Teaching
Prospective Students
I am a faculty member (currently on sabbatical) and previous Director of the Economics and Education M.A., Ed.M., and Ph.D. programs at Teachers College, located within the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis (EPSA). Our programs train students to apply economic concepts and tools to address both domestic and international issues from pre-kindergarten through post-secondary education.
Our M.A. and Ed.M. graduates have gone on to work at foundations, education advocacy and service organizations, and government agencies, as well as to pursue doctoral study in related fields. Our Ph.D. graduates have gone on to research, leadership, and academic teaching positions in a range of settings. Recent Ph.D. graduates are currently employed as tenure-track faculty members at both domestic and international institutions, as research associates at leading policy research organizations, and as institutional researchers for large urban school districts and colleges and universities.
Follow the links embedded above to learn more about the Economics & Education programs (and other programs in the EPSA department) including how to apply. Below, you can learn more about the courses I have taught at Teachers College.
My courses
*Each course title below links to PDF copy of syllabus. Please note these courses are ones I have taught at some point; I do not teach all of them every year. A listing of other Econ & Ed courses at TC can be found here; the specific course schedule for the coming academic year can be found here.
(Taught every year in the fall.) This course provides a broad introduction to the applications of economic theory, methods, and data for the study of education. The economic approach prioritizes the roles of maximizing behavior, markets, and rational/stable preferences in analyzing how actors make decisions given their resources and constraints. Economic frameworks can help us understand the justifications for and likely consequences of education policies and interventions, while economic methods and data can help us empirically estimate the associated costs and benefits. The first part of the course covers core economic frameworks that help us understand why individuals and societies invest in education, as well as how this education is “produced.” The second part of the course focuses on policy tools that influence educational investment and production, including how education is financed, how choice and competition are structured, incentives and accountability, and behavioral “nudges.” The final part of the course examines education in broader context, drawing specific attention to inequities both inside and outside of education, and considering the limitations of the economic approach in addressing these inequities.
(Taught every other year, usually in the spring.) This doctoral course covers the design, implementation and interpretation of econometric methods used for evaluating causal relationships in education research. We will read and discuss applied methodological texts as well as journal articles using advanced causal methods. We will cover randomized experiments, natural experiments, differences-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and propensity score matching. Goals of the course are for students to understand the conceptual underpinnings of each type of study design; to be able to critically evaluate particular studies utilizing of each approach; to gain first-hand experience in formulating causal questions and implementing a causal method; and to develop skills in communicating research designs and findings. Students work in teams to replicate and extend an empirical paper using these causal methods, and will present their findings to the class.
(Taught every other year, usually in the spring.) This doctoral-level course examines the interplay between educational investments and labor market outcomes, using economic theory and evidence. The course will provide an overview of key topics in labor economics such as the returns to education and training, non-monetary forms of compensation, models of labor migration, and models of imperfect or asymmetric information about skills. For each topic, we will examine influential papers and the empirical methods they use. Examples of covered methods will include regression discontinuity, instrumental variables and difference-in-difference designs.
(Taught every year but only occasionally by me.) This is a year-long, bi-weekly course intended to facilitate the development of students' dissertation research ideas and to promote a supportive scholarly community among EPSA doctoral students and faculty. In the first semester, we will engage in conversations about the stages of research development (generating ideas, choosing research methods, interpreting findings). In the second semester, students will work on developing the dissertation proposal.