Research
Research Papers
"Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color." Under Review, 2024.
Press Coverage: NPR-WBUR, Boston Globe, The Learning Curve Podcast, State House News, CommonWealth, Fordham Institute, New York Times, The 74, NBER Digest
Abstract: School assignment policies are a key lever to increase access to high performing schools and to promote racial and socioeconomic integration. For over 50 years, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has bussed students of color from Boston, Massachusetts to relatively wealthier and predominantly White suburbs. Using a combination of digitized historical records and administrative data, I analyze the short and long run effects of attending a high-performing suburban school for applicants to the METCO program. I compare those with and without offers to enroll in suburban schools. I use a two-stage least squares approach that utilizes the waitlist assignment priorities and controls for a rich set of characteristics from birth records and application data. Attending a suburban school boosts 10th grade Math and English test scores by 0.13 and 0.21 standard deviations respectively. The program reduces dropout rates by 75 percent and increases on-time high school graduation by 13 percentage points. The suburban schools increase four-year college aspirations by 17 percentage points and enrollment by 21 percentage points. Participation results in a 12 percentage point increase in four-year college graduation rates. Enrollment increases average earnings at age 35 by $16,250. Evidence of tracking to lower performing classes in the suburban schools suggests these effects could be larger with access to more advanced coursework. Effects are strongest for students whose parents did not graduate college.
"Targeted vs. General Education Investments: Evidence from Special Education and English Language Learners in Boston Charter Schools " (Job Market Paper), Journal of Human Resources Fall 2021.
Press Coverage: MIT News, Boston Globe(1), Boston Globe(2), Boston Herald, CommonWealth(1), CommonWealth(2), NY Daily News, New Boston Post, State House News, Wall Street Journal, WBUR, The 74 (1) , The Education Gadfly Show, The 74 (2), EducationNext
Abstract: Using novel variation in special education and English Language Learner classification from admissions lotteries, I find that students can achieve large academic gains without specialized services. Enrolling in a Boston charter school doubles the likelihood that students lose their special education or English Language Learner status, but exposes students to a high-performing general education program that includes high intensity tutoring, data driven instruction, and increased instructional time. The positive effects extend to college: charters nearly double the likelihood that English Language Learners enroll in four-year colleges and quadruple the likelihood that special education students graduate from two-year college. A multiple instrument strategy suggests that high quality general education practices drive the gains and finds no detrimental effect from lower classification rates.
"Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston's Charter School Sector," (with Sarah Cohodes and Christopher Walters), American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2021. Working Paper Version.
Press Coverage: Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, The Hechinger Report, New York Magazine, The 74, Vox
Abstract: Can schools that boost student outcomes reproduce their success at new campuses? We study a policy reform that allowed effective charter schools in Boston, Massachusetts to replicate their school models at new locations. Estimates based on randomized admission lotteries show that replication charter schools generate large achievement gains on par with those produced by their parent campuses. The average effectiveness of Boston’s charter middle school sector increased after the reform despite a doubling of charter market share. An exploration of mechanisms shows that Boston charter schools reduce the returns to teacher experience and compress the distribution of teacher effectiveness, suggesting the highly standardized practices in place at charter schools may facilitate replicability.
“Do Informal Referrals Lead to Better Matches? Evidence from a Firm’s Employee Referral System,” (with Meta Brown and Giorgio Topa), Journal of Labor Economics, 2016. Working Paper Version
Press Coverage: New York Times
Abstract: Using a new firm-level data set that includes explicit information on referrals by current employees, we investigate the hiring process and the relationships among referrals, match quality, wage trajectories, and turnover for a single US corporation and test various predictions of theoretical models of labor market referrals. We find that referred candidates are more likely to be hired; experience an initial wage advantage, which dissipates over time; and have longer tenure in the firm. Further, the variances of the referred and nonreferred wage distributions converge over time. The observed referral effects appear to be stronger at lower skill levels. The data also permit analysis of the role of referrer-referee pair characteristics.
"Does Flipping the Classroom Reduce Inequality? Evidence from a Randomized Trial at the United States Military Academy" (with Kyle Greenberg, Michael Yankovich, and Oliver Moore), Education Finance and Policy, 2021.
Press Coverage: Education Week, Times Higher Education, The Education Gadfly Show
Abstract: In a flipped classroom, an increasingly popular pedagogical model, students view a video lecture at home and work on exercises with the instructor during class time. Advocates of the flipped classroom claim the practice not only improves student achievement, but also ameliorates the achievement gap. We conduct a randomized controlled trial at West Point and find that the flipped classroom produced short term gains in Math and no effect in Economics, but that the flipped model broadened the achievement gap: effects are driven by white, male, and higher achieving students. We find no long term average effects on student learning, but the widened achievement gap persists. Our findings demonstrate feasibility for the flipped classroom to induce short term gains in student learning; however, the exacerbation of the achievement gap, the effect fade-out, and the null effects in Economics suggest that educators should exercise caution when considering the model.
"Race to the Tablet? The Impact of a Personalized Tablet Educational Program," Education Finance and Policy, 2021.
Abstract: The presence of tablets and laptops in schools has burgeoned in recent years, with 4.9 billion dollars spent on over 10.8 million devices in 2015. Despite the large and increasingly prevalent monetary and time investments in education technology, little causal evidence of its effectiveness exists. I estimate the effect of a Math and English Language Arts tablet educational program that supplements core instruction using a randomized controlled trial in Boston charter middle school. I find that the personalized learning technology can substantially increase end of year test scores by 0.202 standard deviations in Math, but find no effects for the summative English exam. For the quarterly formative exams, I find positive, but insignificant effects for Math and marginally significant effects for English. This paper demonstrates the potential of technology to enhance student learning in Math and could serve as a cheaper alternative to high intensity tutoring for school districts without funding or labor supply for extensive tutoring programs.
“The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Finances of the New York State Public Schools,” (with Rajashri Chakrabarti and Max Livingston), Economic Policy Review, 2015.
Press Coverage: Wall Street Journal, WNYC, Education Week
Abstract: Researchers have explored the effects of the Great Recession on different parts of the economy, but little research exists on the impact of the Great Recession on schools. Property, income, and sales tax revenue were all hurt by the financial crisis and recession, and these declines limited the ability of state and local governments to fund school districts. An analysis of school financing in New York State from 2004 to 2010 finds that total funding and expenditures were maintained in line with pre-recession trends, but that the composition of each changed in significant ways. On the funding side, the federal stimulus offset cuts in local and, especially, state financing. On the expenditure side, instructional spending was maintained on trend while noninstructional spending—transportation, activities, utilities— suffered. Affluent districts saw larger drops than poorer districts, while the New York City metro area was hit harder than other areas of the state.
Research in Progress
"The Impact of Increased Exposure of Diversity on Suburban Students' Outcomes: An Analysis of the METCO Voluntary Desegregation Program." Working Paper, 2024.
“Charter Schools and Suspension: Evidence from Massachusetts Chapter 222” (with Mayara Felix and Christopher Cleveland). Working Paper, 2024.
“What’s Driving Productivity? Explaining Variation in Earnings Among Uber Drivers,” with Alex Bartik, Cody Cook, and John List.
Selected Other Publications
"In Search of Opportunity: Latino Men's Paths to Post-Secondary Education in Urban Massachusetts," (with Thomas E. Conroy, Mary Jo Marion, and Timothy E. Murphy), The Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation and The Boston Foundation.