How did it get this way? Disentangling the sources of teacher quality gaps through agent-based modeling.

We develop a novel simulation methodology to study the extent to which three interrelated processes-teacher attrition from the state teaching workforce, teacher mobility between teaching positions, and teacher hiring for open positions-contribute to "teacher quality gaps" (TQGs) between students of color and other students in K-12 public schools. We apply this methodology to data from Washington State to provide estimates that eliminating inequities in teacher mobility and hiring across different schools would close TQGs within 5 years, while just eliminating inequities in teacher hiring would close gaps within 10 years. On the other hand, eliminating inequities in teacher attrition without addressing mobility and hiring does little to close gaps.

The Frontline Health Care Workers in Schools: Health Equity, the Distribution of School Nurses, and Student Access.

The extent to which observed disparities in access to primary pediatric care are mirrored in student access to school nursing services is unknown. Using school employment records, we linked 1,346 nurses to school districts serving 1,141,495 students in Washington state. The percentage of students who are Black is negatively associated with the student-to-nurse ratio, while the percentage of students eligible for free-or-reduced-price lunch is positively associated, and relative to urban districts, rural districts have higher student-to-nurse ratios. Disparities in access to school nursing services mirror access gaps for pediatric care along socioeconomic status and geography. The increased number of nurses working in districts with more racial/ethnic minority students may play a protective role and ameliorate access gaps observed in pediatric primary care. States can likely use existing employment and licensing data to understand where school nurses work and therefore guide resource allocation decisions.

The role of teachers and schools in explaining STEM outcome gaps.

We develop a novel methodology to explore the extent to which teacher and school assignments between fourth and eighth grade contribute to inequalities between advantaged and disadvantaged students-as defined by underrepresented minority (URM) status and eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL)-in their eighth-grade math and science test scores and high school math and science course-taking. We find that differences between advantaged and disadvantaged students in teacher and school assignments predict about 25% of the eighth-grade math test gaps, 10% of the eighth-grade science test gaps, and 35% of the gaps in advanced math course-taking. For science course-taking, school and teacher assignments predict about 20% of the URM gap and 10% of the FRL gap. While this methodology does not permit causal conclusions, the results are robust to analyses of a subsample in which students do not appear to be assigned to teachers based on prior test achievement.

Exploring the Impact of Student Teaching Apprenticeships on Student Achievement and Mentor Teachers.

We exploit within-teacher variation in the years that math and reading teachers in grades 4-8 host an apprentice ("student teacher") in Washington State to estimate the causal effect of these apprenticeships on student achievement, both during the apprenticeship and afterwards. While the average causal effect of hosting a student teacher on student performance in the year of the apprenticeship is indistinguishable from zero in both math and reading, hosting a student teacher is found to have modest positive impacts on student math and reading achievement in a teacher's classroom in following years. These findings suggest that schools and districts can participate in the student teaching process without fear of short-term decreases in student test scores while potentially gaining modest long-term test score increases.

Career and Technical Education, Inclusion, and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With Learning Disabilities.

We used longitudinal data from Washington State to investigate the relationships among career and technical education (CTE) enrollment, inclusion in general education, and high school and postsecondary outcomes for students with learning disabilities. We replicated earlier findings that students with learning disabilities who were enrolled in a "concentration" of CTE courses had higher rates of employment after graduation than observably similar students with learning disabilities who were enrolled in fewer CTE courses. We also found that students with learning disabilities who spent more time in general education classrooms in high school had higher rates of on-time graduation, college attendance, and employment than observably similar students with learning disabilities who spent less time in general education classrooms in these grades.

Disparities in ratings of internal and external applicants: A case for model-based inter-rater reliability.

Ratings are present in many areas of assessment including peer review of research proposals and journal articles, teacher observations, university admissions and selection of new hires. One feature present in any rating process with multiple raters is that different raters often assign different scores to the same assessee, with the potential for bias and inconsistencies related to rater or assessee covariates. This paper analyzes disparities in ratings of internal and external applicants to teaching positions using applicant data from Spokane Public Schools. We first test for biases in rating while accounting for measures of teacher applicant qualifications and quality. Then, we develop model-based inter-rater reliability (IRR) estimates that allow us to account for various sources of measurement error, the hierarchical structure of the data, and to test whether covariates, such as applicant status, moderate IRR. We find that applicants external to the district receive lower ratings for job applications compared to internal applicants. This gap in ratings remains significant even after including measures of qualifications and quality such as experience, state licensure scores, or estimated teacher value added. With model-based IRR, we further show that consistency between raters is significantly lower when rating external applicants. We conclude the paper by discussing policy implications and possible applications of our model-based IRR estimate for hiring and selection practices in and out of the teacher labor market.

Do bonuses affect teacher staffing and student achievement in high poverty schools? Evidence from an incentive for national board certified teachers in Washington State.

We study a teacher incentive policy in Washington State that awards a financial bonus to National Board certified teachers in high poverty schools. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the bonus policy increased the proportion of certified teachers in bonus-eligible schools by improving hiring, increasing certification rates of incumbent teachers, and reducing turnover. Depending on the method, we estimate that the proportion of NBCTs in treated schools increased by about four to eight percentage points over the first five years of eligibility. However, the improvement in certification rates corresponds to a change of about 0.2-0.3% of a standard deviation in teacher quality per year and we do not find evidence that the bonus resulted in detectible effects on student test achievement.