Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER)

Topic: State and Local Education Policy

Purpose: Supported by a five-year, $10 million grant from the Institute for Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, CALDER is a federally funded National Research and Development Center.

The center will harvest state and district administrative data on individual teachers and students for insights into how state and local policies, especially teacher policies, governance policies, and accountability policies affect teachers (e.g., who teaches what students) and students (e.g., academic achievement and attainment).

CALDER will mine the longitudinal databases that have emerged as educational systems face increased performance-based accountability. Comprehensive databases in Florida, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington state represent the initial core of the research focus.

Projects

Policies Regarding Teachers
Principal Investigator: Jane Hannaway, The Urban Institute
Previous research suggests that the quality of the teacher workforce available to students can affect student achievement. A major goal of the Center is thus to examine state and local policies that are implemented with regard to the hiring, compensation, certification, recruitment, retention, and assignment of teachers. These policies are then related to student achievement as measured through achievement exams, courses taken, and graduation rates.

Governance Policies and Community Conditions
Principal Investigator: Jane Hannaway, The Urban Institute
Other research questions of interest to the Center include governance policies, such as accountability and choice, as well as social and economic conditions of the community, such as changing demographics, the changing labor market, and resources. Of particular interest is the way in which such policies and conditions affect the quality of teachers available to different school systems, and how these in turn may affect student achievement.

Examination of State Databases
Principal Investigator: Jane Hannaway, The Urban Institute
The Center is using comprehensive education databases in Florida, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington to disentangle the effects of different policies by location. The Center also expects to make significant technical contributions to the field as it engages new, rich databases to help guide policymaking.

Key Personnel: Jane Hannaway, Donald Boyd, Damon Clark, Charles Clotfelter, David Figlio, Mark Ehlert, Dan Goldhaber, Erik Hanushek, Lawrence Kenny, Helen Ladd, Hamilton Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Dan O’Brien, Michael Podgursky, Steve Rivkin, Richard Romano, Jeffrey Roth, Kim Rueben, Tim Sass, Jacob Vigdor, Jim Wyckoff.

Publications

Bifulco, R., Ladd, H.F. & Ross, S. (February, 2008). Public School Choice and Integration: Evidence from Durham, North Carolina. Working Paper 14.

Boyd, D., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., Rockoff, J., & Wyckoff, J. (September, 2007). The Narrowing Gap in New York City Teacher Qualifications and Its Implications for Student Achievement in High Poverty Schools. Working Paper 10.

Burke, M.A. & Sass, T.R. (June 2008). Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement. Working Paper 18.

Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., Vigdor, J.L. (February, 2007). How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement? Working Paper 2.

Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., & Vigdor, J.L. (February, 2008). School Segregation under Color-Blind Jurisprudence: The Case of North Carolina. Working Paper 16.

Clotfelter, C., Ladd, H.F., & Vigdor, J.L. (October 2007). Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects. Working Paper 11.

Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., Vigdor, J.L. & Wheeler, J. (February, 2007). High Poverty Schools and the Distribution of Teachers and Principals. Working Paper 1.

Costrell, R.M. & Podgursky, M. (April 2007). Efficiency and Equity in the Time Pattern of Teacher Pension Benefits. Working Paper 6.

Donovan, C., Figlio, D., & Rush, M. (April, 2007). Cramming: The Effects of School Accountability on College-Bound Students. Working Paper 8.

Figlio, D. & Kenny, L.W. (April, 2007). Individual Teacher Incentives And Student Performance. Working Paper 7.

Goldhaber, D., (April, 2007). Everyone's Doing It, but What Does Teacher Testing Tell Us about Teacher Effectiveness? Working Paper 9.

Goldhaber, D., Gross, B., & Player, D. (October 2007). Are Public Schools Really Losing Their Best? Assessing the Career Transitions of Teachers and Their Implications for the Quality of the Teacher Workforce. Working Paper 12.

Harris, D.N. & Sass, T.R. (February, 2007). The Effects of NBPTS-Certified Teachers on Student Achievement. Working Paper 4.

Harris, D.N. & Sass, T.R. (February, 2007). Teacher Training, Teacher Quality and Student Achievement. Working Paper 3.

Podgursky, M. & Ehlert, M. (April, 2007). Teacher Pensions and Retirement Behavior: How Teacher Pension Rules Affect Behavior, Mobility, and Retirement. Working Paper 5.

Rivkin, S. (November, 2007). Value-Added Analysis and Education Policy. Policy Brief 1.

Rouse, C.E., Hannaway, J., Goldhaber, D., & Figlio, D. (November, 2007). Feeling the Florida Heat?: How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure. Working Paper 13.

Sass, T.R. & Cartwright, S. (July, 2008). High School Diploma and GED Attainment in Florida. Research Note 1.

Vigdor, J.L. (February, 2008). Teacher Salary Bonuses in North Carolina. Working Paper 15.

Xu, Z., Hannaway, J. & Taylor, C. (March 2008). Making a Difference?: The Effects of Teach for America in High School. Working Paper 17.

*All papers are available at the CALDER website: http://www.caldercenter.org/publications.cfm.

Center Website: http://www.caldercenter.org/.

IES Program Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Albro
Email: Elizabeth.Albro@ed.gov
Telephone: (202) 219-2148