News

A Flypaper review of research on Project Lead the Way, a high school STEM program. It summarizes Takako Nomi, Darrin DeChane, and Michael Podgursky's study of the program's effects on early postsecondary outcomes.

Chalkbeat analysis of whether Southern states have outpaced the nation on NAEP and why. It links the EdWorkingPaper on the effects of early literacy policies as the strongest causal evidence for those states' reading reforms.

An Education Week roundup of early evidence on school cellphone bans. It describes the Florida study by David Figlio and Umut Özek (linked via its NBER version), which found better attendance and scores in year two but a first-year spike in suspensions.

A Flypaper review of research on which college applicants are interested in teaching. It summarizes Brendan Bartanen, Andrew Avitabile, and Andrew Kwok's analysis of Common App data showing declining interest in the profession.

A public-radio story on Florida's classroom cellphone restrictions with reaction from Gov. DeSantis. It summarizes the Figlio and Ozek working paper (linked NBER version) showing an early suspension spike and later gains in attendance and test scores.

A news story on the first rigorous study of a school cellphone ban. It reports the Florida study by David Figlio and Umut Ozek finding test score gains in year two after a first-year rise in suspensions.

A Proof Points column on the first causal study of a cellphone ban's effect on learning, in a large Florida district. It reports the findings of David Figlio and Umut Özek, including attendance and test gains and an initial rise in suspensions for Black students.

National Chalkbeat story devoted to a new study of a Florida district's school cellphone ban, finding modest test score gains after an initial rise in suspensions. The study by David Figlio and Umut Özek is cited in its NBER version; the same paper is EdWorkingPaper 25-1315.

An ABC News (GMA) piece on a Florida district's cellphone ban. It reports the David Figlio and Umut Ozek study (linked NBER version, also EdWorkingPaper 25-1315) finding a first-year spike in suspensions followed by second-year test score gains of about 2-3 percentiles.

Chalkbeat New York story on NYC schools' solar installations and the expiring federal tax credits. It uses the linked EdWorkingPaper synthesizing evidence on education and climate change for an estimate of school buildings' carbon emissions.

An op-ed arguing that air filtration improves learning. It describes Michael Gilraine’s study of air purifiers installed after the Aliso Canyon gas leak, which raised math and English scores.

A news story on Christopher Redding's study of teachers' second jobs, based on federal data from 1994 to 2021. It reports how common and how lucrative extra work is, and that extra jobs inside schools are linked to better retention while outside jobs are linked to leaving.

A Flypaper review on whether high schools affect young people's civic participation. It summarizes Kirsten Slungaard Mumma's working paper on high school effects on civic engagement.

An overview of new state teacher-pay experiments in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Utah. For Arkansas's LEARNS salary floor, it cites early findings from Gema Zamarro and colleagues that the raise improved rural recruitment and retention.

A news story on Indiana’s outcomes-based contracts for tutoring. It cites the Stanford study of outcomes-based contracting in eight districts that reported promising findings.

An op-ed on declining California enrollment and school finance. It cites Thomas Dee’s finding that immigration enforcement in five Central Valley districts raised absenteeism by 22%.

A story on schools and colleges rushing to complete clean energy projects before federal tax credits expire. It cites the Annenberg paper synthesizing evidence on education and climate change (Matthew Kraft and co-authors) for its estimate of K-12 building emissions.

An analysis of how reading progress is measured. It cites the 2023 analysis of state early literacy laws (Westall and Cummings) on what those laws emphasize.

An opinion essay by Thomas Dee arguing that the links between education research, policy and practice are broken. As evidence he cites his own study with Sarah Novicoff of California's Early Literacy Support Block Grant, and he links EdWorkingPapers on declining achievement and on early-literacy policies.

An essay on strained relationships between parents and schools. It cites and links to the EdWorkingPaper measuring conflict in local politics through school board meeting videos, which found rising but still limited conflict.