Harvard University
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 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… more →
Measuring Elementary School Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching Vocabulary
Teacher Knowledge in the field of literacy has become a priority across the United States, with many states passing legislation requiring that all teachers receive adequate training on the Science of Reading. One essential component of literacy development and text comprehension is vocabulary… more →
Asset-Based Implementation of Structured Adaptations in an Online Third-Grade Content Literacy Intervention
Scaling up evidence-based educational interventions presents challenges, particularly in adapting to new contexts while maintaining fidelity. Structured adaptations that integrate the strengths of experimental science (high fidelity) and improvement science (high adaptation) represent a novel… more →
Introducing a High-School Exit Exam in Science: Consequences in Massachusetts
Preparing students for science, technology, and engineering careers is an urgent state policy challenge. We examine the design and roll-out of a science testing requirement for high-school graduation in Massachusetts. While science test performance has improved over time for all demographic… more →
Lifting Up Attendance in Rural Districts: A Multi-Site Trial of a Personalized Messaging Campaign
Student absenteeism has remained high following the COVID-19 pandemic and districts need low-cost strategies to improve attendance. In 2020-21, the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks piloted a promising personalized messaging intervention in 8 rural districts in New York and… more →
A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence Linking Mathematics and Science Professional Development Interventions to Teacher Knowledge, Classroom Instruction, and Student Achievement
Despite evidence that teacher professional development interventions in mathematics and science can increase student achievement, our understanding of the mechanisms by which this occurs – particularly how these interventions affect teachers themselves, and the extent to which teacherlevel… more →
Going the Distance or Growing More Remote? The Academic Impacts of Course Modality following Pandemic-Era Investments
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, distance education has rapidly expanded, transforming the landscape of community colleges. This paper explores how different online learning modalities impact student success in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), one of the largest and most diverse… more →
Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Tutoring Format and Tutors: Findings from an Early Literacy Tutoring Program
This study presents the first within-program, within-tutor experimental evidence comparing the impact of in-person versus remote tutoring. Based on results from an early literacy tutoring initiative delivered by university students over Summer 2023, we find no statistically significant… more →
Does Increased Agency Improve the Effectiveness of Self-Directed Professional Learning for Educators?
The role of teacher agency in professional learning has been the subject of several qualitative studies but has not yet been tested in an experimental setting. To provide causal evidence of the impact of teacher agency on the effectiveness of professional learning, we conducted a preregistered… more →
Are Students On Track?: Comparing the Predictive Validity of Administrative and Survey Measures of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills for Long-Term Outcomes
Education leaders need valid metrics to predict students’ long-term success. We use a unique dataset with cognitive skills, self-regulation, behavior, course performance, and test scores for 8th-grade students from a Northeast school district. We link these data to students' high school outcomes… more →
Count Me In? Identifying Factors That Predict Centers’ Application to Boston’s Mixed-Delivery Universal Pre-K Program
Universal prekindergarten (UPK) programs often expand through mixed-delivery systems by offering seats in public schools and community-based centers (CBOs). Although this approach aims to meet varied family needs, little is known about potential systematic differences between CBOs that apply to… more →
Practice-Based Teacher Education Pedagogies Improve Responsiveness: Evidence from a Lab Experiment
Given the limited time available during teacher preparation, teacher educators must make zerosum choices about the pedagogies they choose to prepare pre-service teachers. Yet the field lacks rigorous causal evidence regarding the relative efficacy of different pedagogies to inform teacher… 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 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… more →
Are Community College Students Increasingly Choosing High-Paying Fields of Study? Evidence from Massachusetts
The labor-market payoff to workers with associate degrees in healthcare and STEM occupations is very high in Massachusetts. We examine whether this induced a growing proportion of students in MA community colleges (MACCs) to earn an associate degree (AD) in one of these fields. We do this by… more →
Same Idea, Shifting Standards: An Experimental Study of Racial-Ethnic Biases in Ambitious Math Teaching
Teacher expectations and judgments about student capabilities are predictive of student achievement, yet such judgments may be influenced by salient dimensions of student identity and invite biases. Moreover, ambitious math teaching may also invite teacher biases due to the emphasis on student… more →
Using Gaussian Process Regression in Two-Dimensional Regression Discontinuity Designs
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… more →
A Quantitative Study of Mathematical Language in Upper Elementary Classrooms
This study provides the first large-scale quantitative exploration of mathematical language use in upper elementary U.S. classrooms. Our approach employs natural language processing techniques to describe variation in teachers’ and students’ use of mathematical language in 1,657 fourth and fifth… more →
Structured Reporting Guidelines for Classroom Intervention Research
Inconsistent reporting of critical facets of classroom interventions and their related impact evaluations hinders the field’s ability to describe and synthesize the existing evidence base. In this essay, we present a set of reporting guidelines intended to steer authors of classroom intervention… more →
Kumon In: The Recent, Rapid Rise of Private Tutoring Centers
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… more →
The Teacher Labor Market in Context: What We Can Learn from Nurses
Researchers have posited various theories to explain supposed declines in teaching quality: the expansion of labor market opportunities for women, low relative wages, compressed compensation structures, and substituting quantity for quality. We synthesize these previous theories and expand on… more →