Education Policy Initiative

About CIERS The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies. This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

About CIERS The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies. This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

About CIERS The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies. This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

About the speaker Douglas N. Harris is an Associate Professor of Economics and University Endowed Chair in Public Education at Tulane University in New Orleans. About the topic: One of the worst natural disasters in the nation's history, Hurricane Katrina spawned a flurry of public policy reforms. The public school system, in particular, became one of the most radical experiments in more than a century.

From the speaker's bio: Thomas Geraghty is a Professor of Law, the Associate Dean for Clinical Legal Education and Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of Law. The Bluhm Legal Clinic houses 35 clinical faculty members and enrolls 170 students each year in its various programs.

About CIERS The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies. This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from the School of Education, Ford School of Public Policy, and the Departments of Economics, Sociology, Statistics, and Political Science to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress.

Free and open to the public. About the Presentation: Improving students' access to information about college attendance and affordability is a simple, inexpensive intervention which has received much attention in policy circles. The hope is that providing accurate information to potential college students may dramatically improve their ability to calibrate the costs and benefits of college. Many have argued that providing information early in their high school years might build more expectations about college attendance.

Free and open to the public. From the speaker's abstract: The federal Pell Grant Program provides billions of dollars in subsidies to low-income college students to increase affordability and access to higher education. In her recent research, Lesley Turner tests whether colleges respond to the Pell Grant program by altering institutional aid provided to Pell Grant recipients. Turner's findings show that, overall, 16 percent of all Pell Grant aid is passed-through to schools in the form of higher effective prices.

Free and open to the public. About the lecture: The presentation will address four topics: (1) why it is important to step up our use of evidence if we are to improve education outcomes; (2) strategies for engaging stakeholders in using and generating credible evidence; (3) the importance of adopting common standards for design and evidence standards; and (4) a proposal for a common evidence platform. About the speaker: Rebecca Maynard is a leading expert in program evaluation, including the design and conduct

Teachers are the most important in-school contributors to student achievement, but there is widespread concern that the rigidities of the public school system make it unresponsive to teacher quality. In this lecture Dr. Chingos will discuss three studies of how schools respond to differences in teacher effectiveness (as measured by value-added to student achievement), all of which are based on administrative data from the state of Florida. Mathew Chingos, Fellow, Brookings Institution Matthew M.

The Michigan Consortium for Educational Research (MCER) will present early impact analyses for the first graduating cohort to experience the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC). This first-look at results will address what has happened to student achievement, graduation and dropout rates, and college enrollment and persistence as a result of MMC implementation. In addition, representatives from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) will discuss Michigan's efforts to adopt new College and Career Ready standards.

Sean F. Reardon, Professor of Education, Stanford University Income inequality among the families of school-age children in the US has grown sharply in the last 40 years. In this talk Dr. Reardon will describe his research findings from three studies that examine the relationship of income and income inequality to educational outcomes. The first focuses on trends in the 'income achievement gap' (the test score gap between children from high- and low-income families) over the last 50 years, using data from 13 nationally representative studies conducted between 1959-2009.

Free and open to the public. Join the conversation: #fordschoolspellings Lecture by the Honorable Margaret Spellings, Former U.S. Secretary of Education (2005-2009) Abstract: The seminal education law known as No Child Left Behind put critical pressure on our schools to dramatically improve education in America. Through accountability, testing, and consequences for failure, a more targeted focus on our neediest students has translated into measurable success for them.

Sponsored by the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). EPI is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy. Generous support provided by Charles H.

Abstract We examine the theoretical and practical implications of ranking teachers according to a one dimensional value-added metric when teacher effectiveness is multi-dimensional. In particular, we consider the cases in which teachers teach multiple subjects or multiple student types. We outline the assumptions under which a standard value-added estimator correctly ranks teachers according to their social value. We demonstrate that these assumptions fail to hold empirically.

Free and open to the public. Abstract In 2006, with the goal of increasing student achievement, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Board of Education passed policies related to effective teachers and school administrators. The leadership of the District put the Board's work in action and made increasing staff effectiveness the focus of their work.

Free and open to the public. Sandwiches and soda provided. Sponsored by the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). EPI is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy. Generous support provided by Charles H. and Susan Gessner. About the speaker Stephanie Jones is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP). EPI is a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy. Generous support provided by Charles H. and Susan Gessner. Abstract School accountability systems are intended to lead schools to educate children more efficiently and raise student performance.

Free and open to the public. Abstract: The term 'undermatch' describes the problem of students failing to apply to the most selective colleges they qualify for. There is evidence that students who undermatch significantly reduce their chances of graduating. Because undermatching is substantially more prevalent among lower-income, minority, and first generation students, it raises immediate questions of fairness as well of resource waste.

Free and open to the public. Abstract: The U.S. high school graduation rate rose markedly during the first 70 years of the 20th century. This contributed to the human capital development that fueled economic growth and increases in standards of living. Since 1970, the U.S. high school graduation rate has stagnated, while those of other industrialized nations have risen. Do the patterns differ by gender, race, or ethnicity? Why should we care about these trends and patterns? Why did they occur?

Abstract Over the past two decades, many urban school districts have restructured large, traditional high schools into smaller learning communities. The idea behind this movement is that small schools provide a more personalized learning environment that allows teachers to more effectively address the multi-faceted needs of disadvantaged students. Despite mixed evidence on the efficacy of such reforms in practice, Detroit and other high-poverty districts have pressed forward with the creation of smaller high schools.

For-profit colleges are under fire. Critics point to students' low earnings and high debt loads as evidence that these schools do not provide a quality education. Defenders of the sector note that the schools serve a population of low-skilled, low-income students that traditional colleges ignore. Congress is now considering legislation that would bar from the federal aid programs any schools whose graduates' earnings fall below a minimum threshold.

PANELISTS: Susan Dynarski Associate Professor of Education, School of Education; Associate Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy | Michael Flanagan Superintendent of Public Instruction, Michigan Department of Education | Brian Rowan Burke A. Hinsdale Collegiate Professor, School of Education; Research Professor, Institute for Social Research | Tyrone Winfrey Director, U-M Office of Undergraduate Admissions - Detroit Admissions Office and Vice-President, Detroit Board of Education | Deborah Loewenberg Ball Dean of the School of Education, will be moderating the panel discussion

Matthew Springer, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Director of the National Center on Performance Incentives Vanderbilt University. The Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) experiment was a three-year experimental study of middle school math teachers and their students and schools. The signature activity of the POINT experiment was the study of the effects on student outcomes of paying teachers bonuses of up to $15,000 per year on the basis of student test-score gains.

ABSTRACT: Politicians tend to underestimate and to undervalue societal benefits that come far in the future, and this is particularly problematic with schools. Even though the economic benefits of improving growth through better schools far exceed the benefits from short run macro policies, the latter receives much more attention. In this talk, the returns to improved schools are described, and these returns are related to a variety of possible school reform policies. Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

In 2004, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm charged the Lieutenant Governor's Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth with identifying strategies to improve postsecondary attainment and completion in Michigan.

Abstract In developing countries, rising incomes, increased demand for more skilled labor, and government investments of considerable resources on building and equipping schools and paying teachers have contributed to some global convergence in enrollment rates and completed years of schooling but substantial education gaps persist, such as between rural and urban households and also between males and females, in some settings. To address these gaps, some governments have introduced school vouchers or cash transfers programs that are targeted to disadvantaged children.

David Deming will present his study of the implementation of an open enrollment public school choice plan in Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district (CMS) in 2002. Students were guaranteed admission to their home school but could apply to as many as 3 other public schools in the district. Where demand for slots exceeded supply, assignment was determined by randomized lottery. Deming finds significant benefits of school choice for students who come from neighborhoods that are assigned to very low performing schools.

Abstract As a new administration takes the reins of the federal education research enterprise, the former director of federal education research, evaluation, and statistics will reflect on his experience in leading a research agency within the Bush administration that maintained its independence and integrity, and will offer his thoughts on what must be done to strengthen education research further so as to provide practitioners and policymakers with the knowledge to improve education outcomes substantially.

'Assessed by a Teacher Like Me: Race, Gender, and Subjective Evaluations.' Amine Ouazad, Assistant Professor of Economics and Political Science, INSEAD. 3rd Floor Seminar Room, Weill Hall, 735 South State Street. See the paper.