Leiah Groom-Thomas, Research Project Manager, Brown University, presented work in progress at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on April 19, 2022. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

The talk examined the labor-market returns to stackable credentials. Katharine Meyer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brown University, presented “Stacking the Deck for Employment Success: Labor Market Returns to Stackable Credentials” at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on February 4, 2020. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

Teacher-Student Demographic Match and Identification for Discretionary Educational Placements

A never-growing body a research has demonstrated the positive impacts on students of color from being matched to a same race teacher. At the same time, scholars have investigated the role of discretionary educational placements in both mitigating and perpetuating persistently stubborn achievement gaps. We build on these two strands of literature to determine whether access to same-race teachers is associated with the likelihood that children enter gifted programs or begin services for exceptional students. We build on past research on this question (e.g., Grissom & Redding, 2016) using a stronger set of quasi-experimental techniques to extract more plausibly causal estimates of this relationship. We harness a rich state longitudinal dataset that identifies the type of exceptionality students are served for to determine whether any effects of exposure to Black teachers comes primarily through exceptionalities that are subject to a greater degree of discretion in identification of the disability. And we explore whether the availability of Black teachers affects the extent to which students are included in classes with mainstream peers. We also take advantage of the data to look at heterogeneity in effects of exposure to Black teachers, looking at differences by student characteristics (like socioeconomic status, sex, and student age) as well as school characteristics (like charter status or urbanicity of the school). Preliminary findings indicate that Black teachers are associated with lower rates of identification with exceptionalities for Black boys, with results being especially strong for economically-disadvantaged boys and for categories like specific learning disabilities that have a more subjective component to diagnosis.

Constance Lindsay, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented work in progress at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on May 11, 2022. The talk was part of the Annenberg Seminars on Educational Policy, a series that brings education researchers from institutions across the country to Brown to present and discuss their work.

This alumni networking conference is jointly sponsored by the UEP program and the Annenberg Institute. 

A main goal of this conference is to strengthen our Brown UEP community by renewing and expanding our professional relationship across our cohorts while also providing an opportunity to meet our faculty and staff.

As you plan your travel, please consider the schedule of the conference below.

Please register by completing the RSVP form for this conference.

This event took place on May 25, 2019.

The talk presented research on equal pay policies and marriage bars in the labor market. Valerie Michelman, Watson Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown University, presented “Equal Pay and Marriage Bars” at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on October 11, 2022. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

The talk examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on college-going among Massachusetts students. John Papay, Associate Professor of Education and Economics, Brown University, presented “COVID and College-Going in Massachusetts” at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on November 29, 2022. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

Covid-19 and the Composition of the Massachusetts Teacher Workforce

The COVID-19 crisis has created unprecedented disruption for school systems, educators, and the students they serve. Pandemic-related challenges in schools have the potential to alter both the supply of and demand for teachers. We examine the extent to which the composition of the teacher workforce changed in Massachusetts during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing data from the 2020-2021 year to historical data. We find that overall teacher turnover in Massachusetts has remained stable over the last 5 years. We also find that, compared to prior years, turnover decreased among early-career teachers, Black and Hispanic/Latinx teachers, and teachers in schools serving high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students. Finally, we document that racial and ethnic diversity among newly hired teachers increased in recent years, a trend which continued into the fall of 2020.

Olivia Chi, Assistant Professor, Boston University, presented “Covid-19 and the Composition of the Massachusetts Teacher Workforce” at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on February 9, 2022. The talk was part of the Annenberg Seminars on Educational Policy, a series that brings education researchers from institutions across the country to Brown to present and discuss their work.

Christina Weiland, Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Michigan, presented work in progress at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on October 8, 2019. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

Jesse Bruhn, Assistant Professor of Economics, Brown University, presented work in progress at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on April 20, 2021 in a virtual session. The talk was part of Annenberg’s Education Policy Workshop Series, an hour-long “works in progress” seminar centered on empirical research related to education and education policy. Speakers come from a variety of disciplinary traditions, and the series welcomes faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff from across the university who are interested in empirical research in education.

The nearly seven million students with disabilities in the United States are among those most at risk of regressing significantly during COVID-related distance learning. Under federal law, schools are required to provide services to meet students’ specific needs, but services have proven difficult to transfer to distance learning or hybrid learning environments. In far too many cases, they are not being provided at all.

Given these challenges, what can the research evidence tell us about how schools can intervene to reduce the widening learning gaps between students with disabilities and their peers?

Join Nathan Jones, Associate Professor of Special Education at Boston University, Dr. Alecia Mobley, Director of Special Education, Richfield (MN) Public Schools, and Lane McKittrick, special education research analyst at the Center for Reinventing Public Education and parent of four boys, including three with disabilities, for a lively discussion moderated by EdWeek’s Corey Mitchell. The panel will draw on the evidence in the new EdResearch for Recovery brief, “Academic Supports for Students with Disabilities.”

Panelists:

Nathan Jones, associate professor of Special Education, Boston University

Lane McKittrick, research analyst, Center for Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington and parent/advocate for students with disabilities

Alecia Mobley,  director of special education, Richfield (MN) Public Schools

Moderator:

Corey Mitchell, staff writer, Education Week

Nathan Jones, Associate Professor of Special Education, Boston University, presented “Examining the Evidence: Supporting Students With Disabilities” at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University on November 20, 2020 in a virtual session.