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Equity
Fast Track to Success? A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Condensed Course Formats at Tennessee Community Colleges
Kaylee T. Matheny, Madison Dell, Gus Gluek, Rachel Baker, Eric Bettinger, Alex Monday, Hidahis Mesa.As colleges face increasing pressure to improve student outcomes, one solution gaining traction is the adoption of condensed courses (i.e., shortened academic terms). We employ quasi-experimental methods to estimate the effect of enrolling in a condensed course on course- and student-level… more →
Removing Barriers to College Credits: Where and for Whom AP Exam Fee Waivers Work
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceDo policies that broaden educational access also foster success? We study this question in the context of North Carolina’s universal Advanced Placement (AP) exam fee waiver policy. Using student-course level administrative data, we exploit within-student variation on a sample of students who… more →
Schools Never Die: Toward a Dynamic Systems Theory of School Closure
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceEducational researchers and policymakers typically treat school closures as discrete administrative decisions with clear endpoints. This paper challenges that assumption by applying Dynamic Systems Theory to school closure policy and research. We argue that schools function as adaptive… more →
Sibling Spillovers and Free Schooling
Topics: Families and CommunitiesWe use administrative data to measure sibling spillovers on academic performance before and after the introduction of Free Secondary Education (FSE) in Tanzania. Prior to FSE, students whose older siblings narrowly passed the secondary school entrance exam were less likely to go to secondary… more →
Right to Education (RTE) Act’s Influence on Caste-based Enrollment Gaps and Segregation in India
Topics: School ChoiceSection 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act of India expanded affirmative action to primary schooling by requiring non-government-funded private schools to reserve 25% of their admissions for students from marginalized castes and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Using variation… more →
School Bathrooms: Perspectives on Safety, Surveillance, and Privacy in the Restroom
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceSchools are increasing surveillance in bathrooms in response to concerns about student behaviors in the restroom such as vaping, drug use, and vandalism. This study investigates how schools secure and surveil bathrooms and how stakeholders perceive these interventions. We situate school… more →
The Effect of College Entrance Exam Policies on Test Preparation and Tutoring Services
Multiple studies suggest that policies mandating college entrance exams can have positive impacts on college outcomes, especially for students who would otherwise not sit for the exam. Less understood is how families react to this increased competition for college admissions. Our study estimates… more →
Beg to DIFfer: Resolving Statistical Complications of Intersectional DIF Analyses
Topics: MethodsTags: Assessment, EquityModern test developers conduct differential item functioning (DIF) analyses to ensure fairness in educational and psychological testing. To address previously unrecognized biases, researchers have recently demonstrated the importance of conducting intersectional DIF analyses that attend to the… more →
Contemporary Child Labor and Declining School Attendance in the U.S.
Topics: Families and CommunitiesThe United States has experienced a 400% increase in reported child labor violations over the past decade, coinciding with declines in K-12 school attendance and enrollment. We examine the causal relationships between these patterns with microdata from the American Community Survey (ACS) from… more →
Improving Student-Teacher Relationships Through Feedback: The Development and Evaluation of the Stanford/Leading Educators Wise Feedback Professional Development Learning Series
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentHigh-quality academic feedback, especially feedback that highlights errors, mistakes, misunderstandings and shortcomings, is one of the most valuable tools teachers have for promoting student growth and learning. It is how teachers help students go beyond what they could accomplish on their own… more →
Controlling For Measurement Error in Evaluation Models When Treatment Group Assignment is Based on Noisy Measures: Evaluation of an Achievement Gap-Closing Initiative
Topics: MethodsTags: Assessment, EquityThis paper develops new models to evaluate the effects of interventions and intervention-by-site heterogeneity when treatment group assignment is based on a fallible variable and the outcome of interest is determined in part by the corresponding true control variables (measured without error).… more →
The impact of increasing school resources on peer victimization: Evidence from targeted funding on low-income families in Chile
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceWhile a large body of literature has examined the impact of school spending on academic outcomes, far less is known about its effect on students’ socioemotional development and school experiences. This study contributes to narrowing this gap by evaluating the impact of a nationwide school… more →
Democracy For What and For Whom?: The Possibilities and Challenges of K-12 School Boards
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceLocal school boards have historically played a major role in the functioning and character of US schools, providing fiscal oversight, shaping policy, and creating avenues for community voice, representation, and accountability. As such, school boards have regularly served as critical sites for… more →
"Send Them Home?" Rethinking What Public Education Owes to Flourishing Children
Topics: Student Well-BeingThis essay asks what justice requires for children who are already thriving in school and argues that the dominant frameworks in educational philosophy do not answer the question. Priority, equality of opportunity, adequacy, and capabilities treat public education chiefly as redistribution to… more →
The Many Paths to College Enrollment: Re-Conceptualizing the Transition to College
Traditional college choice models often fall short in capturing the complex paths that today’s student population takes to postsecondary enrollment. This paper identifies the limitations of the predominant frameworks, such as Hossler and Gallagher’s (1987) three-phase model, arguing that they… more →
To The Mountaintop: Transforming Educational Equity as a School Leader
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentSchool leaders, particularly principals, can be true difference makers. Having a strong school leader can shape productive learning environments, give high-quality teachers the support they need, and influence student outcomes. This literature review synthesizes research on the role that school… more →
Unequal Foundations: Racial Disparities in School Building Conditions in New York State
Topics: Student Well-BeingSchool infrastructure is a critical yet often overlooked factor shaping student health, learning, and well-being. This study examines racial disparities in public school building conditions across New York State using data from building inspections linked to demographic and fiscal data. Schools… more →
The effects of third-grade retention on multilingual students: A gateway or a gatekeeper?
Topics: Student LearningThis paper estimates the effect of test-based grade retention on multilingual students classified as English Learners (ML-ELs). This policy could provide an opportunity for ML-ELs to develop English language proficiency and master academic content or put them at increased risk of worse academic… more →
The Value of School Social Climate Information: Evidence from Chicago Housing Transactions
Topics: School ChoiceIn this paper, I investigate how publicizing school social climate information is capitalized into the housing market and how it affects the sorting of homebuyers from different economic backgrounds. I first provide descriptive evidence on the novelty of school climate relative to other school… more →
Education and Climate Change: Synthesizing the Evidence to Guide Future Research
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceThe effects of climate change are becoming increasingly visible across all aspects of the U.S. PreK-12 education system. Schools are both vulnerable to climate change and uniquely positioned to be part of the solution. We synthesize interdisciplinary research and data to illustrate the bi-… more →