Safety has contributed to the growth of charter schools. However, charter schools may drain public schools of key resources, leading to a decline in safety in public schools. This study examines whether the opening of charter schools in New York City is associated with decreased safety in public schools. Results indicate very little or no…

This mixed methods research study explores superintendents' beliefs about and engagement in state education policymaking processes. Through interviews with 58 superintendents and a national survey of superintendents, I find that many superintendents feel that their voices have value in state policymaking spaces; however, superintendents' actual…

Spatial analytics receive increased attention in educational data mining. A critical issue in stop detection (i.e., the automatic extraction of timestamped and located stops in the movement of individuals) is a lack of validation of stop accuracy to represent phenomena of interest. Next to a radius that an actor does not exceed for a certain…

This study examines how the student transportation options available to families affect which schools are accessible to them in a choice-based setting. The study has two parts. First, we compare commute times by foot, public transit, school bus, and car. We show that providing school bus service reduces commute times and improves access for…

Research suggests that longer commute times can increase employee turnover probabilities by increasing job stress and reducing job attachment and embeddedness. Using administrative data from a midsized urban school district, we test whether teachers and school leaders with longer commute times are more likely to transfer schools or exit the school…

We use novel information about fixture-specific water lead levels (WLLs) in Portland, Oregon schools to explore inequalities in students' potential for exposure to lead in drinking water at school. We find that Black and Hispanic students were in classrooms with higher WLLs than white students primarily because they attended different schools. The…

Given the huge increase in the number of American families able to choose their child's school, the time is ripe to ask, "What do parents want?" Whereas before, millions of parents were hemmed in by school policies that required their child to attend a residentially assigned traditional public school, now more and more states are…

As school choice options grow, it is helpful to test for indirect effects on non-choosers who are left behind in district-run schools. Can a competitive system built on the principle of choice serve as a rising tide that lifts all boats or will such systems further existing inequities? The largest competitive effects analysis of a voucher program…

Catholic schools have seen more than a 30% decline in enrollment over the past 20 years. While some of the decline in enrollment may have been spurred by secular trends or the Church abuse scandal, the increase in schools of choice, principally public charter schools, may explain at least some of this decline. In this paper we estimate the effect…

This study analyzes the effect of spatial competition on public schools' efficiency in Chile, an extreme case of market-oriented reforms in the educational sector. To address this issue, we use a measure of competition that captures three major characteristics of market competition in a spatial context: the number of competitors, based on distance…

In Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Spanish Dual Language (DL) programs are caught up in a school choice paradigm, marketed by schools as special features by which to lure prospective families. Out of concern that this approach does not position schools to serve the full breadth of Latina/o/x students, who possess the social, cultural and linguistic…

Research concerning family preferences for schooling indicates that they value proximity to home as much as academic quality when choosing schools. However, preferences for proximity likely represent inability to access schools farther away from home, especially for disadvantaged students. I test whether distance and district boundaries constrain…

This study investigated what difficulties school administrators experienced in making decisions, planning, organizing, communicating, influencing, coordinating and budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 32 school administrators in the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021. Participants were recruited from seven…

In these three studies, I analyze data from the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) to investigate how labor markets for early-career music teachers are related to the ongoing music teacher shortage in Maryland. In the first study, I explore the transition from postsecondary graduation into the public-school music teacher workforce. In the…

Purpose: School choice policies are expected to generate competition leading to improvement in school practices. However, little is known about how competition operates in public education--particularly in charter schools. This paper examines charter-school leaders' competitive perception formation and the actions taken in response to competition.…