K-12 Education
Who Leaves? Interdistrict Magnet School Openings and Enrollment Dynamics in Nearby Schools
Connecticut expanded interdistrict magnet schools (IMS) intending to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation across districts, yet the potential unintended effects on student composition in nearby schools remains unclear. Leveraging the staggered rollout of IMS openings, this study finds… more →
Are Rural Republicans Different When It Comes to Public Opinion on Education Policy?
Conservative education policy in the United States increasingly emphasizes school choice, decentralization, and parental authority. This chapter examines whether these priorities resonate equally across geographic contexts, focusing specifically on rural Republicans. Using data from the 2015–… more →
Principal Effects on Teacher Working Conditions
Research on school principals highlights their role in shaping teachers’ work environments, but most evidence is qualitative or correlational. We provide plausibly causal estimates of how principals affect a broad swath of teacher working conditions using data from Illinois, where the State… more →
Teacher-student relationships and adult outcomes: Developmental cascades via childhood executive function and behavioral dysregulation
Longitudinal data were examined to test associations between teacher-student relationships and adult outcomes, as well as mechanisms underlying these associations. Results from the NICHD-SECCYD (N=1364; 52% male; 76% White; 13% Black; 6% Hispanic; 5% other; data collection took place in the U.S… more →
Indiana Charter School Performance During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic
The 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 →
Does in-service training in special education increase the effectiveness of general classroom teachers? Evidence from the large-scale “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” program in Sweden
This study evaluates the impact of a large-scale professional development program for general classroom teachers in Sweden, the “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” (SFL) program. Linking program administrative data to national full population register data, we apply a dynamic difference-in… more →
Returns to Education in the United States: A Comparison of OLS and Double Machine Learning Methods
This study examines the economic returns to education in the U.S. using 2024 CPS data and compares Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with a Double Machine Learning (DML) framework incorporating models such as random forests, boosted trees, lasso, GAMs, and neural networks (MLP). Results… more →
Long-term Consequences of Early Access to Educational Opportunity
This paper examines the long-term consequences of tracking in middle school. Using longitudinal administrative data from a large, urban school district and regression and quasi-experimental matching methods, we find that students who had the opportunity to take advanced math earned higher math… more →
When Demand Outpaces Supply: Flexible Staffing and the Making of Maryland's High School CS Teacher Workforce
U.S. high schools have rapidly expanded computer science (CS) education over the past decade, resulting in increased pressure to staff classrooms with qualified teachers. This study examines how Maryland high schools responded to rising CS enrollment from school year 2012-13 through 2023-24,… more →
Public Opinion on Electoral Policy: Evidence from U.S. School Board Elections
Changes to electoral systems are relatively rare in established democracies. Conventional explanations for this stability suggest elected officials and citizens who stand to lose influence under new arrangements will oppose change. We explore the nature of public awareness and opinion regarding… more →
The Anatomy of a High-Return Question: Text, Skills, and the Economics of Achievement Measurement
Standardized test scores aggregate item (question) responses into a single scalar, collapsing distinct skills into an undifferentiated measure of proficiency. Which of these component skills matter most for long-run economic outcomes is a question that aggregate scores cannot answer. We develop… more →
Practitioner Voices Summit: How Teachers Evaluate AI Tools through Deliberative Sensemaking
Teachers face growing pressure to integrate AI tools into their classrooms, yet are rarely positioned as agentic decision-makers in this process. Understanding the criteria teachers use to evaluate AI tools, and the conditions that support such reasoning, is essential for responsible AI… more →
Practice-Based, Online Modules for Expediting Teacher Skill Development
The time available for preservice teacher education is increasingly limited. Teacher preparation programs must find innovative ways to develop teachers’ skills within contracted timeframes. One approach is to cover content with online modules. However, most modules teach about skills but do not… more →
A Dynamic Model of the Economic Returns to Adolescent Social Skills
Social-skill formation during adolescence depends on peer environments, but those environments are equilibrium outcomes shaped by individual choices. To account for this endogeneity, we develop and estimate a dynamic model in which parents invest in adolescents, adolescents choose whether to… more →
Supplanting or Supplementing? The Stickiness of Title I Revenues in Post-Adequacy Era
This paper examines how school districts respond to federal Title I funding in the postadequacy era. I find that fiscal adjustment occurs through capital investment rather than operating budgets. Using a regression discontinuity design centered on the Title I Concentration Grant eligibility… more →
The Effects of Capped Piece-Rate Teacher Bonuses: Evidence from Advanced Placement
I study a proficiency-based incentive program that rewards Advanced Placement (AP) teachers a piece-rate for each student scoring 3 or higher on the standardized exam. Using student-course-level administrative data and exploiting both withinand across-teacher variation, I find the program… more →
Immigration Enforcement Actions and Empty Desks: Persistent and Acute Attendance Effects
How do immigration enforcement actions (IEAs) affect student attendance, and through what channels? We use student-by-day administrative records from a mid-size school district to estimate the causal effect of heightened federal immigration enforcement following the January 2025 presidential… more →
The Effect of School-Based Health Centers on Adolescent Mental Health and Behavior
Adolescent mental health has experienced significant declines in the past decade, yet take-up of mental health services has remained low among adolescents. This paper examines whether localized access to mental health services has meaningful impacts on adolescent mental health and behavior. I… more →
Democratizing School Reform: Race, Participation, and Redistribution in Education
This paper examines a school-based participatory budgeting initiative as a form of race-conscious democratic design. Drawing on a multi-year study of Participatory Redistribution (PR) in middle schools, I analyze whether embedding deliberative structures into schools can empower racially… more →
Homelessness and Student Outcomes by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and School Level
A substantial number of U.S. students experience homelessness, yet our understanding of how homelessness shapes student outcomes is limited. We use seven years of longitudinal data on Indiana students in kindergarten through eighth grade, including more than 40,000 students who experienced… more →