K-12 Education
Influence of Within-Class Age Differences on Adolescents’ Eating Behaviors
This study examines within-class age differences as a novel determinant of adolescents’ dietary behaviors, isolating it from confounders such as absolute age, season of birth, and country-specific school entry rules. Using a multi-country dataset of over 600,000 European students, we find that… more →
The reliability of classroom observations and student surveys in non-research settings: Evidence from Argentina
There is a growing consensus on the need to measure teaching effectiveness using multiple instruments. Yet, guidance on how to achieve reliable ratings derives largely from formal research in high-income countries. We study the reliability of classroom observations and student surveys conducted… more →
Sibling Spillovers and Free Schooling
We 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 →
Shock Absorption: Did School Turnaround Shelter Schools from the Pandemic’s Effects on Teacher Turnover?
Successful turnaround interventions should build school capacity to promote not just school improvement but also resilience to exogenous shocks that undermine schooling. While a large literature demonstrates that turnaround can improve school outcomes, little is known about whether it can help… more →
What is the impact of changing schools on the academic outcomes of elementary and middle school students?
We study how different kinds of school changes shape achievement in grades 4–8 using data from six California districts (2016–17 through 2019–20). We estimate the effects of structural (promotional), nonstructural summer, and midyear moves and find that structural and summer moves have near-zero… more →
A Framework for Building High-Quality Education Data for R&D in the Age of AI: The EDSI Dataset and Expert Insights
The Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative have launched a series of collaborative investments in building large-scale datasets that can support and accelerate data infrastructure for AI R&D efforts in education. In partnership with researchers… more →
The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida
Cellphone bans in schools have become a popular policy in recent years in the United States, yet very little is known about their effects on student outcomes. In this study, we try to fill this gap by examining the causal effects of bans on student test scores, suspensions, and absences using… more →
Does Expanding Access to High Quality Technical Education Induce Participation and Improve Outcomes?
Over the last 15 years, Career and Technical Education (CTE) has been changing as schools have aimed to better meet workforce needs and diversify pathways into higher education and the workforce. This study provides the first known causal evidence on the impact of CTE program expansion in U.S.… more →
Off to a Great Start: The Potential for Tutoring Paired with the Off2Class Foundational Literacy Curriculum to Boost English Proficiency Gains for Adolescent Newcomer English Learners
Adolescent English learners with low literacy strive to learn a new language with minimal or no reading skills. Their efforts are often complicated by having special learning needs or limited experiences with formal education. Meanwhile, they need English literacy in middle and high school,… more →
Right to Education (RTE) Act’s Influence on Caste-based Enrollment Gaps and Segregation in India
Section 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 →
Estimating Compensating Wage Differentials for Public School Teachers in High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools: Evidence from U.S. National Data, 1988–2018
Using a hedonic wage framework, this paper estimates compensating wage differentials (CWDs) for teachers in high-poverty and/or high-minority schools, drawing on thirty years of nationally representative data from the School and Staffing Surveys (SASS), National Teacher and Principal Survey (… more →
School Bathrooms: Perspectives on Safety, Surveillance, and Privacy in the Restroom
Schools 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 Labor Market Impact of K-11 vs. K-12
In 1945, Louisiana extended secondary education from 11 years to 12. Since many students followed diploma-based stopping rules, consecutive birth cohorts exogenously received different amounts of schooling. We use this natural experiment to evaluate the long-run labor market impact of having an… 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
Modern 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.
The 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 →
The Effects of K-12 Computer Science Education Policies on Postsecondary CS Participation
States have increasingly adopted policies to promote computer science education at the elementary and secondary levels. These policies are intended, in part, to promote the pursuit of computer science at the postsecondary level. We collect novel longitudinal data on adoption and implementation… more →
Increasing Applied STEM Curricular Opportunities in High School and Impacts on Early Post-Secondary Outcomes: The Effect of Project Lead the Way
Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is an applied STEM Career Technical Education program that has been adopted widely across the country. Using data from Missouri, we investigate the impact of PLTW course expansion on program participation and early post-secondary outcomes. Our identification… more →
Improving Student-Teacher Relationships Through Feedback: The Development and Evaluation of the Stanford/Leading Educators Wise Feedback Professional Development Learning Series
High-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 →
Facilitating Evidence-Based Instructional Coaching With Automated Feedback on Teacher Discourse
Instructional coaching often aims to ground teacher professional learning in classroom evidence, yet it is labor-intensive for coaches to obtain and curate such evidence. This study explores possibilities for utilizing an automated feedback tool to support evidence-based reasoning in coaching.… more →