I know I have a couple of the coveted Saturday slots!

🚨There is a lot of policy movement to expand career & technical Ed but little evidence of what to expect from such expansion. Our WP provides evidence from MA on take up & ➕impacts in the first 5 yrs after HS. #cte

Love this discussion (and report) on high-achieving low-income students and how to help them. I totally agree that you need to look early in the pipeline and try to make sure they don't fall off of their trajectories before college. fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories: –The student cheating problem won't go away. –AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant. –AI will *not* be a super-tutor. cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...

Yes, but the structure of that investment matters. While raising teacher salaries across the board might increase teacher quality some, it's likely an investment that is a mile wide and inch deep. I'd invest in the pain points in the labor market, i.e., in some subjects and hard to staff schools. +👇

"The model shows that both parental investments and latent genetic risk jointly shape children’s cognitive and mental health development, underscoring the importance of modeling the dynamic interplay between genes and environments in the formation of human capital." www.nber.org/papers/w34427

The Financial Consequences of Being Denied Benefit Access www.nber.org/papers/w34434 "households screened out of SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer tangible downstream economic consequences...process-related denials increase debt and delinquencies, and decrease credit scores."

ICYMI! Check out the first cross-state analysis of the characteristics of the special education teacher workforce, including ethnoracial diversity, distribution across schools, and attrition rates.

How does employer access to prisoners’ labor through work release impact the well-being of those workers & of free workers? New working paper by Sue Helper, Suresh Naidu, Akseli Palomaki, Adam Reich, + me provides evidence, focus on auto manufacturing in AL #EconSky papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

"it reframes the teacher shortage not only as a question of supply, but also as an issue of status and opportunity, raising important questions about how to recruit, support, and elevate teaching to make it both accessible and appealing to the next generation." edworkingpapers.com/policy-pract...

"If I had one piece of advice for parents, it would be that they should act quickly if they spot any red flags about their child’s reading progress." Good advice! Aldeman On Education www.chadaldeman.com?utm_source=n...

It wouldn't be the Gadfly w/o an occasional Checker rant. This time it's about declining standards high school graduation standards. This is an interesting topic b/c we know the end points. A few thoughts 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

It’s an honor to serve as Chair of the Board for the @dqcdata.bsky.social as we celebrate 20 years of making data work for policymakers, families, and communities. Hear my and other leaders' thoughts about the continued importance of DQC's work here: dataqualitycampaign.org/about/twenty...

Great article by @mattbarnum.bsky.social cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/the-southe...

One of the things that I find interesting in this work is that the relationship between teacher applications/slot and poverty is different for traditional public and charter schools. Here's a pic, you'll have to read the paper for more on this!

Long layover (maybe shutdown related) in Chicago, but at least I had @natmalkus.bsky.social in my ear. Topic: reform in Houston under Mike Miles. I'll wait for the study to come out to conclude definitely whether the reforms worked, but it sure looks promising. But...👇 www.aei.org/podcast/hous...

Really terrific conference, so glad I got to go!

Love this! Nice Leia, Gema.

Great to be here w/ you @gzamarro.bsky.social (and wow on Crystal Bridges - beautiful!).

Wow on this week's Gadfly! It focuses on Opportunity Culture (designed to spread teacher expertise). I think this topic of teacher career roles is hugely important. I also want to connect the discussion to an old book - Dan Lortie's School Teacher. 1/n fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

The academic benefits of cellphone bans in schools are more modest than proponents had hoped for, but they do seem to be helping students. "A lot of discipline" in the first year as students adjust to the new rules. (1/2) hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

Some evidence that cell phone bans work, i.e., lead to improved student achievement... www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/20/n...

And also join us for the afterparty! Or is it "after party"?

For Bluesky-Curious Econ Lovers, a Quick Start guide to plugging into the economics community here. It aims to lower the costs & boost the benefits for folks to engage here. If it seems useful, please share it here & especially on X. 📉📈 #️⃣#️⃣ aaronsojourner.org/for-bluesky-...

It's solo @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social on the Gadfly and he's talking about a topic - gifted education - that is near and dear to my heart. A few quick thoughts (not about the Mamdani proposal, but G&T in general) 👇 fordhaminstitute.org/national/res... 1/n

Our @caldercenter.bsky.social research brief with @cedr.bsky.social and @ahkatz5.bsky.social on special education identification during the pandemic is now published in EEPA! We show that, after an initial dip, identification rates have now "caught up" with pre-pandemic norms: tinyurl.com/y4bea5y5

🚨 Now out in Journal of Human Resources: ⛪️ Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education w/ @benjaminarold.bsky.social & Larissa Zierow 👉 Religious education in school affects adult lives 🔗 jhr.uwpress.org/content/earl... A 🧵 1/6

Great opportunity for junior scholars!

Thanks to MA DESE's @clj1177.bsky.social, @nctq.bsky.social's Hannah Putman, WA OSPI's Kaori Strunk, & CALDER'S @cedr.bsky.social & @mdearmond.bsky.social for their work on these reports! Short on time? Be sure to check out our one-pager for both research briefs: caldercenter.org/publications...

Pandemic Resource Allocation and the Spending Priorities of School Leaders journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1... "principals devoted most of their federal relief aid to staffing, with a notable increase in instructional coaches compared to before the pandemic"

Three Metrics for Monitoring Educational Progress when Tested Populations Change journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

We have a new EdWorkingPaper up, from @edutuan.bsky.social, @haeryunkim.bsky.social, Chanh Lam, Mariam Saffar Pérez, Jinyoung Hur, Colleen Lewis, and me: The Effects of K-12 Computer Science Education Policies on Postsecondary CS Participation edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1301

Happy to announce that @caldercenter.bsky.social just released two IES-funded briefs - they really are BRIEF! - about how to get a better handle on teacher demand and future teacher supply: Supply side: caldercenter.org/publications... Demand side: caldercenter.org/publications... 1/n

The Gadfly tackles what is arguably the most important issue we face in education: how to measure school quality and the use of tests in particular. It's a good conversation. fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

🍎🦡 I'm recruiting a PhD student in Ed Policy (fall '26) at @uwmadison.bsky.social! Come work with me on college access, admissions, & fin aid in our top-ranked, fully-funded program. I’m especially excited for this student to immediately join our direct admissions RCT team.

PSA: Our department of Curriculum & Instruction is hiring for an open-rank position in secondary literacy! illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... Not *my* department, but my College. So come work with me! (Or let me know if you want to talk about UIUC [which is great]!)

Job alert!

Terrific discussion about why test scores are falling (started before the pandemic!)! Lots of potential reasons, but I'd like to throw out an additional one. Everyone talks about phones, but I wonder if it's computers in schools (as a factor). 👇 www.aei.org/podcast/why-...

🚨New Working Paper🚨 Check out our new working paper "Trajectories into Teaching of Arkansas Educator Preparation Programs Enrollees", together with @taylornwilson.bsky.social @andrewmcamp.com, and @jbmcgee.bsky.social. Taylor is in the job market this year. Keep her in mind as you build your team

Hot off the presses a new @caldercenter.bsky.social paper on which college students are opting into a path toward becoming a teacher (by applying to a teacher ed program): caldercenter.org/publications... 1/n

So much about this @nytimes.com piece resonates with me, in particular: "Nationally, there has been little political will from either party to meaningfully lift student outcomes." Gift article if you want to read it: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Yet more evidence from @andrewdeanho.bsky.social on the perils of reliance on "percent proficient," and the alternatives needed to understand school performance over time and across groups journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

OMG, you know you've gotta get one of these!

Consider nominating a colleague (or yourself) for one of the 2026 CEC-DR Awards! You have two months to think about it. Awards will be presented at the CEC Convention in Salt Lake City, UT in March 2026. Visit our website to learn more about each award: cecdr.org/cec-dr-awards

It's solo @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social on the Gadfly, but if you want some good arguments for phone bans (the scant evidence is a bit mixed, but as parent, I'm 100% that we ought to have them) listen in! fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

So glad to see this work (w/ my co-author Cyrus Grout) out in the wild! To answer the question of the title (kind of): ratings of teacher applicants do predict retention. How Predictive of Teacher Retention Are Ratings of Applicants from Professional References? url: direct.mit.edu/edfp/article...

I love these podcasts on education and the 2nd Trump administration. Super informative, including that Andy and Rick are seen as married in the state of MA. But seriously, what a great way to keep up with changes at IES, ed related lawsuits, +👇 www.aei.org/podcast/educ...

I just have to post this on the GCU! If you want to both laugh and puzzle over what you aren't understanding (but know you probably should be), follow @drconstance.bsky.social!