David M. Houston
How the Engagement of High-Profile Partisan Officials Affects Education Politics, Public Opinion, and Polarization
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: School reformWhat happens to public opinion when prominent partisan officials intervene in education policy debates? We analyzed the results of 18 survey experiments conducted between 2009 and 2021 with nationally representative samples of U.S. adults. Each experiment explored the effect of an endorsement of… more →
Polarization, Partisan Sorting, and the Politics of Education
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags:Drawing on 16 years of nationally representative survey data from 2007-2022, I demonstrate that partisan gaps—the average differences in public opinion between Democrats and Republicans—have widened on many education issues. The growth of the partisan gaps consistently exceeds what would be… more →
Public Support for Educators and In-Person Instruction During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Covid-19 recoveryIn spring 2020, nearly every U.S. public school closed at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing evidence suggests that local political partisanship and teachers union strength were better predictors of fall 2020 school re-opening status than Covid case and death rates. We replicate and… more →
The ‘Good’ Schools: Academic Performance Data, School Choice, and Segregation
Topics: School ChoiceWe examine the effects of disseminating academic performance data—either status, growth, or both—on parents’ school choices and their implications for racial, ethnic, and economic segregation. We conduct an online survey experiment featuring a nationally representative sample of parents and… more →
Public Opinion, Attitude Stability, and Education Policy
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags:Do Americans hold a consistent set of opinions about their public schools and how to improve them? From 2013 to 2018, over 5,000 unique respondents participated in more than one consecutive iteration of the annual, nationally representative Education Next poll, offering an opportunity to examine… more →
Status, Growth, and Perceptions of School Quality
Tags: School districtsStates and districts are increasingly incorporating measures of achievement growth into their school accountability systems, but there is little research on how these changes affect the public’s perceptions of school quality. We conduct a nationally representative online survey experiment to… more →
The Effects of Student Growth Data on School District Choice: Evidence from a Survey Experiment
Topics: School ChoiceWe conduct an online survey experiment in which participants are asked to imagine that they are parents moving to a new metropolitan area. They then choose between the five largest school districts in that area. All participants receive demographic data for each district. In addition, some… more →