Lucy Sorensen
@lucy-sorensen.bsky.social
Research on education policy, human development, and social inequality. Website: https://lucy-sorensen.github.io/
New Brookings Chalkboard blog post on inequalities in school facilities -- and proposed policy solutions, from @miyeunjung.bsky.social, Sodiq Ambali, and me: www.brookings.edu/articles/how...
How state policymakers can address unequal access to adequate school facilities | Brookings
Sodiq Ambali, Miyeun Jung, and Lucy Sorensen find that local property wealth drives racial gaps in school facility quality.
brookings.edu
📢 For all my fellow education politics and policy people: Josh Almes and I now have an @annenberginstitute.bsky.social working paper out detailing our new dataset of school district partisanship for all 13,000+ districts for the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections. edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1600
A National Measure of School District Partisanship for the 2016 to 2024 Presidential Elections
Scholars increasingly interested in the governance of local school districts, which invites curiosity about the partisanship of their voting constituencies. Presently, researchers have to translate pr...
edworkingpapers.com
4) Finally, I am producing a feature documentary Why Teachers Matter. This documentary explores how teachers have shaped lives, recognizing that most of us are where we are today in part because of the words or actions of our teachers and mentors. Youtube: shorturl.at/b45E4
Tuan D. Nguyen, Ph.D.
All of us got to where we are today because of teachers, mentors, and coaches who taught and supported us all along the way. This channel is dedicated to honoring teachers and their roles in educating...
shorturl.at
Recently accepted by #QJE: “Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color” by Elizabeth Setren (@elizabeth-setren.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Busing to Opportunity? The Impacts of the METCO Voluntary School Desegregation Program on Urban Students of Color
Abstract. School assignment policies are a key lever for expanding access to high-performing schools and promoting racial and socioeconomic integration. Fo
doi.org
Open call for paper submissions: The Economics of Community Colleges conference April 6-7, 2028 in Cambridge, MA. Full information www.nber.org/economics-co...
I’m excited to share a new EdWorkingPaper with @andydebarros.bsky.social. Evaluations are an increasingly common way school systems globally are trying to help teachers improve, but is more always better? A 🧵 doi.org/10.26300/ms3...
Evaluation Scores and Student Learning under Compulsory Teacher Re-Evaluation
We examine how lower-performing public school teachers respond to more frequent formative evaluations. A 2011 reform in Chile required teachers rated "basic" (the second-lowest category) to be re-eval...
doi.org
If spending more on schools raises the earnings of the children who benefit, does it eventually make the whole economy richer? My new NBER paper examines this using school-finance reforms. 🧵 www.nber.org/papers/w35755
The Macroeconomic Returns to School Finance Reforms: Micro-Calibrated Predictions Meet Causal Evidence
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
A new article in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis finds that consequences of redlining persist, with districts with a high concentration of formerly D-graded neighborhoods raising less local revenue & relying disproportionately on state and federal aid. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
Join our upcoming webinar on submitting conference proposals! To be held 9/21 1pm PT / 4pm ET. Sponsored by the @aefpweb.bsky.social Doctoral Student Community Group and conveniently in advance of the AEFP Oct. proposal deadline. Register here: upenn.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Launched in 1995, the Imagination Library sends free books to 1 in 6 U.S. children under 5 years old. The program operates in all 50 states. Read our 2023 story on how Dolly Parton delivered early literacy to three states: www.the74million.org/zero2eight/d...
New: 1 in 80 American public school students now receive a fully virtual education, according to data analyzed by @petrinkae.bsky.social + me. It's a pandemic-era surge that's been sustained. Yet discussions about the quality of virtual ed have been oddly quiet. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/08/27/v...
Racial Status Threat and Anti-DEI Efforts in Local School Districts edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1528
Racial Status Threat and Anti-DEI Efforts in Local School Districts
This study draws on political science theory to analyze how perceived status threats to White social dominance influence local educational politics. We examine the relationship between racial status t...
edworkingpapers.com
Local Labor Demand and Achievement Gaps: Evidence from the Great Recession www.nber.org/papers/w35639
Local Labor Demand and Achievement Gaps: Evidence from the Great Recession
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
New paper! w/ @edizonross.bsky.social, @cedr.bsky.social, Tom Kane, Andrew McEachin, and @ermorton.bsky.social. We know the pandemic hit student test scores hard. But what happened to attendance, discipline, and grades? Did ESSER-funded intervention programs affect students on these measures?
New: There's been a notable and, in many cases, sustained rise in teachers leaving the classroom over the last four to five years, according to new data I collected. The uptick in any one year was modest but the cumulative loss of teachers has been substantial. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/07/30/t...
We can’t solve the child care shortage without measuring it accurately. New research reflects how families really search for care, measuring childcare within a short drive and accounting for competition for slots. This provides a more realistic picture of local supply. https://bit.ly/4aV0qlD
To solve child care shortages, we first need to measure them
bit.ly
This Washington Post editorial claims that state funding has not improved student outcomes. There is plenty of evidence to the alternative, which they regrettably omitted. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... nces.ed.gov/programs/dig... www.nber.org/papers/w27885
🚨Our tutoring meta-analysis is now online at RER. @bethschueler.bsky.social, Grace Falken & I analyzed 263 RCTs. What we learned has important implications for the future of tutoring and the use of meta-analyses to inform policy. Open access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/... 🧵
Related: there's an opportunity to sign on to a statement opposing the transfer. Broad Coalition of Disability, Civil Rights, and Education Organizations to Denounce ED’s Latest Transfers of Core Functions forms.gle/5v6boQni8rNn...
Join Broad Coalition of Disability, Civil Rights, and Education Organizations to Denounce ED’s Latest Transfers of Core Functions
Disability Rights groups have drafted a statement denouncing the U.S. Department of Education's latest transfers of core functions to other agencies. The Administration's is transferring the Office of...
forms.gle
New- A striking and unexplained disparity has emerged across a number of tests in different grades and subjects. Relative to boys, girls' scores have generally fallen faster and been slower to recover, if they're recovered at all. This is a big deal! www.chalkbeat.org/2026/06/11/g...
Absolutely devastating and enraging reporting out of Texas from the @nytimes.com local investigations fellowship. Warning: If you care about children, this one is a hard read. Gift link here: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Texas School Police Pepper-Sprayed, Tackled and Tasered Students (Gift Article)
School officers across the state turned to heavy-handed tactics on children, often in response to minor misbehavior, our investigation shows.
nytimes.com
NEW: We connected school attendance value-added estimates (for 2022-23 through 2024-25) to statewide survey data on school-based attendance practices. Our goal was to identify effective attendance strategies (e.g., specific practices, organizational systems, staffing, leadership). What did we find?🧵
The gloomy headlines about the future of American higher ed been seemingly relentless. But the discourse is missing some basic(and surprising) facts about what’s actually happening right now. Here are 10....
Hi #EconSky 📢 New paper accepted at #EconomicsofEducationReview by Christopher Avery & @abacherhicks.bsky.social : "Inequality and within-school student-teacher assignment patterns" They use US-data to analyse within school matching of students and teachers. 1/3
Turns out it is possible to make financial aid simpler for students! The FAFSA is working, more students are applying for and qualifying to college, and qualifying for aid. @donmoyn.bsky.social was nice enough to have me guest author for Can We Still Govern donmoynihan.substack.com/p/good-news-...
Good News! FAFSA is Actually Working
It is possible to fix burdensome administrative systems
donmoynihan.substack.com
I've got a new report out about school district finances in California. It's part of the massive Getting Down to Facts III project out of the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, and an update of my similar report in 2018. gettingdowntofacts.com/reports/dist...
District Dollars 3: Recent Patterns in California School District Finances, Trends in Teacher Compensation, and Within-District, Between-School Spending | Getting Down to Facts
This report provides a descriptive overview of California school district finances, updating prior analyses in the Getting Down to Facts series. It examines district resources, expenditures, financial...
gettingdowntofacts.com
New: Since DOGE cut the statistical arm of the Education Department, basic facts about American schools are no longer readily available. Some of these data points can be found elsewhere but are now harder to track down. Others simply don't exist anymore. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/07/e...
Interested in some highlights from our latest paper about the effects of Ethnic Studies while it scales district-wide? Our friends at EdWorkingPapers have you covered. edworkingpapers.com/policy-pract...
Cultural Relevance at Scale: The Effects of an Ethnic Studies Expansion on Academic Outcomes
Ethnic Studies (ES) has emerged as a promising approach to address this challenge. By centering the histories, cultures, and lived experiences of communities of color, ES is designed to make learning ...
edworkingpapers.com
What Happens When Schools Restrict Cellphone Use: New survey sheds light on how cellphone restrictions are improving student behavior and engagement.
What Happens When Schools Restrict Cellphone Use
New survey sheds light on how cellphone restrictions are improving student behavior and engagement.
edweek.org
