Welcome to my research page!

Below, I describe recent research projects, including scholarship geared to foster conversations with school leaders, policymakers, educational practitioners, researchers, and community members.

Please expand each of the subsections below for links and descriptions of featured articles, policy briefs, and op-eds and ongoing research projects. 

School funding & teacher compensation

I center my research on how to best support school districts and school leaders, often focused on the impacts of new educational practices and policies on vulnerable students. In my scholarship I often explore strategies to improve teacher turnover and compensation, and how public resources are distributed across school contexts.

Featured publication: The Effects of School Finance Reforms on Teacher Salary and Turnover: Evidence from National Data

In recent decades, parallel literatures have documented the magnitudes and effects of teacher turnover and the impact of state school finance reforms (SFRs). In this paper, we examine SFRs as possible mechanisms to improve teacher salary, turnover, and job satisfaction by using nationally representative data from 2000 to 2016 and leveraging variation in SFR timing. We find that SFRs increased teacher salaries by approximately $4,000 and reduced teacher turnover by three percentage points, on average, though gains in both outcome measures took up to a decade to emerge. We observe larger salary gains among teachers in high-poverty and high-minority school contexts, though declines in their corresponding turnover behaviors were similar to average findings. As policymakers seek to address heightened concerns regarding teacher retention and shortages, our findings suggest targeted salary policies may improve rates of teacher attrition.

Tracing trends in education policy & public opinion

I am wholly committed to inclusive collaboration and actionable scholarship. The world of education can change quickly, so I try to adapt my research to be responsive to evolving circumstances, seeking to elevate the voices of those who are excluded too often.

Featured publication: Education Week Op-Ed: Do parents want schools to be able to teach about racism?

Amid contentious debates concerning public school instruction related to institutional and systemic racism and Critical Race Theory, we're engaged in research focused on better understanding the experiences, preferences, and beliefs students, educators, parents, and voters hold on addressing societal race-based discrimination. Our Education Week op-ed is the first in a series of pieces we're working on; in this op-ed we share lessons from Missouri, with important implications for national debate.

Improving teacher recruitment, turnover, & attrition

Amid remarkably challenging pandemic-era labor market conditions, I try to support school districts and state governments by identifying trends in teacher recruitment and retention, focusing on schools serving large shares of vulnerable students. 

Featured publication: Keeping Up With the Joneses: District Adoption of the 4-Day School Week in Rural Missouri

Particularly in rural America, thousands of schools have transitioned to permanent four-day school weeks. Many of their school districts lack the funding necessary to offer robust teacher compensation so, in lieu of higher salaries, have changed their school schedules to attract and retain teachers. In this article, I examine the intersection of low teacher salaries and the prevalence of four-day weeks in Missouri, one of the fastest growing four-day contexts in the nation. This additional article provides an overarching summary of the research on four-day weeks and this piece argues we should devote considerably more attention to learn about high school CTE teachers, including their turnover behaviors, credentials, and representation.

Research partnerships & funding

I work with many committed partners with whom I have been very fortunate to partner to conduct impactful research. In recent years, I have raised nearly $1m in research funding, furthering my goals to work on timely, policy- and practice-relevant research while also generating funding to support and involve student collaborators and deepen relationships with researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across the country.

Additional research