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Covid-19 recovery
The Post-Pandemic “Attendance Crisis” in Historical Perspective
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Absenteeism, Covid-19 recoverySchool attendance rates in the United States are lower now than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in absenteeism has often been characterized as a crisis; but whether it amounts to a broader breakdown in norms depends on the historical baseline against which it is judged. The recent… more →
Post-pandemic achievement recovery based on student characteristics and district-level policies
Topics: Student LearningIt is well-established that student achievement has declined dramatically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, less is known how these patterns may vary by developmental timing of exposure to the pandemic and how district-level policies may have influenced student recovery.
Expanded High-Speed Broadband Internet Access at Home and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Federal Subsidy Program
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernancePolicymakers have argued that expanding home broadband would improve educational outcomes. However, prior studies report mixed, null, or negative effects on achievement, with limited post-pandemic evidence. Using district-level achievement and enrollment data from a national broadband subsidy… more →
Compounded Disadvantage: Intersectional Inequities in Chronic Absenteeism Prevalence and Recovery During the COVID-19 Era
Topics: Student LearningThis study applies an intersectional lens to examine how chronic absenteeism evolved across intersecting dimensions of race, gender, economic disadvantage, disability status, and housing instability before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using statewide, administrative data from Georgia… more →
Sensemaking in the Program Stream: How Local Leaders Re-purposed the “ALL In Virginia” Policy
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceSchool and district leaders are challenged to comprehend and translate policy into practice, a process shaped by cognitive, social, and political dynamics. This study offers a conceptual analysis of Virginia's post-COVID-19 “ALL In” policy, which directed nearly half a billion dollars… more →
The Causal Effect of Student Absences Post Pandemic: Evidence from Three School Systems
Topics: Student LearningTags: Absenteeism, Covid-19 recoveryResearchers, 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,… more →
Trends in Local Teacher Supply Since the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Teacher Job Applications
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentRecent survey evidence documents pandemic-era challenges in filling teacher vacancies and hiring from too-small applicant pools. However, direct evidence quantifying changes in teacher supply since the onset of the pandemic is scarce. Using longitudinal teacher job application data from a large… more →
Indiana Charter School Performance During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ron Zimmer, Stephen M. Ponisciak, Mark Berends, Julie W. Dallavis, Joseph J. Ferrare, Adam Kho, Shelby L. Smith, Joseph Waddington.Topics: School ChoiceTags: Charter schools, Covid-19 recoveryThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling nationwide and contributed to substantial declines in student achievement. At the same time, enrollment patterns shifted and charter school sectors expanded in several states, raising questions about whether charter schools were better positioned to… more →
The Static Nature of the Childcare Workforce, 1990 to 2025
Despite decades of policy attention aimed at strengthening the early childhood care and education workforce, concerns about low pay, high turnover, and limited economic security persist. This paper revisits whether the composition and economic conditions of the childcare workforce have… more →
Hold Harmless for Whom? The Impact of COVID Era Policies on School Funding, Teachers, and Students
This study evaluates the fiscal and academic consequences of New York City’s hold harmless policy during COVID-19, which aimed to stabilize school expenditures amid unexpected enrollment declines by restoring schools’ funding up to initial levels. We examine how school racial composition… more →
Math coursetaking trajectories in high school during the COVID-19 disruptions to schooling
Topics: Student LearningUsing student-level transcript data and information about instructional mode among public high school students in Massachusetts, this study examines the impact of disruptions to in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ math coursetaking trajectories. We find that rates of… more →
Beyond the Shutdown: Tracking Language Growth in Early Head Start Children Before, During, and After COVID-19
Topics: Student LearningUnderstanding early language outcomes for low-income children in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is an important concern for researchers, policymakers, and educators. We examined language environments and language development among infants and toddlers in Early Head Start from pre-COVID,… more →
What are schools doing to improve attendance? Evidence from Michigan and Georgia
Topics: Student Well-BeingThis study presents evidence from Michigan and Georgia on the strategies that schools are using to improve attendance and how those strategies vary across contexts. We find that schools in both states rely heavily on communication-based practices aimed at changing student or parent behavior.… more →
COVID-19, School District Operations, and Student Academic Performance in Virginia
Topics: Student LearningTags: Covid-19 recoveryWe use longitudinal student-level data and interrupted time series methods to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mathematics achievement among 3rd-8th grade students in Virginia, a state that offered particularly low levels of access to in-person learning in the school reopening… more →
COVID-19-Induced School Closures and Disadvantaged Children’s Post-COVID Academic Growth: A Longitudinal Cohort Study
Topics: Student LearningThis study draws on unique, repeated-measures data on a diverse (51% female; 53% Latine, 22% Black, 11% White), low-income cohort of children (N = 680) whose academic skills were assessed before and after COVID-19-induced school closures. Longitudinal models predicted changes in children’s… more →
Teacher Stability in Turnaround Schools: An Examination of the Impacts of Michigan’s Partnership Model on Teacher Turnover
While a large literature demonstrates that school turnaround can improve performance, impacts on teacher retention are more ambiguous. We examine the impact of Michigan’s turnaround policy on teacher turnover before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Event study findings show limited immediate… more →
Resilience and Transformation: The Pandemic’s Effects on Texas Community Colleges
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education, particularly community colleges serving significant proportions of traditionally disadvantaged students. This mixed methods study examines how Texas community colleges responded to the crisis and the extent to which they institutionalized… more →
Gender Gaps in the Early Grades: Questioning the Narrative that Schools are Poorly Suited to Young Boys
Topics: Student LearningA growing number of scholars and educational leaders have raised concerns that the mismatch between an increasingly academic focus in the early grades and boys’ maturity at school entry is disadvantaging young boys in school. In this study, we use a unique dataset of ten million students to… more →
Social Emotional Learning, Student Attendance, and Chronic Absenteeism in Pre- and Post-Pandemic Periods
Topics: Student Well-BeingWe develop and implement a quasi-experimental panel data model to address the relationships between social emotional learning competencies (SEL) and annual student attendance in the pre- and post-pandemic periods. Although panel data models tend to focus on changes over time in outcomes and… more →
Understanding Disruptions: Causes of and Variation in Lost Instructional Time
Topics: Student LearningVirtual instruction has boomed after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of virtual environments within in-person schools. But, research has provided little evidence about student experiences on these virtual platforms, nor how to improve the use of these platforms. Through natural language… more →