we explored the impacts of Boston Pre-K on children’s educational trajectories, school progress/engagement, and academic achievement in late elementary and middle school using lotteries for oversubscribed schools in 2007-2011 (N=3,092 students; 24% of all applicants). Importantly, the program was unique nationally in its strong supports for teachers and in its use of… more →
From Population Growth to Demographic Scarcity: Emerging Challenges to Global Primary Education Provision in the Twenty-first Century
… Demographic pressures are reshaping the challenges faced by primary education systems around the … ways that carry significant implications for the landscape of global educational inequality. We first demonstrate highly … school size have emerged as child populations plateau and decline and decisions are made about system …Demographic pressures are reshaping the challenges faced by primary education systems around the world in ways that carry significant implications for the landscape of global educational inequality. We first demonstrate highly disequalizing demographic pressures on the world's educational systems today: persistent expansionary pressures burden some of the world's least-resourced educational… more →
Troublemakers? The Role of Frequent Teacher Referrers in Expanding Racial Disciplinary Disproportionalities
… Teachers’ sense-making of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined. Status categories, such as … can influence perceptions of student culpability, but the degree to which teachers’ initial identification of …Teachers’ sense-making of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined. Status categories, such as race, can influence perceptions of student culpability, but the degree to which teachers’ initial identification of student misbehavior exacerbates racial disproportionality in discipline receipt is unknown.This study provides the first systematic… more →
The Unintended Cost of Distance Learning: An Analysis of Child Maltreatment
… Education personnel play a crucial role in identifying and reporting child maltreatment. However, school closures … variations in remote learning instructional weeks in the United States during the 2020-21 school year. Utilizing … instruction experienced fewer screened-in allegations of school-aged children, but a higher substantiated …Education personnel play a crucial role in identifying and reporting child maltreatment. However, school closures amid COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this vital reporting system. I causally investigate how remote learning influenced trends in child maltreatment reports and risks, leveraging county-level variations in remote learning instructional weeks in the United States during the 2020-21 school… more →
The Role of State Education Regulation: Evidence from the Texas Districts of Innovation Statute
… Traditional public schools in the United States must comply with a variety of regulations on educational inputs like teacher certification, maximum class sizes, and restrictions on staff contracts. Absent regulations, …Traditional public schools in the United States must comply with a variety of regulations on educational inputs like teacher certification, maximum class sizes, and restrictions on staff contracts. Absent regulations, policymakers fear that troubled districts would make inappropriate decisions that would harm students. However, it is also possible that strict regulations hinder schools from… more →
Federal Stimulus Aid and School Finance: Lessons from the Great Recession
… In 2009, the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to combat the effects of the Great Recession and state revenue shortfalls, …In 2009, the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to combat the effects of the Great Recession and state revenue shortfalls, directing over $97 billion to school districts. In this chapter, we draw lessons from this distribution of fiscal stimulus funding to inform future federal intervention in school finance during periods of economic downturn. We find… more →
Mixed-Delivery Public Prekindergarten: Differences in Demographics, Quality, and Children’s Gains in Community-Based versus Public School Programs across Five Large-Scale Systems
… systems, with classrooms in both public schools and community-based settings. However, experts have long … City, Seattle, New Jersey, and West Virginia) to conduct the most comprehensive descriptive study of prekindergarten setting differences to date. Our public …Nearly all states with public prekindergarten programs use mixed-delivery systems, with classrooms in both public schools and community-based settings. However, experts have long raised concerns about systematic inequities by setting within these public systems. We used data from five large-scale such systems that have taken steps to improve equity by setting (Boston, New York… more →
The Effect of Four-Day School Week Adoption on Teacher Retention and Sorting
… As teacher shortages worsen across the U.S., many school districts have implemented a unique solution to attract and retain effective teachers: switching from the traditional … week to a four-day school week (4DSW). I use 17 years of teacher-level employment data from Texas in a …As teacher shortages worsen across the U.S., many school districts have implemented a unique solution to attract and retain effective teachers: switching from the traditional five-day school week to a four-day school week (4DSW). I use 17 years of teacher-level employment data from Texas in a difference-in-differences analysis to examine whether the 4DSW truly affects teacher retention and… more →
Exploring the Relationship Between Test-Optional Admissions and Selectivity and Enrollment Outcomes During the Pandemic
… colleges implemented test-optional admissions during the pandemic, making college entrance exam scores optional … applicants. We draw on descriptive, two-way fixed effects, and event study methods to examine variation in test-optional implementation during …Most selective colleges implemented test-optional admissions during the pandemic, making college entrance exam scores optional for applicants. We draw on descriptive, two-way fixed effects, and event study methods to examine variation in test-optional implementation during the pandemic and how implementation relates to selectivity and enrollment. For “test-optional” colleges during the pandemic,… more →
Does Feedback on Talk Time Increase Student Engagement? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial on a Math Tutoring Platform
… to express their thinking is pivotal to their learning of mathematical concepts. We introduce the Talk Meter, which provides in-the-moment automated … while in the other arm we show it to both the student and the tutor. We find that the Talk Meter increases student …Providing ample opportunities for students to express their thinking is pivotal to their learning of mathematical concepts. We introduce the Talk Meter, which provides in-the-moment automated feedback on student-teacher talk ratios. We conduct a randomized controlled trial on a virtual math tutoring platform (n=742 tutors) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Talk Meter at increasing student talk… more →
College Counseling in the Classroom: Randomized Evaluation of a Teacher-Based Approach to College Advising
… Guidance counselors provide the main source of college advising for low-income high school students, but … school seniors on postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and degree receipt. The course teaches about postsecondary …Guidance counselors provide the main source of college advising for low-income high school students, but are woefully understaffed in high-need schools. This paper evaluates an approach to school-based college advising that relies on teachers rather than counselors. Using a randomized control trial in sixty-two Michigan high schools, I estimate the effects of a college planning course for high… more →
Intersecting Inequalities: Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Differences in Math Achievement and School Contexts in California
… documents inequalities in educational opportunity and achievement by students’ race/ethnicity or socioeconomic … educational inequalities. We advance this burgeoning line of scholarship by charting math achievement trajectories and … Our findings show that SES does not translate into the same contextual or achievement advantages for students of …Past research extensively documents inequalities in educational opportunity and achievement by students’ race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status (SES). Less scholarship focuses on how race/ethnicity and SES interact and jointly contribute to educational inequalities. We advance this burgeoning line of scholarship by charting math achievement trajectories and school socioeconomic composition by… more →
Can Technology Transform Communication between Schools, Teachers, and Parents? Evidence from a Randomized Field Trial
… We study the adoption and implementation of a new mobile communication app among a sample of 132 New … parents. We provide participating schools with free access to the app and randomize schools to receive intensive support …We study the adoption and implementation of a new mobile communication app among a sample of 132 New York City public schools. The app provides a platform for sharing general announcements and news as well as engaging in personalized two-way communication with individual parents. We provide participating schools with free access to the app and randomize schools to receive intensive support (… more →
Teachers, Schools, and Pre-K Effect Persistence: An Examination of the Sustaining Environment Hypothesis
… The sustaining environments thesis hypothesizes that PreK … in Tennessee that found positive effects at the end of PreK that did not persist past kindergarten. These data were combined with teacher observation and school-level value-added scores from Tennessee’s formal …The sustaining environments thesis hypothesizes that PreK effects are more likely to persist into later grades if children experience high-quality learning environments in the years subsequent to PreK. This study tests this hypothesis using data from a statewide PreK randomized experiment in Tennessee that found positive effects at the end of PreK that did not persist past kindergarten. These… more →
Students' Grade Satisfaction Influences Evaluations of Teaching: Evidence from Individual-level Data and an Experimental Intervention
… surveys are widely used to evaluate university teaching and increasingly adopted at the K-12 level, although there remains considerable debate … correlation between student grades and their evaluations of instructors. Using individual-level data from 19,000 …Student surveys are widely used to evaluate university teaching and increasingly adopted at the K-12 level, although there remains considerable debate about what they measure. Much disagreement focuses on the well-documented correlation between student grades and their evaluations of instructors. Using individual-level data from 19,000 evaluations of 700 course sections at a flagship public… more →
Kumon In: The Recent, Rapid Rise of Private Tutoring Centers
… The increasing prevalence of private tutoring has received minimal scholarly attention … data on the universe of U.S. private tutoring centers to estimate the size and growth of this industry and to identify predictors of …The increasing prevalence of private tutoring has received minimal scholarly attention in the United States. We use over 25 years of geocoded data on the universe of U.S. private tutoring centers to estimate the size and growth of this industry and to identify predictors of tutoring center locations. We document four important facts. First, from 1997 to 2022, the number of private tutoring… more →
The effects of third-grade retention on multilingual students: A gateway or a gatekeeper?
… This paper estimates the effect of test-based grade retention on multilingual students … for ML-ELs to develop English language proficiency and master academic content or put them at increased risk of …This paper estimates the effect of test-based grade retention on multilingual students classified as English Learners (ML-ELs). This policy could provide an opportunity for ML-ELs to develop English language proficiency and master academic content or put them at increased risk of worse academic and labor market outcomes. I use a regression discontinuity design leveraging Texas’s test-based grade… more →
The Scaling Dynamics and Causal Effects of a District-Operated Tutoring Program
… Public school systems across the U.S. have made major investments in tutoring to support students’ academic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluate a large urban district’s efforts to design, implement, and scale a district-operated, standards-based tutoring …Public school systems across the U.S. have made major investments in tutoring to support students’ academic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluate a large urban district’s efforts to design, implement, and scale a district-operated, standards-based tutoring program across three years. We draw on extensive interviews and survey data to document the dynamic changes in the… more →
Does Course Structure Increase STEM Employment for Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Technology Training Programs? Evidence from LaunchCode
… coding bootcamps offered by LaunchCode (LC101, Women+, and CodeCamp) to understand if tailored structures within … participants were roughly twice as likely to complete both the course and the apprenticeship than similar LC101 … LC101 students or completers. This suggests the efficacy of gender-focused programming in reducing gender disparities …We examine three coding bootcamps offered by LaunchCode (LC101, Women+, and CodeCamp) to understand if tailored structures within coding bootcamp programs—designed for underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)—lead to increased program persistence for women, underrepresented minorities, and low-income individuals. We also examine if these tailored structures… more →
From Sentence-Corrections to Deeper Dialogue: Qualitative Insights from LLM and Teacher Feedback on Student Writing
… tool for enhancing student learning, encouraging revision, and increasing motivation and agency. Yet, teachers face many … and expert teacher (n = 12) feedback. Using a framework of dialogic writing feedback as our analytic lens, we … that LLMs primarily enacted corrective feedback at the sentence level and positioned students as novices …Effective writing feedback is a powerful tool for enhancing student learning, encouraging revision, and increasing motivation and agency. Yet, teachers face many challenges that prevent them from consistently providing effective writing feedback. Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have led educators and researchers to experiment with AI tools powered by large language… more →
Using Semantic Similarity to Assess Adherence and Replicability of Intervention Delivery
… an intervention works, they also want to understand why and under what circumstances interventions produce their … in high quality studies with strong causal claims. Of critical importance is determining whether an intervention … delivered with adherence to a standardized protocol, and the extent to which an intervention protocol can be …Researchers are rarely satisfied to learn only whether an intervention works, they also want to understand why and under what circumstances interventions produce their intended effects. These questions have led to increasing calls for implementation research to be included in high quality studies with strong causal claims. Of critical importance is determining whether an intervention can be… more →
The Geography of Gifted Education: Exploring School and Neighborhood Predictors of Access to Gifted & Talented Programs in New York City
… Black and Hispanic students participate in gifted education at lower rates than their share of general education public school enrollment would suggest, … larger shares of Black and Hispanic students, disrupting the historical geography of program access. We discuss …Black and Hispanic students participate in gifted education at lower rates than their share of general education public school enrollment would suggest, including within New York City's Gifted and Talented (G&T) admissions process. Debates over this disparity focus on how students are identified rather than where programs exist. This paper examines a related supply-side question by asking… more →
Effects of Dual-Language Immersion on Attendance and Reclassification in a Large Urban District
… immersion (DLI) programs have proliferated across the United States, yet evidence on their effects for English … limited. This study examines DLI's effects on attendance and reclassification—two outcomes that worsened for ELs … these differences disappear by third grade. By the end of elementary school, ELs in DLI reclassify at rates …Dual-language immersion (DLI) programs have proliferated across the United States, yet evidence on their effects for English Learner-designated (EL) students in large, diverse urban districts remains limited. This study examines DLI's effects on attendance and reclassification—two outcomes that worsened for ELs following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using restricted student-level data from the Los… more →
Using Gaussian Process Regression in Two-Dimensional Regression Discontinuity Designs
… to students if their scores on two inputs (e.g., math and English test scores) are above established cutoffs. This … regression discontinuity design (RDD) to analyze the effect of the educational treatment where there are two running …Sometimes a treatment, such as receiving a high school diploma, is assigned to students if their scores on two inputs (e.g., math and English test scores) are above established cutoffs. This forms a multidimensional regression discontinuity design (RDD) to analyze the effect of the educational treatment where there are two running variables instead of one. Present methods for estimating such… more →
Persisting Income-Based Preschool Enrollment Gap in the U.S., 2000 to 2023
… 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 …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 →
How Powerful Are Promises? A Systematic Review of the Causal Mechanisms and Outcomes of "Free College" Programs in the United States
… in U.S. higher education. Reviewing 88 studies of 25 state and local programs, I provide a nuanced picture of the mechanisms through which these programs may work and … Inequality … Program and policy effects … How Powerful Are Promises? A Systematic Review of the Causal Mechanisms and …“Free college” (sometimes called Promise) programs are common in U.S. higher education. Reviewing 88 studies of 25 state and local programs, I provide a nuanced picture of the mechanisms through which these programs may work and their likely effects on students, communities, and colleges. Some commonly-claimed mechanisms for these effects—e.g., improving secondary school environments or impacting… more →
The Long Shadow of School Closures: Impacts on Students’ Educational and Labor Market Outcomes
… Each year, over a thousand public schools in the US close due to declining enrollments and chronic low performance, displacing hundreds of thousands of students. Using Texas administrative data and …Each year, over a thousand public schools in the US close due to declining enrollments and chronic low performance, displacing hundreds of thousands of students. Using Texas administrative data and empirical strategies that use within-student across-time and within-school across-cohort variation, I explore the impact of school closures on students' educational and labor market outcomes. The… more →
Noncognitive Factors and Student Long-Run Success: Comparing the Predictive Validity of Observable Academic Behaviors and Social-Emotional Skills
… constructs such as self-e cacy, social awareness, and academic engagement are widely acknowledged as critical components of human capital, but systematic data collection on such … constraints. This study addresses this issue by comparing the predictive validity of two most widely used metrics on …Noncognitive constructs such as self-e cacy, social awareness, and academic engagement are widely acknowledged as critical components of human capital, but systematic data collection on such skills in school systems is complicated by conceptual ambiguities, measurement challenges and resource constraints. This study addresses this issue by comparing the predictive validity of two most widely used… more →
Optimal Allocation of Seats in the Presence of Peer Effects: Evidence from a Job Training Program
… We consider the case in which the number of seats in a program is limited, such as a job training program or a supplemental tutoring program, and explore the implications that peer effects have for which …We consider the case in which the number of seats in a program is limited, such as a job training program or a supplemental tutoring program, and explore the implications that peer effects have for which individuals should be assigned to the limited seats. In the frequently-studied case in which all applicants are assigned to a group, the average outcome is not changed by shuffling the group… more →
Heterogeneity in High School Career and Technical Education Outcomes
… High school Career and Technical Education (CTE) has received an increase in … in recent years. This study fills a needed gap in the growing research base by examining heterogeneity within the wide range of programs falling under the broader CTE umbrella, and …High school Career and Technical Education (CTE) has received an increase in attention from both policymakers and researchers in recent years. This study fills a needed gap in the growing research base by examining heterogeneity within the wide range of programs falling under the broader CTE umbrella, and highlights the need for greater nuance in research and policy conversations that often… more →
Why Does Education Increase Voting? Evidence from Boston’s Charter Schools
… In the United States, people with more education vote more. But, … to estimate charter attendance impacts for academic and voting outcomes. First, we confirm large academic gains for students in the sample of charter schools and cohorts investigated here. Second, we …In the United States, people with more education vote more. But, we know little about why education increases political participation or whether higher-quality education increases civic participation. We study applicants to Boston charter schools, using school lotteries to estimate charter attendance impacts for academic and voting outcomes. First, we confirm large academic gains for students in… more →
Deeper Learning Networks: Taking Student-Centered Learning and Equity to Scale
… One of the mysteries of education reform is how leaders and … have used to instantiate their equitable deeper learning models in diverse public school settings to serve students in …One of the mysteries of education reform is how leaders and educators can successfully instantiate, sustain, and spread student-centered pedagogical practices from a few schools to many others. Advocates for deeper learning grapple with this mystery as they seek to transform teaching and learning to prepare students to meet the demands of the 21st century and to close the opportunity gap between… more →
Subtraction by Addition: Do Private Scholarship Awards Lead to Financial Aid Displacement?
… Award displacement occurs when one type of financial aid award directly contributes to the change in the quantity of another award. We explore … Promise recipient’s actual cost of attendance, grants, and scholarships, as well as demographic and academic …Award displacement occurs when one type of financial aid award directly contributes to the change in the quantity of another award. We explore whether postsecondary institutions displaced awards in response to the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship by capitalizing on the doubling of the maximum Promise amount in 2012. We use de-identified student-level data on each Promise recipient’s actual cost of… more →
The Impact of Increased Exposure of Diversity on Suburban Students’ Outcomes: An Analysis of the METCO Voluntary Desegregation Program
… Over sixty years following Brown vs. Board of Education, racial and socioeconomic segregation and lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Across the country, voluntary desegregation busing programs aim to …Over sixty years following Brown vs. Board of Education, racial and socioeconomic segregation and lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Across the country, voluntary desegregation busing programs aim to ameliorate these imbalances and disparities. A longstanding Massachusetts program, METCO, buses K-12 students of color from Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts to 37… more →
Computationally Identifying Funneling and Focusing Questions in Classroom Discourse
… on their own thinking, deepening their understanding of math concepts. When teachers focus, they treat students’ … contributions as resources for collective sensemaking, and thereby significantly improve students’ achievement and confidence in mathematics. We propose the task of computationally detecting funneling and focusing …Responsive teaching is a highly effective strategy that promotes student learning. In math classrooms, teachers might funnel students towards a normative answer or focus students to reflect on their own thinking, deepening their understanding of math concepts. When teachers focus, they treat students’ contributions as resources for collective sensemaking, and thereby significantly improve… more →
Separate, but Better? Measuring School Spending Progressivity and its Association with School Segregation
… Recent public discussions and legal decisions suggest that school segregation will remain persistent in the United States, but increased transparency may help … system that is separate but equal—or better—in terms of spending? This question motivates further understanding …Recent public discussions and legal decisions suggest that school segregation will remain persistent in the United States, but increased transparency may help monitor spending across schools. These circumstances revive an old question: is it possible to achieve an educational system that is separate but equal—or better—in terms of spending? This question motivates further understanding the… more →
Washington School Finance: Exploring the History and Present-Day Challenges for Fiscal Equity
… In this forthcoming book chapter, the authors provide an in-depth description of the history and current issues pertaining to public school finance in …In this forthcoming book chapter, the authors provide an in-depth description of the history and current issues pertaining to public school finance in Washington State, including how recent federal stimulus funding impacted resource levels. The state uses a resource-based funding model, where the amount of funds each school district receives is based on the district’s enrollment level and a… more →
The Causal Effects of Federal Work-Study Offers on College Enrollment and Program Participation
… Federal Work-Study (FWS) is a distinctive type of financial aid, originally intended to both reduce financial constraints and improve access to career-relevant job opportunities. … tracking FWS offers, enrollment, and participation from the date of financial aid application, we study the causal …Federal Work-Study (FWS) is a distinctive type of financial aid, originally intended to both reduce financial constraints and improve access to career-relevant job opportunities. Prior research on FWS has primarily focused on post-enrollment, post-program-participation outcomes, leaving potential upstream margins of impact unexplored. Using a unique administrative data source tracking FWS offers… more →
What are Promises Made of? The Design of Local College Affordability Programs
… postsecondary education is populated by hundreds of state and local affordability initiatives sometimes referred to as … and who is eligible for them. But we know little about the details of their structuring, or about the prevalence of … … Post-secondary education … Higher education … What are Promises Made of? The Design of Local College Affordability …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 →
Exploring the Move Away from ‘Zero -Tolerance’ Policies: Evidence from Restorative Justice Practices in Texas and Michigan Schools
… This study examines the impact of statewide Restorative Justice (RJ) policy reforms in Michigan and Texas on student disciplinary outcomes and behavior, in …This study examines the impact of statewide Restorative Justice (RJ) policy reforms in Michigan and Texas on student disciplinary outcomes and behavior, in light of increasing concerns over the negative effects of zero-tolerance policies. As schools move away from exclusionary discipline practices, this research focuses on three primary questions: (1) Are these policies effectively implemented… 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
… This study evaluates the impact of a large-scale professional development program for general … of school-level program participation on grade 6 and grade 9 student mathematics and Swedish grades and …This study evaluates the impact of a large-scale professional development program for general classroom teachers in Sweden, the “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” (SFL) program. Linking program administrative data to national full population register data, we apply a dynamic difference-in-differences estimation of school-level program participation on grade 6 and grade 9 student… more →
Geographic and Community Influences on College Savings: Evidence from the Universe of Pennsylvania 529 Account Holders
… college savings behaviors are important determinants of students’ postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment. While prior work has examined how … to families’ college savings. Drawing from prior work on the role of place in shaping economic and educational …Families’ college savings behaviors are important determinants of students’ postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment. While prior work has examined how economic and sociological aspects of families shape savings behaviors, no study has examined how geographic or community-level factors relate to families’ college savings. Drawing from prior work on the role of place in shaping economic and… more →
Controlling For Measurement Error in Evaluation Models When Treatment Group Assignment is Based on Noisy Measures: Evaluation of an Achievement Gap-Closing Initiative
… This paper develops new models to evaluate the effects of interventions and intervention-by-site heterogeneity when treatment group …This paper develops new models to evaluate the effects of interventions and intervention-by-site heterogeneity when treatment group assignment is based on a fallible variable and the outcome of interest is determined in part by the corresponding true control variables (measured without error). The specific application concerns a school report card redesign in which school performance is evaluated… more →
Education and the Gender Gap in U.S. Presidential Elections
… Women in the United States have outpaced men in both voter participation and educational attainment in recent decades. Since education … we consider these trends in tandem and assess how much of the gender gap in voting is attributable to educational …Women in the United States have outpaced men in both voter participation and educational attainment in recent decades. Since education is closely tied to political participation, we consider these trends in tandem and assess how much of the gender gap in voting is attributable to educational attainment as opposed to cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, college preparation behaviors, and… more →
Integrating Minorities in the Classroom: The Role of Students, Parents, and Teachers
… We develop a multi-agent model of the education production function where investments of students, parents, and teachers are linked to the presence of minorities in the …We develop a multi-agent model of the education production function where investments of students, parents, and teachers are linked to the presence of minorities in the classroom. We then test the key implications of this model using rich survey data and a mandate to randomly assign students to classrooms. Consistent with our model, we show that exposure to minority peers decreases student effort… more →