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Limited scholarship examines districtwide turnaround reforms beyond the first few years of implementation or efforts to replicate successes in new contexts. We study Massachusetts, home to a state takeover of the Lawrence school district that led to academic gains in early reform years, and where state leaders attempted to replicate this success in three additional communities. We use statewide student-level administrative data (2006-07 to 2018- 19) and event study methods to estimate medium-term impacts on student outcomes across four districts. We find the initial improvements were largely sustained in Lawrence. We observe evidence of successful replication in Springfield but not Holyoke or Southbridge. The two turnarounds with positive outcomes both struck a unique balance between state and local input into decision-making.
The academic and economic benefits of school spending are well-established, but focusing on these outcomes may underestimate the full social benefits of school spending. Recent increases in U.S. child mortality are driven by injuries and raise questions about what types of social investments could reduce child deaths. We use close school district tax elections and negative binomial regression models to estimate effects of a quasi-random increase in school spending on county child mortality. We find consistent evidence that increased school spending from passing a tax election reduces child mortality. Districts that narrowly passed a proposed tax increase spent an additional $243 per pupil, mostly on instruction and salaries, and had 4% lower child mortality after spending increased (6-10 years after the election). This increased spending also reduced child deaths of despair (due to drugs, alcohol, or suicide) by 5% and child deaths due to accidents or motor vehicle accidents by 7%. Estimates predicting potential mechanisms suggest that lower child mortality could partly reflect increases in the number of teachers and counselors, higher teacher salaries, and improved student engagement.
This study investigates the impact of states' adoption of Response to Interventions (RTI) on the identification and placement of students in special education. RTI, adopted by the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004, is designed to improve the identification and support of children with learning disabilities within inclusive educational settings. Using multiple national datasets, we employed a difference-in-differences method to assess state-level impacts from 2004 to 2018. Results show that states adopting RTI observed increased identification of students with specific learning disabilities, yet showed reductions in the placement of students with disabilities in separate school settings. Furthermore, our subgroup analyses suggest that RTI adoption disproportionately increased disability identification among non-White students relative to their White peers.
This research uses the implementation of a school suspension ban in Maryland to test whether a top-down state-initiated ban on suspensions in early primary grades can influence school behavior regarding school discipline. Beginning in the fall of 2017, the State of Maryland banned the use of out-of-school suspensions for grades PK-2, unless a student posed an “imminent threat” to staff or students. This research investigates (1) what was the effect of the ban on discipline outcomes for students in both treated grades and upper elementary grades not subject to the ban? (2) did schools bypass the ban by coding more events as threatening or increasing the use of in-school suspensions? and (3) were there differential effects for students in groups that are historically suspended more often? Using a comparative interrupted time series strategy, we find that the ban is associated with a substantial reduction in, but not a total elimination of, out-of-school suspensions for targeted grades without substitution of in-school suspensions. Disproportionalities by race and other characteristics remain after the ban. Grades not subject to the ban experienced few effects, suggesting the ban did not trigger a schoolwide response that reduced exclusionary discipline.
Online credit recovery (OCR) courses are the most common means through which students retake courses required for high school graduation. Yet a growing body of research has raised concerns regarding student learning in these courses, with low quality assessments posited as one contributing factor. To address this concern, we reviewed every assessment item from a widely used OCR Algebra 1 course. We also examined pathways for passing the course mastery tests without learning content. In addition, we identified if and how states regulate OCR. We found OCR assessments as executed lacked rigor and validity. We offer recommendations to improve rigor, close pathways that call into question the validity of results, strengthen implementation procedures, and increase state-level oversight of providers.
We study changes to teacher working conditions from 2016-17 to 2022-23, covering school years before, during, and after the COVID pandemic. We show working conditions were improving leading into the pandemic but declined when the pandemic arrived. Perhaps more surprisingly, the pandemic was not a low point: teacher working conditions have continued to decline during the post-pandemic period. Teachers report worsening working conditions along many dimensions including the level of classroom disruptions, student responsibility, and safety, among others. They also report declines in trust between themselves and principals, parents, and other teachers. Trends in working conditions since the pandemic are similar in schools serving more and less socioeconomically advantaged students. However, schools in districts where online learning was the predominant mode of instruction during the 2020-21 school year have experienced larger declines than other schools.
Scaling up evidence-based educational interventions to improve student outcomes presents challenges, particularly in adapting to new contexts while maintaining fidelity. Structured teacher adaptations that integrate the strengths of experimental science (high fidelity) and improvement science (high adaptation) offer a viable solution to bridge the research-practice divide. This preregistered randomized controlled trial study examines the effectiveness of structured teacher adaptations in a Tier 1 content literacy intervention delivered through asynchronous and synchronous methods during COVID-19 on Grade 3 students’ (N = 1,914) engagement in digital app and print-based reading activities, student-teacher interactions, and learning outcomes. Our structured teacher adaptations achieved higher average outcomes and minimal treatment heterogeneity across schools, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of the intervention rather than undermining it.
Teachers of color often work in schools with few colleagues from the same racial or ethnic background. This racial isolation may affect their work experiences and important job outcomes, including retention. Using longitudinal administrative and survey data, we investigate the degree to which Tennessee teachers who are more racially isolated are more likely to turn over. Accounting for other factors, we find that racially isolated Black teachers are more likely to leave their schools than less isolated teachers. This turnover is driven by transfers to a different district and exiting the profession altogether. Consistent with an explanation that isolated teachers’ work experiences differ, they also report less collaboration with colleagues and receive lower observation scores.
Hybrid school enrollments are trending up and many parents express a diverse range of reasons for enrolling their children in hybrid schools. Yet little is known about the pedagogical goals pursued by hybrid schools. We aim to help close this gap in the literature with a stated preferences experiment of hybrid school leaders’ perceptions of program success. Sixty-three school leaders participated in a survey experiment in which we randomly assigned attributes to hypothetical programs and asked school leaders to identify the most successful program. We find that hybrid school leaders consider a broad range of student outcomes when evaluating program success, including labor market outcomes, civic outcomes, and family life. Students’ religious observance produced the largest effect sizes, a reasonable finding considering that roughly two-thirds of the schools represented in our sample have some religious affiliation. We do not find evidence that test score outcomes and higher education matriculation contribute meaningfully to perceived success.