Propensity score matching and weighting methods are often used in observational effectiveness studies to reduce imbalance between treated and untreated groups on a set of potential confounders. However, much of the prior methodological literature on matching and weighting has yet to examine performance for scenarios with a majority of treated…

Although note taking is frequently described as an important skill for postsecondary success, there have been few note-taking intervention studies involving multiple sessions spanning more than one week. In a systematic search, we identified seven peer-reviewed articles reporting 10 intervention studies published from 1990-2014. The only…

We outline the options available to policymakers for addressing co-teaching in a value-added model. Building on earlier work, we propose an improvement to a method of accounting for co-teaching that treats co-teachers as teams, with each teacher receiving equal credit for co-taught students. Hock and Isenberg (2012) described a method known as the…

Bayesian alternatives to frequentist propensity score approaches have recently been proposed. However, few studies have investigated their covariate balancing properties. This article compares a recently developed two-step Bayesian propensity score approach to the frequentist approach with respect to covariate balance. The effects of different…

This article examines the effect of Teach For America (TFA) on the distribution of student achievement in elementary school. It extends previous research by estimating quantile treatment effects (QTE) to examine how student achievement in TFA and non-TFA classrooms differs across the broader distribution of student achievement. It also updates…

The conventional approaches to mediation analysis such as path analysis and structural equation modeling typically involve specifying two structural models, one for the mediator and the other for the outcome. We employ an alternative approach that avoids some strong identification assumptions invoked by the conventional approaches. By applying a…