There is mounting evidence that school counselors positively affect students' academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet, federal policymakers do not seem to view school counselors as principal agents of school improvement, and state policies vary widely regarding their availability. Thus far, little empirical work documents the distribution of school…

Growing concerns about inequitable access have made public investment in gifted programs controversial in many school districts, yet advocates maintain that gifted services provide necessary enrichment for exceptional students to succeed at school. We provide evidence on whether the typical gifted program indeed benefits elementary students'…

The present study examined the association between a state's Language Instructional Educational Program (LIEP) policy and Latino children's early childhood mathematical achievement. Using a nationally representative sample of Latino children (n=3,820) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 2010-2011 cohort (ECLS-K: 2011), the…

Publicly funded adult health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has had positive effects on low-income adults. We examine whether the ACA's Medicaid expansions influenced child development and family functioning in low-income households. We use a difference-in-differences framework that exploits cross-state policy variation and focus…

There is considerable variation in state policies related to the certification required for teachers in kindergarten and first grade, and relatively little is known about these policies' effects on student learning. This study considers whether children who have kindergarten and first-grade teachers with certification in early childhood education…

Extensive research has conclusively demonstrated that children's social class is one of the most significant predictors--if not the single most significant predictor--of their educational success. This three-part study combines a statistical analysis of early skills gaps among a recent cohort of children and changes in them over time with a…

In the majority of states using Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to improve children's school readiness, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) is a core assessment of preschool program quality and is central to QRIS metrics and incentive structures. The present study utilizes nationally representative data…

This paper investigates the impact of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) on cognitive achievement. The SBP is a federal entitlement program that offers breakfast to any student, including free breakfast for any low-income student, who attends a school that participates in the program. To increase the availability of the SBP, many states mandate…

Under the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB), in theory, schools on the margin for meeting AYP face strong short-term incentives to increase students' pass rates on specific exams, and may change their behavior accordingly. Using a comprehensive, national, school-level data set concerning schools' AYP status, student characteristics, and…