Abstract: State laws that mandate in-grade retention for struggling readers are widespread in the U.S., covering 34% of public-school third graders in 2023-24. This study investigates the impacts of Michigan’s third-grade reading law on subsequent test scores and school progress outcomes for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 third-grade cohorts. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) design, we find that being flagged for retention raises students’ reading scores in the next school year by 0.045 standard deviations (SD)—a modest but meaningful impact. Because being flagged increases the likelihood of actually being retained by only 3.4 percentage points, the implied effect of retention itself under standard “fuzzy” RD assumptions would be an implausibly large 1.3 SD. This result suggests flagging may affect outcomes via mechanisms other than just retention, a violation of the exclusion restriction. Indeed, we estimate similar effects even in districts that retain no students. Survey evidence suggests flagged students receive more intensive reading support even if they are not retained. Our findings suggest retention may be a much less important component of literacy reforms than previously understood. Finally, given the similarity between Michigan’s reading law and those in other states, our findings raise concerns about potential bias in previously estimated retention effects.
Recent research
The Impacts of Grade Retention Policy With Minimal Retention
Annenberg Institute at Brown University, EdWorkingPaper: 25 -1188 |
May 2025
The Impacts of Grade Retention Policy With Minimal Retention
New Places, New Players, a New Politics of Education
Annenberg Institute at Brown University, EdWorkingPaper: 25 -1182 |
May 2025
New Places, New Players, a New Politics of Education
Abstract: In the last decade, many political conflicts over K-12 education in the United States have increasingly divided along party lines. While it may seem like this development represents a sudden and surprising departure from a long-standing tradition of bipartisanship, I argue that the politics of education has been gradually growing more exposed to partisan conflict over a much longer period of time. This manuscript is part of a larger book-length project exploring the causes and consequences of inter-party political disputes over K-12 education. Here I examine the history of K-12 school governance in the U.S. from the revolutionary era to the present, focusing on the changing institutional arenas where education policymaking happens and the changing cast of political actors participating in the policymaking process. Over the course of decades and even centuries, the center of gravity of K-12 education policy has shifted toward political venues where partisan considerations play a more significant role.
State Intervention and Racialized Policy Aversion In Michigan's Black School Districts
Annenberg Institute at Brown University, EdWorkingPaper: 25 -1129 |
January 2025
State Intervention and Racialized Policy Aversion In Michigan's Black School Districts
Abstract: For the past thirty years, Michigan has used Emergency Management (EM) and receiverships to solve city and school finance issues. The impact of these state intervention policies has been highly publicized and has led to institutional distrust among black citizens in urban communities —with the Flint water crisis standing out as the most infamous and high-profile example. A possible outcome of local distrust of state leadership is stakeholder resistance to state intervention across policy sectors and among policies that are perceived as beneficial and less contentious. This paper examines the Michigan Partnership Model (PM) – a state intervention policy that uses partnerships to turnaround the state’s lowest performing schools – to examine how adverse policy experiences shape school accountability aversion in Urban Cities. Under the PM, some school districts that previously experienced Emergency Management can work collaboratively with the state to improve education performance. This paper examines how policy visibility and prior, negative policy experiences (e.g., emergency financial management) shape perceptions of new policy. First, I used an analysis of local news media to compare the visibility and discourse of the EM and PM policies. Second, I use interviews with stakeholders in Michigan schools with and without historical accounts of state intervention to gauge whether past experiences with EM policy impacts stakeholder’s trust in partnership agreements. I find that stakeholders with EM experiences have more negative views of the state – not the PM itself. However, I do find that visibility plays a role in stakeholders’ knowledge and subsequent aversion toward the PM policy.
The Role of Comprehensive Student Support Interventions during School Turnaround
EdWorkingPaper: 24-1067, Annenberg Institute at Brown University: |
October 2024
The Role of Comprehensive Student Support Interventions during School Turnaround
Abstract: The persistence of underperformance in schools within large urban districts remains a significant challenge in the U.S. K-12 education system. Education policymakers have enacted legislation aiming at improving these schools through "turnaround'' initiatives. However, students attending underperforming schools face multifaceted challenges that extend beyond the classroom. Therefore, restructuring the underperforming schools without addressing critical out-of-school factors appears to be insufficient to achieve the goal of these legislative efforts.
In this study, we focus on a large urban school district in Massachusetts with many underperforming schools undergoing school turnaround. During the turnaround process, some schools implemented a comprehensive student support intervention while others did not. The variation in supplementing school turnaround with comprehensive student support intervention and the timing of the implementation of the intervention allows us to explore whether comprehensive student support aiming at addressing out-of-school factors enhances student performance during the school turnaround process.
Employing difference-in-differences and event studies research designs, our findings reveal that schools and grades implementing the comprehensive student support intervention during their turnaround efforts demonstrate improvement in math and English language arts compared to those not implementing the intervention. These results provide valuable insights for policymakers, emphasizing the essential role of comprehensive student support in enhancing the success of school turnaround.
The Potential for Race Discrimination in Voucher Programs in a Post-Carson World
Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 99, No. 4 |
August 2024
The Potential for Race Discrimination in Voucher Programs in a Post-Carson World
Abstract: Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court examined three cases that involved states that tried to limit the use of public money to support religious-affiliated schools. The Supreme Court found a violation of the Free Exercise Clause in all three cases. Although not the focus of the Court’s opinions, these cases may have created avenues for discriminatory practices in publicly funded state school voucher programs. In elevating free- exercise rights above Establishment Clause concerns, the Court’s decisions may have serious implications for students’ civil rights in schools.
This article specifically examines whether the growth of school voucher programs in the context of these recent Supreme Court decisions creates a pathway for racial discrimination in participating voucher schools. We first explore the impact of the three Supreme Court decisions. Specifically, we argue that when the Court eliminated distinctions between policies denying funding because of religious status and policies denying funding for religious uses and when it elevated free-exercise arguments, it may have opened additional avenues for discrimination. Thus, we next address whether participating voucher schools can refuse admission to Black students.
To set the context for this discussion, we provide a brief historical analysis of case law that has previously supported race-based discrimination on religious grounds. We show that although past court cases and federal tax policy have created a bulwark against such discrimination, the recent rulings favoring free exercise rights raise concerns. If free-exercise rights trump civil rights, some voucher statutes may create an alternative funding stream for modern-day “segregation academies.”