We evaluate the feasibility of estimating test-score growth with a gap year in testing data, informing the scenario when state testing resumes after the 2020 COVID-19-induced test stoppage. Our research design is to simulate a gap year in testing using pre-COVID-19 data--when a true test gap did not occur--which facilitates comparisons of…

Recent lawsuits reveal common mistakes plaguing current teacher evaluation systems. Drawing on arguments in court documents for prominent cases, the authors find that evaluation systems using value-added measures (VAM) suffer from a) inconsistent and unreliable teacher ratings, b) bias toward and against teachers of certain types of students, c)…

A system can only be improved if it is measured. In order to adequately measure a system, that system needs to be mapped and all key inter-nodal linkages, constraints and pathways recorded. Commercial supply chains demonstrate similar characteristics to other systems. Much has been written about mapping supply systems, where typically, the product…

For this study, researchers critically reviewed documents pertaining to the highest profile of the 15 teacher evaluation lawsuits that occurred throughout the U.S. as pertaining to the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers. In New Mexico, teacher plaintiffs contested how they were being evaluated and held accountable using a homegrown…

This report answers questions about teacher and administrator perceptions of Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) program implementation. PPfT is a multi-measure appraisal and compensation system designed to empower teachers and improve the quality of teaching in Austin Independent School District. PPfT is in its third year, and stakeholders…

We develop a unified empirical framework for child development which nests the key features of two previously parallel research programs, the Child Development literature and the Education Production Function literature. Our framework allows for mis-measured cognitive and non-cognitive skills, classroom effects, parental influences, and…

In the present study I use teacher value added and evaluation rating data from North Carolina public schools to estimate the signaling and human capital effects of graduate degrees. These analyses consider the effects of graduate degrees, overall, and the effects of graduate degrees inside and outside teachers' area(s) of teaching. Signaling…

Teachers' impact on student long-run success is only partially explained by their contributions to students' short-run academic performance. For this study, we explore a second dimension of teacher effectiveness by creating measures of teachers' contributions to student class-attendance. We find systematic variation in teacher effectiveness at…

The Educator Workforce Snapshot provides an overview of workforce data for the 640 traditional public schools and public charter schools in Louisiana's Southeast Region from the 2023-2024 school year based on End-of-Year (EOY) data. The purpose of this snapshot is to communicate annual workforce data and trends to stakeholders, and to support…

The Educator Workforce Snapshot provides an overview of workforce data for the 293 traditional public schools and public charter schools in Louisiana's Southwest Region from the 2023-2024 school year based on End-of-Year (EOY) data. The purpose of this snapshot is to communicate annual workforce data and trends to stakeholders, and to support…

This paper uses a novel data on both students' and teachers' online participation with students' administrative academic records and characteristics. The first chapter provides evidence that pre-pandemic lower-achieving students benefitted of the extra time they got during the Spring 2020 lockdown by doing more homework and completing the work…

The paper compares the worth of public and private university education. We develop a Public-Private University Worth parity index and provide empirical estimations to lend rigour in testing our main hypothesis that the type of university education does not matter in determining salaries and skills' value-added. Using data from a recent…

There is an enduring issue on whether student- and school-level covariates should be included in value-added school effects models, in addition to prior achievement. Proponents argue that the addition of covariates allows fairer comparisons of schools, whereas opponents argue that it excuses poorly performing schools and obscures policy-relevant…

In large urban districts, schools enrolling more white students tend to have higher school performance ratings. We use an instrumental variables strategy leveraging centralized school assignment to identify the drivers of the correlation between racial make-up and ratings. Estimates from Denver and New York City suggest the relationship between…

Lean Thinking is a methodology based on improving the efficiency of productive processes by removing non-value-added issues. This methodology was firstly applied in the manufacturing industry, but it has also been applied to many service companies, bringing very good results. In the last decade, some works have tried to research the adaptation of…