Research (CV)

Education

• • Ph.D., Economics, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2000

    • Dissertation: School Finance Reform and the Market for Teachers

    • Fields of Concentration: Applied Microeconomics (Public and Labor Economics), Economics of Education

  • M.S., Economics, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1997

  • B.A., Economics, cum laude, Pomona College in Claremont, CA, 1993

Employment

• • Professor, San Diego State University, 2010 – present

  • Associate Professor, San Diego State University, 2006 – 2010

  • Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, 2000 – 2006

  • Lecturer, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1998-99

Publications

• The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science, Fourth Edition (with Mark H. Maier). M.E. Sharpe: New York. (2013)

K-12 Education Policy

School finance

• • “Deregulating School Aid in California: Revenues and Expenditures in the Second Year of Categorical Flexibility,” RAND Research Brief, 2012.

  • “Deregulation of School Aid in California: Revenues and Expenditures in the First Year of Categorical Reform,” PACE Policy Brief (2011).

  • “Economic Approaches to Adequacy,” in The International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd Edition, edited by Barry McGaw, Penelope Peterson and Eva Baker, Elsevier, 2010.

  • "Universal vouchers and racial and ethnic segregation" (with Eric Brunner and Stephen Ross), Review of Economics and Statistics, November 2010, Vol. 92, No. 4, Pages 912-927

  • "Meeting the Challenge: Performance Trends in California Schools," PACE Policy Brief (2008)

  • "Tiebout Choice and Universal School Vouchers” (with Eric Brunner), Journal of Urban Economics 63 (2008), 253-279

  • "Assessing the Costs of Adequacy in California Public Schools: A Cost Function Approach," Education Finance and Policy 3 (Winter 2008) 90-108.

  • "School Funding Formulas: What Works and What Doesn't? Lessons for California," Report for the Senate Office of Research (commissioned through the CSU Faculty Research Fellows Program) (2007)

  • “Assessing the Costs of K-12 Education in California Public Schools”, part of the Getting Down to Facts project, Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice (2007).

  • “Does No Child Left Behind Place a Fiscal Burden on States? Evidence from Texas” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Education Finance and Policy 1 (Spring 2006), 217-246.

  • “Fiscal Stress and Voluntary Contributions to Public Schools” (with Eric Brunner), Developments in School Finance (2005), National Center for Education Statistics.

  • “Assessing the Use of Econometric Analysis in Estimating the Costs of Meeting State Education Accountability Standards: Lessons from Texas” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Peabody Journal of Education 80 (2005), 96-125.

  • “Is No Child Left Behind an Un(or under)funded Federal Mandate? Evidence from Texas” (with Andrew Reschovsky), National Tax Journal 57 (2004), 571-588.

  • “School Finance Reform in Texas: A Never Ending Story?” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity, John Yinger, ed., MIT Press (2004), 251-281.

  • “Financing Adequate Education in Rural Settings” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Journal of Education Finance 29 (Summer 2003), 137-156.

  • “Let No Child Be Left Behind: Determining the Cost of Improving Student Performance” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Public Finance Review 31 (May 2003), 263-290.

  • “Achieving Educational Adequacy through School Finance Reform” (with Andrew Reschovsky), Journal of Education Finance 26 (Spring 2001), 373-396.

  • "The Development of School Aid Formulas to Guarantee Adequacy" (with Andrew Reschovsky), in Developments in School Finance 1997, National Center for Education Statistics, 121-148.

Teachers

• • “Probation Length and Teacher Salaries: Does Waiting Pay Off?” (with Eric Brunner), Industrial Relations and Labor Review, 64(1), October 2010.

  • “The Distribution of Highly Qualified, Experienced Teachers: Challenges and Opportunities” (with Laura Goe), TQ Research and Policy Brief, TQ Center, 2009

  • “Teacher Salaries and Teacher Attrition,” Economics of Education Review 24 (2005), 431-449.

  • "Class-Size Reduction and Teacher Quality: Evidence from California," School Finance and Teacher Quality: Exploring the Connections, David Monk and Margaret Plecki, eds. (2003), 159-178.

  • "Teacher Attrition and Mobility in Urban Districts: Evidence from Wisconsin," Fiscal Issues in Urban Schools; Research in Education: Fiscal Policy and Practice, Volume 1, Jennifer King Rice and Christopher Roelke, eds. Information Age Publishing Inc.: Greenwich, CT (2002), 119-136.

Economics Education

• • Working paper: Teaching Quantitative Literacy in Economics, May 2014

  • Getting students to do economics: An introduction to Team-Based Learning, International Advances in Economic Research, November 2015, Volume 21, Issue 4, pp 399-412.

  • “Bring-Your-Own-Device: Turning Cell Phones into Forces for Good,” Journal of Economic Education 45(3), 240-250, 2014.

  • "A Primer for New Teachers of Economics" (with Brandon Sheridan and Gail Hoyt) in Southern Economic Journal 80(3), 839-854, January 2014.

  • “Not Just for Seniors: Making Space for Economics in K-11,” Social Studies Review, vol. 52, 2013

  • "Making the large-enrollment course interactive and engaging," (with Stephen Buckles and Gail Hoyt) in International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, edited by KimMarie McGoldrick and Gail Hoyt, Edward Elgar, pp. 118-128 (2012).

  • “Interactive Large Enrollment Economics Courses” (with Gail Hoyt, Mary Kassis and David Vera), in Teaching Innovations in Economics, edited by Michael K. Salemi and William B. Walstad, Edward Elgar (2010).

  • California State University (2009), "Transforming Course Design in Principles of Microeconomics," available on CSU Transforming Course Design website.

[Also see my teaching portfolio and blog for more information about scholarship related to economics education]