EdWorkingPapers
Heterogeneous Major Preference for Extrinsic Incentives: The Effects of Wage Information on the Gender Gap in STEM Major Choice
… Despite the growing evidence of informational interventions on college and major choices, we know little about how such light-touch …Despite the growing evidence of informational interventions on college and major choices, we know little about how such light-touch interventions affect the gender gap in STEM majors. Linking survey data to administrative records of Chinese college applicants, we conducted a large-scale randomized experiment to examine the STEM gender gap in the major preference beliefs, application behaviors,… more →
Deeper Roots Before the Storm: Utilizing Machine Learning to Alert School Districts of Permanent School Closures
… The increasing rate of permanent school closures in U.S. public school districts … presents unprecedented challenges for administrators and communities alike. This study develops an early-warning … the degree to which they could predict mass closures using enrollment, financial, and demographic predictors. …The increasing rate of permanent school closures in U.S. public school districts presents unprecedented challenges for administrators and communities alike. This study develops an early-warning indicator model to predict mass closure events - defined as a district closing at least 10% of its schools - five years in advance. Leveraging administrative data from the National Center for Education… more →
Cheaper (and more effective) by the dozen: Evidence from 12 randomized A/B tests optimizing tutoring for scale
… Over the course of 12 rapid randomized experiments, we optimize an … educational approaches yet has remained difficult to scale due to high costs. We adaptively test and improve a technology-enabled tutoring program to enhance …Over the course of 12 rapid randomized experiments, we optimize an educational tutoring program. Tutoring is one of the most effective educational approaches yet has remained difficult to scale due to high costs. We adaptively test and improve a technology-enabled tutoring program to enhance cost-effectiveness and scalability. Results show that seven of twelve tests led to efficiency improvements… more →
The Effect of School-Based Health Centers on Adolescent Mental Health and Behavior
… mental health has experienced significant declines in the past decade, yet take-up of mental health services has remained low among adolescents. … has meaningful impacts on adolescent mental health and behavior. I study the effect of school-based health …Adolescent mental health has experienced significant declines in the past decade, yet take-up of mental health services has remained low among adolescents. This paper examines whether localized access to mental health services has meaningful impacts on adolescent mental health and behavior. I study the effect of school-based health centers — full-service clinics located in K-12 schools that offer… more →
Structured Choice: School Segregation at the Intersection of Policy and Preferences
… segregation as a phenomenon that emerges from the intersection of public policy and individual decision-making. Contemporary scholarship on …This paper conceptualizes segregation as a phenomenon that emerges from the intersection of public policy and individual decision-making. Contemporary scholarship on complex decision-making describes a two-step process—1) Editing and 2) Selection— and has emphasized the individual decision-maker’s agency in both steps. We build on this work by exploring, both theoretically and empirically, how… more →
Attendance Practices in High-Absenteeism Districts
… Educational policymakers, leaders, and researchers are paying increasing attention to student attendance and chronic absenteeism, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though researchers have documented …Educational policymakers, leaders, and researchers are paying increasing attention to student attendance and chronic absenteeism, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though researchers have documented the consequences and causes of absenteeism, there is limited empirical evidence about what schools and districts are actually doing to improve attendance. This study presents evidence… more →
Loss of Schooling from Tropical Cyclones: Evidence from 13 Low- and Middle-income Countries
… Increasing educational attainment is one of the most important and effective tools for health and economic improvements. The …Increasing educational attainment is one of the most important and effective tools for health and economic improvements. The extent to which extreme climate events disrupt education, resulting in fewer years of schooling and reduced educational attainment, remains under-studied. Children in low- and middle-income countries may be uniquely vulnerable to loss of schooling after such disasters due… more →
Entering and Exiting the Foster Care System: Implications for Absenteeism Among Child Welfare Involved Youth
… their status as a foster youth is not static, with many of them entering and exiting the foster care system over time. These dynamics of entry and …While foster youth miss more school versus their non-foster counterparts, their status as a foster youth is not static, with many of them entering and exiting the foster care system over time. These dynamics of entry and exit can represent particularly crucial transition periods of stability and instability that may differentially influence absenteeism. Yet, there is a dearth of studies that have… more →
The Role of Education-Industry Match in College Earnings Premia
… known about whether matching one’s degree with an industry of work improves employment and earnings. We leverage a novel education-industry … variation in earnings. We document which fields have the most and least education-industry matching, how match …Many states incentivize college students to major in fields aligned with specific, often “in-demand” industries. While their goal is often to raise students’ labor market outcomes, little is known about whether matching one’s degree with an industry of work improves employment and earnings. We leverage a novel education-industry crosswalk applied to student and worker panel data covering over 295… more →
More Often or Longer? The Effects of the Academic Schedule on Postsecondary Academic Outcomes
… One of the most common scheduling decisions in higher education … week). However, the two structures may have different pros and cons for both students and faculty and it is ambiguous … data from a large public university in the Midwest to examine the effects of the academic schedule on …One of the most common scheduling decisions in higher education is the determination of biweekly or triweekly classes. On the surface, these two formats are equivalent in terms of the number of minutes in a course (75 minutes twice a week or 50 minutes three times a week). However, the two structures may have different pros and cons for both students and faculty and it is ambiguous which course… more →
Using Large Language Models to Analyze Preservice Teacher Feedback and Reflections During Clinical Teaching
… This study analyzes over 11,000 supervisor evaluations and PST reflections from a Texas teacher preparation program using large language models to extract measures of feedback quality and content. Supervisor feedback often …Clinical teaching is vital for preservice teacher (PST) development, yet field supervisors’ roles are understudied. This study analyzes over 11,000 supervisor evaluations and PST reflections from a Texas teacher preparation program using large language models to extract measures of feedback quality and content. Supervisor feedback often lacks key quality indicators: less than half of evaluations… more →
In the Wake of Dobbs: The Effect of State Abortion Bans on Women's College Choices
… This paper studies the impact of state reproductive rights laws on women’s human capital … in magnitude in the 2022-23 college application season, and persisted in the 2023-24 college application season. … …This paper studies the impact of state reproductive rights laws on women’s human capital decisions after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). Using data from the Common App, the undergraduate college admission application, I implement a difference-in-differences design that compares high-achieving women’s… more →
The Lasting Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on K-12 Schooling: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Teacher Survey
… reports findings from a nationally representative survey of K-12 teachers in May 2023 that examines the potential long-term impacts of COVID-19 on public … ways in which school operations, instructional practice and parent-teacher interaction have changed since the …This paper reports findings from a nationally representative survey of K-12 teachers in May 2023 that examines the potential long-term impacts of COVID-19 on public schooling. The findings suggest fundamental ways in which school operations, instructional practice and parent-teacher interaction have changed since the pandemic. Some changes seem promising; others suggest caution. While… more →
Does Corequisite Remediation Work for Everyone? An Exploration of Heterogeneous Effects and Mechanisms
… The landscape of developmental education has experienced significant shifts … over the last decade nationwide, as more than 20 states and higher education systems have transitioned from the … students with varying levels of academic preparation. Using difference-in-differences and event study designs, we …The landscape of developmental education has experienced significant shifts over the last decade nationwide, as more than 20 states and higher education systems have transitioned from the traditional prerequisite model to corequisite remediation. Drawing on administrative data from Tennessee community colleges from 2010 to 2020, this study examined the heterogeneous effects of corequisite reform… more →
A Profile of Career and Technical Education Teachers in the 21st Century
… Though Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers are pivotal to … use nationally-representative data to describe changes in the nation’s CTE teacher workforce during a period of significant policy changes. Today’s CTE teachers are more …Though Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers are pivotal to students’ academic and career outcomes, research describing CTE teachers remains scant. In this study, we use nationally-representative data to describe changes in the nation’s CTE teacher workforce during a period of significant policy changes. Today’s CTE teachers are more frequently credentialed and more racially and… more →
Inequality in the Classroom: Electoral Incentives and the Distribution of Local Education Spending
… boards have wide discretion over allocating money among the schools in their district, yet we know relatively little … are one factor that can influence the distribution of resources: board members will direct spending toward … program in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and find that board members distribute resources primarily to …Locally-elected school boards have wide discretion over allocating money among the schools in their district, yet we know relatively little about how they decide “which schools get what.” I argue that electoral incentives are one factor that can influence the distribution of resources: board members will direct spending toward schools located in neighborhoods of their district where spending will… more →
Could shifting the margin between community college and university enrollment expand and diversify university degree production in STEM fields?
… We examine the potential to expand and diversify the production of university STEM degrees by shifting the margin of initial …We examine the potential to expand and diversify the production of university STEM degrees by shifting the margin of initial enrollment between community colleges and 4-year universities. Our analysis is based on statewide administrative microdata from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development covering enrollees in all public postsecondary institutions statewide. We… more →
Making the Grade: The Effect of Teacher Grading Standards on Student Outcomes
… Teachers are among the most important inputs in the education production … they set for their classrooms. However, the effects of grading standards on student outcomes are relatively … Using administrative data that links individual students and teachers in 8th and 9th grade Algebra I classrooms from …Teachers are among the most important inputs in the education production function. One mechanism by which teachers might affect student learning is through the grading standards they set for their classrooms. However, the effects of grading standards on student outcomes are relatively understudied. Using administrative data that links individual students and teachers in 8th and 9th grade Algebra… more →
At What Cost?: Is Technical Education Worth the Investment?
… Career and technical education (CTE) has existed in the United … have there been opportunities to assess the causal impact of participating in these programs while in high school. To …Career and technical education (CTE) has existed in the United States for over a century, and only in recent years have there been opportunities to assess the causal impact of participating in these programs while in high school. To date, no work has assessed whether the relative costs of these programs meet or exceed the benefits as described in recent evaluations. In this paper, we use… more →
Promises, Pitfalls, and Tradeoffs in Identifying Gifted Learners: Evidence from a Curricular Experiment
… across demographic subgroups represents a large and persistent challenge in U.S. public schools. In this paper, we measure the impacts of a school-wide curricular intervention designed … Program and policy effects … Race, ethnicity and culture … Promises, Pitfalls, and Tradeoffs in Identifying Gifted …Disparities in gifted representation across demographic subgroups represents a large and persistent challenge in U.S. public schools. In this paper, we measure the impacts of a school-wide curricular intervention designed to address such disparities. We implemented Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow (NBT) as a cluster randomized trial across elementary schools with the low gifted identification… more →
The Uncertain Role of Educational Software in Remediating Student Learning: Regression discontinuity evidence from three local education agencies
… Educators must balance the needs of students who start the school year behind grade level with … levels of mastery. Using a regression discontinuity design and detailed software log and administrative data, we compare …Educators must balance the needs of students who start the school year behind grade level with their obligation to teach grade-appropriate content to all students. Educational software could help educators strike this balance by targeting content to students’ differing levels of mastery. Using a regression discontinuity design and detailed software log and administrative data, we compare two… more →
Can Teacher Evaluation Systems Produce High-Quality Feedback? An Administrator Training Field Experiment
… A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the last decade was the belief that these new systems … of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district’s efforts to improve feedback …A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the last decade was the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. We examine this theory by studying teachers’ perceptions of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district’s efforts to improve feedback through an administrator training program.… more →
Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Turnover, New Evidence from District of Columbia Public Schools
… policy have received more attention than teacher turnover—and rightly so. The cost of losing a good teacher can be substantial and is born most …Few topics in education policy have received more attention than teacher turnover—and rightly so. The cost of losing a good teacher can be substantial and is born most directly by students. It is now widely recognized that teachers differ considerably in their ability to improve student outcomes, but discussions of teacher turnover rarely reflect these differences. Instead, we typically treat… more →
The Play’s the Thing: Experimentally Examining the Social and Cognitive Effects of School Field Trips to Live Theater Performances
… demonstrating educational benefits. This article describes the results of five random assignment experiments spanning two years … higher levels of tolerance, social perspective taking, and stronger command of the plot and vocabulary of those …Field trips to see theater performances are a long-standing educational practice, however, there is little systematic evidence demonstrating educational benefits. This article describes the results of five random assignment experiments spanning two years where school groups were assigned by lottery to attend a live theater performance, or for some groups, watch a movie-version of the same story.… more →
Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Attainment: Factors from Primary School to STEM Degree Completion
… We investigate the determinants of high school completion and college attendance, the …We investigate the determinants of high school completion and college attendance, the likelihood of taking science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) courses in the first year of college and the probability of earning a degree in a STEM field. The focus is on women, who tend to be under-represented in STEM fields. Tracking four cohorts of students throughout Florida, women… more →
Item-Level Heterogeneity in Value Added Models: Implications for Reliability, Cross-Study Comparability, and Effect Sizes
… Value added models (VAMs) attempt to estimate the causal effects of teachers and schools on student test scores. We apply Generalizability …Value added models (VAMs) attempt to estimate the causal effects of teachers and schools on student test scores. We apply Generalizability Theory to show how estimated VA effects depend upon the selection of test items. Standard VAMs estimate causal effects on the items that are included on the test. Generalizability demands consideration of how estimates would differ had the test included… more →
Fadeout and Persistence of Intervention Impacts on Social-Emotional and Cognitive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analytic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
… Researchers and policymakers aspire for educational interventions to … is theorized, about socialemotional skill persistence. The current meta-analysis investigated whether intervention … from eight pre-existing meta-analyses, generating a sample of 86 educational RCTs targeting children from infancy …Researchers and policymakers aspire for educational interventions to change children’s long-run developmental trajectories. However, intervention impacts on cognitive and achievement measures commonly fade over time. Less is known, although much is theorized, about socialemotional skill persistence. The current meta-analysis investigated whether intervention impacts on social-emotional skills… more →
Characterizing Cross-Site Variation in Local Average Treatment Effects in Multisite Regression Discontinuity Design Contexts with an Application to Massachusetts High School Exit Exam
… we can quantify treatment effect variation with the cross-site treatment effect variance. However, there is … this gap in the literature by systematically exploring and evaluating methods for estimating the cross-site … model generally performing better when the average number of in-bandwidth observations is less than 120 and the …In multisite experiments, we can quantify treatment effect variation with the cross-site treatment effect variance. However, there is no standard method for estimating cross-site treatment effect variance in multisite regression discontinuity designs (RDD). This research rectifies this gap in the literature by systematically exploring and evaluating methods for estimating the cross-site treatment… more →
Sins of the Past, Present, and Future: Alternative Pension Funding Policies
… Our goal in this paper, presented at the 2020 Brookings Municipal Finance Conference , is to … pension funding dynamics with a focus on sustainability and intergenerational equity. The origin of this paper is our analysis of the funding policy …Our goal in this paper, presented at the 2020 Brookings Municipal Finance Conference, is to better understand teacher pension funding dynamics with a focus on sustainability and intergenerational equity. The origin of this paper is our analysis of the funding policy recommended in a highly publicized paper first presented at the 2019 Brookings Municipal Finance Conference (Lenney, Lutz, and… more →
The Economics of Age at School Entry: Insights from Evidence and Methods
… This article reviews the growing literature on age at school entry and its effects across the life course. Age at school entry affects a broad range of outcomes, including education, labor-market performance, …This article reviews the growing literature on age at school entry and its effects across the life course. Age at school entry affects a broad range of outcomes, including education, labor-market performance, health, social relationships, and family formation. We synthesize the evidence using a conceptual framework that distinguishes four empirically intertwined components of age-at-school-entry… more →
The Effect of Universal Free Meals on Student Perceptions of School Climate: Evidence from New York City
… Over the last decade, more and more schools have adopted Universal Free Meals (UFM), a program that provides meals free of charge to all students, regardless of household income. …Over the last decade, more and more schools have adopted Universal Free Meals (UFM), a program that provides meals free of charge to all students, regardless of household income. Recent research finds UFM increases participation in school meals, improves test scores, and reduces incidences of bad behavior. Additionally, advocates cite stigma reduction as one of UFM’s many benefits, but to date,… more →
COVID-19, Online Learning, and Absenteeism in Detroit
… How much school students attend is a powerful indicator of their well-being and a strong predictor of their future success in school. Prior research has documented the myriad in-school and out-of-school factors that …How much school students attend is a powerful indicator of their well-being and a strong predictor of their future success in school. Prior research has documented the myriad in-school and out-of-school factors that contribute to high levels of student absenteeism, many emerging from the root causes of poverty and disengagement. The shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic likely… more →
Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19
… The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to … respond to a public health crisis amid high levels of partisan polarization and an increasing tendency for local issues to become …The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to examine how local governments respond to a public health crisis amid high levels of partisan polarization and an increasing tendency for local issues to become nationalized. As an arena that has, in recent years, been relatively separate from national partisan divides, public schools provide a useful window into these dynamics. Leveraging the… more →
Do later school start times improve adolescents’ sleep and substance use? A quasi-experimental study
… a solution to adolescents’ sleep deprivation. We estimated the impacts of later school start times on adolescents’ sleep and substance use by leveraging a quasi-experiment in which …A later school start time policy has been recommended as a solution to adolescents’ sleep deprivation. We estimated the impacts of later school start times on adolescents’ sleep and substance use by leveraging a quasi-experiment in which school start time was delayed in some regions in South Korea. A later school start time policy was implemented in 2014 and 2015, which delayed school start times… more →
Absent and Afraid? Immigration Enforcement and Student Attendance in the Second Trump Administration
… Intensified immigration enforcement activity under the second Trump administration has increased anxiety for … This study provides early evidence on the effects of the second Trump presidency on the attendance of students … relative to non-ELs in samples of schools in Rhode Island and Connecticut. I find negative effects in both settings. In …Intensified immigration enforcement activity under the second Trump administration has increased anxiety for immigrants in the United States, including many families with school-age children. This study provides early evidence on the effects of the second Trump presidency on the attendance of students who may be from immigrant families. Using a difference-in-differences design, I estimate the… more →
Exploring Test-Optional Admissions Policies: Patterns in Applications, Enrollment, and Diversity During the COVID-19
… The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of higher education, including college admissions processes. Since 2020, numerous universities and colleges have adopted test-optional policies, allowing …The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of higher education, including college admissions processes. Since 2020, numerous universities and colleges have adopted test-optional policies, allowing applicants to decide whether to submit standardized test scores. Although such policies have been in place at some institutions since 1998, research on their associations with student diversity and… more →
Behind the Push for Licensure Reform: How Beliefs About the Teaching Profession Unite and Divide Coalitions
… A long history of scholarship on teacher professionalism documents how … narratives about teaching animate education policy and practice. We bridge the Advocacy Coalition Framework with institutional logics to …A long history of scholarship on teacher professionalism documents how different narratives about teaching animate education policy and practice. We bridge the Advocacy Coalition Framework with institutional logics to examine how beliefs about teaching unite and divide a state-level coalition pursuing teacher licensure policy reform and manifest in the policymaking process. Drawing on qualitative… more →
Teacher Licensure and Workforce Quality: Insights from Covid-Era Emergency Licenses in Massachusetts
… Much recent debate among policymakers and policy advocates focuses on whether states should reduce teacher licensure requirements to ease the burdens of recruiting high quality teachers to the workforce. We …Much recent debate among policymakers and policy advocates focuses on whether states should reduce teacher licensure requirements to ease the burdens of recruiting high quality teachers to the workforce. We examine the effectiveness of individuals who entered the teacher workforce in Massachusetts during the pandemic by obtaining an emergency license, which requires only a bachelor’s degree. Our… more →
Should I Stay or Should I Go (Later)? Teacher Intentions and Turnover in Low-Performing Schools and Districts Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
… is a perennial concern that became more salient during the COVID-19 pandemic as teacher-reported intentions to leave … extent to which teacher-reported intentions are predictive of actually leaving. We measure behavior one, two, and three years following reported intent. We find intent is …Teacher turnover is a perennial concern that became more salient during the COVID-19 pandemic as teacher-reported intentions to leave teaching escalated. The extent to which these teacher reports may translate into actual turnover remains an open question—especially given the pandemic context. Using unique survey data from teachers in 35 districts in Michigan linked to statewide administrative… more →
Biased Opportunities: The Role of Implicit and Explicit Bias in Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment
… Black and Latinx students are under-represented in Advanced … Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment (DE), and implicit bias of educators has been discussed as one potential contributing … … Program and policy effects … Biased Opportunities: The Role of Implicit and Explicit Bias in Advanced Placement …Black and Latinx students are under-represented in Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment (DE), and implicit bias of educators has been discussed as one potential contributing factor. In this study, I test whether implicit and explicit racial bias are related to AP and DE participation and racial/ethnic gaps in participation, controlling for various observable contextual factors. I find a… more →
Can Personnel Policy Improve Teacher Quality? The Role of Evaluation and the Impact of Exiting Low-Performing Teachers
… evaluation systems have historically failed to identify and remediate low-performing teachers. In 2012, Chicago … teachers. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate that the evaluation reform increased the exit of low-rated tenured teachers by 50 percent. The teacher …Personnel evaluation systems have historically failed to identify and remediate low-performing teachers. In 2012, Chicago Public Schools implemented an evaluation system that incorporated remediation and dismissal plans for low-rated teachers. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate that the evaluation reform increased the exit of low-rated tenured teachers by 50 percent. The teacher labor… more →
Sibling Spillovers in Rural China: A Story of Sisters
… We study sibling spillover effects on the school performance of the elder sibling from the younger sibling using data on … schooling status to parse out the spillover effects and exploit the arbitrary school enrollment eligibility …We study sibling spillover effects on the school performance of the elder sibling from the younger sibling using data on multi-children households in rural China. We use the variation in the younger sibling’s schooling status to parse out the spillover effects and exploit the arbitrary school enrollment eligibility cutoff dates imposed by the Chinese Law of Compulsory Education as exogenous… more →
Does Online Course-taking Increase High School Completion and Open Pathways to Postsecondary Education Opportunities?
… quality online instruction could diminish student learning and discourage persistence toward graduation and further … methods in an eight-year longitudinal study of high school online course-taking, w e find positive … enrollments for all online course-takers, leaving open the question of whether online course-taking will lead to …Recent increases in high school graduation rates have been linked anecdotally to online course-taking for credit recovery. Online course-taking that supports high school completion could open opportunities for postsecondary education pursuits. Alternatively, poorer quality online instruction could diminish student learning and discourage persistence toward graduation and further education. Using… more →
Nearly three decades into the charter school movement, what has research told us about charter schools?
… When charter schools first entered the landscape, the debate was contentious, with both advocates and critics using strong rhetoric. Advocates often sold … this debate, research has evolved over time, with much of the first generation (through about 2005) of research …When charter schools first entered the landscape, the debate was contentious, with both advocates and critics using strong rhetoric. Advocates often sold charter schools as a silver bullet solution for not only the students who attend these schools, but the broader traditional public school system as well. Similarly, critics painted charter schools as an apocalyptic threat to public… more →
Parental Occupational Choice and Children’s Entry into a STEM Field
… We explore the intergenerational occupational transmission between parents and their children as it pertains to entry into the STEM field. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, we study student’s aspirations to work in a STEM …We explore the intergenerational occupational transmission between parents and their children as it pertains to entry into the STEM field. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, we study student’s aspirations to work in a STEM field and eventual STEM education and employment. We show how these patterns change depending on whether the student’s parents work in a STEM field. We find strong… more →
The Net Benefits of Raising Bachelor’s Degree Completion through the City University of New York ACE Program
… In 2015, the City University of New York (CUNY) launched a new program— Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE)—aimed at improving college graduation rates. …In 2015, the City University of New York (CUNY) launched a new program— Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE)—aimed at improving college graduation rates. A randomized-control evaluation of the program found a nearly 12 percentage point increase in graduation five years after college entry. Using this impact estimate and national data on earnings by gender, age, and degree status; we estimate… more →
When Does School Autonomy Improve Student Outcomes?
… This paper presents new evidence on the benefits of decentralization in public education, focusing on a … that granted school principals more control over budgeting and operations. Meta-analysis of similar policies shows a …This paper presents new evidence on the benefits of decentralization in public education, focusing on a Chicago policy that granted school principals more control over budgeting and operations. Meta-analysis of similar policies shows a small average effect with significant variation across settings. To explain this heterogeneity, I adopt theories from public finance, contract… more →
Are public housing projects good for kids after all?
… charge that public housing projects concentrate poverty and create neighborhoods with limited opportunities, … including low-quality schools. However, whether the net effect is positive or negative is theoretically … ambiguous and likely to depend on the characteristics of the neighborhood and schools compared to origin …Is public housing bad for children? Critics charge that public housing projects concentrate poverty and create neighborhoods with limited opportunities, including low-quality schools. However, whether the net effect is positive or negative is theoretically ambiguous and likely to depend on the characteristics of the neighborhood and schools compared to origin neighborhoods. In this paper, we draw… more →
The Causal Effect of Student Absences Post Pandemic: Evidence from Three School Systems
… Researchers, educators, and policymakers have long worried about the consequences of student absences for educational achievement and …Researchers, educators, and policymakers have long worried about the consequences of student absences for educational achievement and attainment—concerns that have grown with the significant rise in absenteeism during and following the Covid-19 pandemic. Using administrative data from Maryland, North Carolina, and a large urban school district, we find that the impact of absences on test scores… more →
Did COVID-19 Shift the “Grammar of Schooling”?
… The immediate impacts of COVID-19 on K12 schooling are well known. Over nearly 18 months, students’ academic performance and mental health deteriorated dramatically. This study aims to identify if and how the pandemic led to longer-term …The immediate impacts of COVID-19 on K12 schooling are well known. Over nearly 18 months, students’ academic performance and mental health deteriorated dramatically. This study aims to identify if and how the pandemic led to longer-term changes in core aspects of schooling. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 31 teachers and administrators across 12 districts in two states, we find that… more →