Research
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The Effects of Grade Retention in Indiana Schools
Analysis of the impacts of the threat of grade retention and retention itself in Indiana public schools.
Special Education Substantially Improves Learning: Evidence from Three States
Special education serves more than one in seven U.S. students, yet its causal impact remains understudied. In this paper, we estimate the effect of individualized supports with an event-study design that tracks achievement around initial classification. The research shows students’ scores decline prior to placement and rise sharply afterward. Overall, individualized supports substantially increase learning productivity.
Service Delivery Models: Impacts for Students With and Without Disabilities
This research study offers some of the field’s first causal evidence of how different service delivery models impact student achievement and behavior.
Reclassifying English Learners
The authors of this study use data from Indiana to examine the causal effects of English learner reclassification on later student outcomes, including test scores and attendance rates.
Licensure Tests and Teacher Supply in Connecticut
This research project uses longitudinal data from Connecticut to examine the association between teachers’ performance on required subject-matter licensure tests (specifically, the Praxis II assessment suite) and their later effectiveness at improving student test scores. The authors then estimate the causal effect of failing a first attempt at one of these Praxis II tests on an individual’s likelihood of eventually becoming a licensed teacher in the state.
Deconstructing the EL Gap
Across U.S. schools, students classified as English learners (ELs) tend to achieve lower educational outcomes than their non-EL peers. What explains these differences? Are they a product of ELs’ developing English language proficiency and/or the services they receive at school, or do other factors play a role? The authors of this study attempt to deconstruct the “EL gap” in Massachusetts by examining the extent to which differences in outcomes between ELs and non-ELs can be attributed to factors that are unrelated to a student’s English proficiency or receipt of EL services.
The Effect of Retention Under Mississippi’s Test-Based Promotion Policy
Study conducted by Boston University's Wheelock Educational Policy Center evaluating the impact of Mississippi’s test-based promotion policy - requiring students to demonstrate reading proficiency before moving on to the third grade. Results suggest positive results, particularly strong in reading, into the 6th grade for those who were retained.
Enrollment Flexibility and Charter School Impacts: The Effect of Backfill on Students in Massachusetts Charter Middle Schools
This study leverages Massachusetts’s adoption of a statewide requirement for charter schools to backfill vacancies within some grades to provide the first causal estimates for the effect of incorporating new students on the performance of incumbent charter school pupils. Using data from the universe of Massachusetts public school students enrolled in Grades 5 through 8 from 2007-2008 to 2013-2014, this study compares changes in student achievement in impacted vs. not-impacted grades within Boston charter schools to the patterns of student achievement within traditional public schools and charter schools outside of Boston.
The Effect of Charter Schooling on Student Mobility and Classification Status
Authors analyzed students' school preference, mobility, and classification changes in charter & traditional public schools in Newark, New Jersey.
The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality
Authors explored whether principal transitions are inherently disruptive or varies on the context of the outgoing or incoming principal.
Professional Development at Scale: The Causal Effect of Obtaining an SEI Endorsement Under Massachusetts’s RETELL Initiative
This project used longitudinal data from Massachusetts to measure the causal effect of a rigorous and time-intensive professional development (PD) delivered at a nearly unprecedented scale: teachers earning an endorsement in Structured English Immersion (SEI) under the Massachusett’s Rethinking Equity in the Teaching of English Language Learners (RETELL) initiative.
Regulatory Arbitrage in Teacher Hiring and Retention
Authors compared Massachusetts longitudinal administrative data on the relationship of teacher value-added and attrition between charter and public schools.
Are Two Teachers Better than One? The Effect of Co-Teaching on Students with and without Disabilities
Using longitudinal data for students and teachers in Massachusetts, researchers estimated the effect of co-teaching within a large public school system.