There are over one million school-age children in Missouri, and we estimate 61,000 (6% of all school-age children) are homeschooled. Missouri is one of 29 states that does not require homeschooling to be reported. Using methods that can be replicated elsewhere with publicly available data, we test three approaches to estimating homeschool…

All of our choices and all that sets us apart are governed by what we can do, what we want to do, and what we know. This dissertation aims to quantify two of these channels to better understand why we differ. The first two chapters focus on what we know and how it shapes societal gaps. The first chapter attacks the question of how much of the gap…

Using data collected from more than 5.8 million high school and college graduates ages 18 to 65 years who participated in the American Community Survey between 2009 and 2021, the authors estimate the internal rates of return (IRRs) for individuals with college degrees in 10 broad majors compared with high school graduates. The analysis shows…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate Black-White differences associated with hearing loss among older adults living in the United States. Method: Secondary data analysis was conducted using the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) with a replication analysis of the 2016 ACS. The ACS is an annual nationally representative survey of…

Place-based scholarships within the College Promise movement reduce the cost of college for students in particular places and often include incentives for families to live in places for a longer period of time to capture full program benefits. This financial incentive may change the residential mobility decisions of people living in and around…

Rurality in education research is a function of the size of the school, the distance of a school in relation to urban areas, and factors within each school that may differentiate the school community based on geography. Distance matters. This study finds variation between rural communities at different distances from an urban center and…

Recent higher education accountability policies and proposals have often linked programs' or institutions' federal aid access to students' postcompletion earnings. But proposals differ regarding when to measure earnings. Policymakers may want to know how fast earnings typically grow and when in an individual's career earnings growth rates change.…

This paper documents the emerging role of education in the well-known decline in US male working hours. An insignificant hours difference between high school and college graduates becomes a significant 2 hours/week advantage for college graduates within a generation. This growing "college hours premium" is confirmed in alternate data.…

According to the American Community Survey (ACS), about one-quarter (24.8 percent) of the U.S. population over the age of 3 was enrolled in school in 2021. This report provides a comprehensive picture of the state of school enrollment using recently published data from the ACS. It outlines modern enrollment trends while also offering comparisons…

District expenditures and efficiency can be influenced by the entry of charter schools. Loss of economies due to reduced enrollments and a rising share of high-cost students are some of the key mechanisms that could potentially increase the costs of providing education in district schools. The competitive pressure from charter schools could also…

In 2019, more than 5 million providers cared for one or more children either in their own home or in a child's home. Home-based child care (HBCC) providers are a varied group that includes listed providers and unlisted providers who do and do not receive payment. HBCC is especially prevalent in communities of color, communities with high…

The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) has synthesized key data on English learners (ELs) into two-page sheets on a variety of subjects. This fact sheet focuses on: (1) Most Common Languages Spoken by English Learners (Excluding Spanish and English): Fall 2020; (2) Number of Reported Arabic-Speaking English Learners: 2008 through 2020;…

For education policies to be implemented most effectively in local contexts, policymakers must consider diverse school and community geographic characteristics. For example, rural geographies often present particularly important dynamics for public schooling, including challenges with school enrollment, school funding, and teacher labor markets.…

This study investigates the impact of states' adoption of Response to Interventions (RTI) on the identification and placement of students in special education. RTI, adopted by the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004, is designed to improve the identification and support of children with learning disabilities…

Enrollment in American graduate degree programs is increasing, even as undergraduate enrollment declines continue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With rising numbers of graduate awards, there has been increased attention on understanding the value of these degrees, especially master's degrees. With more workers attaining higher credentials,…