“Too often, discussions about teaching are driven by assumptions, isolated experiences, or national narratives that may not reflect what is happening in the aggregate across Arkansas” www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/ju...

❤️ Hup Holland Hup

“The best way to support teachers and strengthen Arkansas education is not to ignore challenges or to exaggerate them. It is to understand them clearly” Op-ed with @jbmcgee.bsky.social www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/ju...

Desayuno 😋

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...

I think the era of automated social science is starting to emerge. Here's why: open.substack.com/pub/brendanb...

Vida… #breathe 😮‍💨

I learned ChatGPT’s nickname in Spain is “La Chati” and I think that’s beautiful 😅

Going for a classic in Spanish next ❤️📚

I would add that despite showing high levels of job satisfaction our surveys also portray the challenges of the teaching profession. Teaching remains stressful and managing student behavior is the top source of stress identified by teachers

Wow I loved this one. ❤️❤️❤️🥹 This was the fastest I have read a 500 pages book ever

“Our surveys also tell us about the working conditions of our teachers. Pay is important, but working conditions are also very important.” www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-...

New: Under-the-radar tidbits from the big new study on U.S. test scores: —High- + low-poverty districts have fared the best of late —Results would probably be worse absent federal Covid aid —Low attendance is dragging down results, but only a bit And more... www.chalkbeat.org/2026/05/21/t...

Check out the @aefpweb.bsky.social YouTube channel! 🎉Recordings include Applying to Dissertation Fellowships, How District & State Leaders Shape AI Adoption, Intro to DAAF w/ @brhkim.bsky.social, & Breaking into Education Consulting w/ @bakerdphd.bsky.social www.youtube.com/@aefpweb

Interesting article about why teachers leave the profession, citing yours truly.🙂 flatwaterfreepress.org/the-breaking...

Excited to finally getting this one started ❤️📚

Happy to report we made it through our first year of high school marching band events 🤪 #bandmom

Feliz San Isidro Madrid!!❤️❤️❤️

Feliz dia de Madrid Chulapos y Chulapas

It’s so quiet in campus. I love it! 😅

Lots of things are going on in Education in Arkansas. Check out this great episode 👇 and stay tuned for all the research we have underway evaluating these efforts...

Honestly this has seemed like one of the biggest "low hanging fruit" policy changes out there. Good to see some evidence in support of my unreasonably strong priors.

Happy Mother’s Day!

And my grades are all submitted!

We did it @taylornwilson.bsky.social! So proud ❤️🎓🐗

Let’s do this! 🎓🐗

Just another day in the office 🎓

And here we are. We have not finished this school year but already practicing for the next 🤪 #bandmom

Bingo! Do I win a prize now?

This #TeacherAppreciationWeek let’s thank our teachers and review some facts about the AR teacher workforce from our work here at the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform and the Office for Education Policy oep.uark.edu/key-topics/t...

Just below Haw Creek Falls, in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas.

May the Fourth Be with You

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms in Spain! Feliz dia de la madre a todas las mamas en España ❤️

And one more music recital 🤪🎶 The number of end of the school year events is insane 😬

Great reminder at the end of the year University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions meeting this morning. To be proud of our accomplishments this year but also to give ourselves permission to rest and be present this summer ❤️

Here we are one more time 🎶🤪 #bandmom

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute's article on our work evaluating AR's salary increases to teachers. Check it out 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

Nice write up of some of my research with @gzamarro.bsky.social @jbmcgee.bsky.social and others. Other states are implementing/considering similar policies which are a step away from rigid salary schedules and tends to be more equitable than alternatives. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

Here we are. 🎶#bandmom

Our work is featured in this article. www.axios.com/local/nw-ark...

“While teachers reported low burnout, Zamarro said teachers can be satisfied with their jobs and still have stressors. One stressor in particular she pointed to was in managing student behaviors” www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/ap...

Finished reading this one ❤️🥹

Check out our new blog post describing Arkansas Teacher retention for this 2025-26 school year. While teacher retention has stabilized since the pandemic, Arkansas has not fully recovered. oep.uark.edu/arkansas-tea...

🧵 New Arkansas teacher retention data is in. A few takeaways 👇 1/ Retention has stabilized—but not fully recovered. Roughly 87 percent of Arkansas teachers returned to the classroom over 1.5 pp below pre-pandemic levels. oep.uark.edu/arkansas-tea...

Arkansas is doing some really good things to bolster the teaching profession! And our analysis shows that alternatives to the "across the board" pay increase that some states are considering (flat % or $ raises) can still be effective at improving retention. Important given tight state budgets!!

Together, the salary and satisfaction research “suggests that Arkansas is making meaningful progress in strengthening the teaching profession,” said Gema Zamarro www.k12dive.com/news/arkansa...

Strongly support this point. Conflating prestige with rigor is anti-scientific and all too common! Also love this from the article: "We should not waste instructional time or squander teachers’ goodwill by spending time and money on programs that don’t help anyone but the companies selling them."

Tired after a day of traveling and meetings in Little Rock but thankful for our research-practice partnership and for being able to do research that can have impact

Los Lunes al Sol #lavidaperra