K-12 Education
Racial Status Threat and Anti-DEI Efforts in Local School Districts
This study draws on political science theory to analyze how perceived status threats to White social dominance influence local educational politics. We examine the relationship between racial status threat (RST) and the rise of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideas (contentious… more →
The Effect of Retention Threat on Student Learning Gains: Evidence from Ohio
Grade retention policies create incentives for students to make adequate progress ahead of evaluation. The threat of retention thus has the potential to affect all students’ academic outcomes, increasing achievement especially among students with test scores near the retention policy’s threshold… more →
The Geography of Gifted Education: Exploring School and Neighborhood Predictors of Access to Gifted & Talented Programs in New York City
This study examines the community factors associated with the presence and geographic availability of Gifted and Talented (G&T) programs across New York City public schools from 2010 to 2024. Using machine learning methods (Random Forest and Classification Trees) and cross-classified… more →
An inequitable distribution of teacher talent: How micropolitics shape the master schedule
Each year, school leaders must balance the competing interests of students and teachers when creating the master schedule and assigning teachers to courses. Using a micropolitical lens, this study draws on interviews with 17 secondary school leaders to examine how they navigate this process. We… more →
Parental Health Behaviors Spill Over Through Peers to Shape Risk Environments and Adolescent Mental Health
I study whether peer-family health composition affects adolescent risk environments, school relationships, and mental health. Using nationally representative data from the China Education Panel Survey, I exploit quasi-random variation in the share of a student's middle school classmates whose… more →
Making Civics Salient: Local Political Knowledge for Democratic Participation
Civic education can provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed and engaged citizens. However, empirical research reveals that civics curricula have achieved limited or inconsistent success in meeting these democratic imperatives for young people in a… more →
Conditional Hypothesis Generation for LLM-Based Text Analysis with Researcher-Specified Covariates
A core goal of computational social science is to discover interpretable differences in how language varies across outcomes of interest, such as political affiliation or instructional quality. Recent LLM-based hypothesis generation methods describe such differences in natural language, but… more →
Discipline Beyond Suspensions: Racial/Ethnic Disparities Across the Spectrum of Disciplinary Actions
Little research examines whether the alternatives to suspension reduce racial/ethnic discipline disparities. Using unusually rich administrative data from a large district in the South, we investigate how schools use a range of disciplinary actions and the racial/ethnic gaps in their use. School… more →
“Does it fit in a box we can check off?” The interpretive work of identifying doubled-up homeless students
Identifying doubled-up homeless students is crucial to securing their educational rights and understanding the extent of housing insecurity among school-aged children. Drawing on a survey and focus groups conducted with NYC district and school staff, we introduce interpretive work as a central… more →
Course Failure in Dual Enrollment and the Impact on College-Going
Dual enrollment (DE) has expanded rapidly as a strategy to broaden access to college-level coursework, particularly for students historically excluded from advanced academic opportunities. This study examines the characteristics of students who fail dual enrollment, the consequences of failure,… more →
Family Language Transmission Under Institutional Language Regimes Shapes Adolescent Mental Health Through Peers
In many societies, institutional languages shape participation, recognition, and belonging, while families transmit language backgrounds across generations. These inherited backgrounds may contribute to children’s communication and, once children enter shared peer environments, to the… more →
The Maternal Labor Market Effects of State Pre-K Funding
Public pre-kindergarten (pre-K) is primarily designed as an educational policy for young children but has attracted attention as a potential lever to support maternal employment. This study provides national evidence on the maternal labor market effects of state pre-K funding, exploiting… more →
Institutional Resources or Changing Compositions? Unpacking Neighborhood Effects on Education
Children in neighborhoods marked by concentrated poverty and racial isolation face persistent educational barriers, yet the mechanisms underlying neighborhood effects remain poorly understood. This study employs a multi-method analysis of the Near North Side Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI… more →
Teacher Sorting and Preferences over School Disadvantage: Evidence from Performance Pay in Texas
In this paper I study how performance-based compensation affects teacher mobility and sorting using the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), a statewide program introduced in 2019. TIA gives teachers a tiered quality designation, Recognized, Exemplary, or Master, based on performance… more →
Why Are Bureaucrats More Left-Wing?
Government employees often have policy beliefs that do not reflect those of the public. Civil servants are frequently more supportive of redistribution, which critics attribute to a state that socializes employees to be self-interested. But left-leaning citizens may instead self-select into… more →
Career and Technical Education as a Strategy to Improve Long-term Outcomes for English Language Learners
Career and Technical Education (CTE) has emerged as a strategy to enhance college and labor market outcomes for all students, yet little is known about its implications for multilingual students classified as English Learners (ML-ELs). Using longitudinal data from Massachusetts, this study… more →
Compounded Disadvantage: Intersectional Inequities in Chronic Absenteeism Prevalence and Recovery During the COVID-19 Era
This 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 →
Boosting Dual Enrollment Participation by Simplifying Access for High School Students
Despite the promise of dual enrollment to expand college access, racial disparities in participation persist, and limited research examines policies designed to reduce access barriers. Using statewide student-level data from 2013–14 to 2021–22 and difference-in-differences approaches, I estimate… more →
Quantifying the Double Advantage: A Multilevel Bayesian Analysis of Same-Race (Black) Teacher Matching on Literacy and Promotion
A growing body of research has highlighted the positive impact of Black teachers on the academic outcomes of Black students. This experimental study contributes to that literature by examining the relationship between teacher–student race matching and the likelihood of grade retention for third-… more →
Teacher Localness, Early-Career Effectiveness, and Retention
Recruiting locally connected individuals has gained policy attention under recent “Grow-Your-Own” initiatives, yet evidence linking teacher localness to student achievement and retention is limited. Using statewide Maryland data on teachers’ high school enrollment, postsecondary training, prior… more →