This study examines the impacts of Chicago's Universal Pre-K (UPK) expansion on the operational dynamics of preschools across setting types from the perspective of administrators. Specifically, we explore how Chicago Public Schools (CPS) principals and and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) directors experienced the implementation of UPK.…

In a first of its kind report, library leaders from eleven urban school districts across the U.S. relate the challenges faced and the strategies implemented to add school librarians. Conducted as part of a federal grant, Debra Kachel, Core Team member of the Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians (PARSL), interviewed school library…

This paper asks whether increasing public school funding can be an effective long-run crime-prevention strategy in the U.S. Specifically, we examine the effect of increases in funding early in children's lives on the likelihood that they are arrested as adults. We exploit quasi-experimental variation in public school funding, leveraging two…

According to the theory of Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI), economically advantaged individuals not only enter each level of education at higher rates than do their less advantaged peers, but also enjoy qualitative advantages at each level that position them more favorably to continue to the next level. Governments may play a role in…

School and district leaders make annual decisions about investing their budgets in a multitude of educational programs. Policy directives set expectations for investing in programs that show evidence of improving student outcomes. However, evaluating many simultaneously-implemented programs under typical school operating conditions is challenging.…