Dan Goldhaber

Terrific working with the folks from @nctq.bsky.social (and states) on this hopefully useful brief!

James Talarico, education reformer SCHOOLED | Tuesday, 3/10/26

James Talarico, education reformer schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/james-tala... @sethrau.bsky.social @danagoldstein.bsky.social @alexanderrusso.bsky.social @cedr.bsky.social @marcportermagee.bsky.social @jenjennings.bsky.social

National, State Data Point to Slow Pace of Pandemic Recovery In reading, some states continue to see declines, while a handful have surpassed pre-COVID performance.

In here I suggest that what's holding back recovery could be the same issues that led to “a slow degradation of academic achievement” before the pandemic.

National, State Data Point to Slow Pace of Pandemic Recovery www.the74million.org/article/nati...

All schools should hire at least a few teachers with life experiences similar to their student populations.

Critically, though, we shouldn’t equate life experience simply with race. www.aei.org/research-pro...

Who Gets What in Education: Can School Matching Improve Student Achievement? 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...

See also postsec education

“Our findings indicate that capacity constraints, rather than poor school matching, primarily drive educational inequality.”

www.nber.org/papers/w34936

California keeps getting dragged as the counter example to the Southern surge in fourth grade reading. But in reality there has been a "California climb," which, while not as impressive as Mississippi, is still notable. Many other, better states to pick on!

🚨Ed policy researchers, look at the newest special call!

📲 We’re eager to fund RCTs and quasi-experimental studies that produce actionable evidence on how K–12 cell phone policies affect student learning, behavior, and well-being.

🗓️ 3-page LOIs due May 1. Learn more: bit.ly/47n9e1L

"Feel" as a Determinant of College Choice: Evidence from Campus Tour Weather 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...

"Feel" as a Determinant of College Choice: Evidence from Campus Tour Weather www.nber.org/papers/w34944

"poor tour weather reduces participants’ likelihood of applying"

Some in the Trump administration are pushing to rebuild IES After DOGE gutted IES, the education and statistics agency inside the Education Department, some in the Trump administration are trying to rebuild it. A new report of ideas on how to do that was relea...

Future of IES? Amber Northern's report makes a strong case that we need IES, but there are still a lot of uncertainties...

DOGE tore down the Education Department's research and statistical agency. Now some in the Trump administration are pushing to rebuild it hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

Lots of topics covered & Nat asks some probing questions, e.g., why, if many of the students rejected from Ivy League schools are about the same as those accepted, don't the Ivys get bigger to educate more students. I didn't always hear clear answers, but the questions are great!

2/2

Now that we are past #CALDER2026, I'm getting a chance to catch up on some of my favorite podcasts. I highly recommend those interested in higher ed issues listen to
@natmalkus.bsky.social' interview w/ Lee Bollinger, former President of Columbia University. www.aei.org/podcast/lee-...

1/2

Important work here

Raise the Floor on Teacher Salaries It could boost recruitment, retention, and academic performance

Thank you @chadaldeman.bsky.social fir the interesting post featuring our work evaluating the salary changes under the LEARNS Act nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Here's the ungated @caldercenter.bsky.social version of the paper: caldercenter.org/publications...

Should the feds reject Idaho’s and Alabama’s waiver requests? SCHOOLED | Friday, 3/6/26

A good example that you never know when a study will get attention! A now old study on limited cross-state teacher mobility was just featured in @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social's Schooled: schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/should-the...

(and apparently in @mattyglesias.bsky.social's Substack). 👇

@andrewmcamp.com's in particular!

Thanks!

‘Reimagining’ IES: A roadmap for federal education research after Musk’s DOGE cuts “Researchers have to go to educators,” said Amber Northern, author of a report on how to rebuild the Education Department’s research arm.

New @mattbarnum.bsky.social discussion with Amber Northern about her future of IES report: cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/amber-nort...

Didn't make it to #CALDER2026? You would have laughed and cried, and experienced the full spectrum of emotions. But don't worry, we've got you! Here are slides from the sessions: caldercenter.org/sites/defaul...

Thanks to everyone who came and/or participated!

A State-by-State Breakdown of Teacher Job Satisfaction in 2026 See the states that have the highest and lowest morale—and factors that might be shaping those numbers.

Interesting @edweek.org article on teacher job satisfaction across states. "Teacher morale varies widely from state to state, with educators in Arkansas having the highest level of job satisfaction." Results align well with our Teacher Wellbeing Survey results in AR! www.edweek.org/the-state-of...

For those interested in an IES-funded PhD alumni network the LinkedIn group below is active:

www.linkedin.com/groups/8540416

Thanks to @drconstance.bsky.social and @lizalbro.bsky.social!

"Reimagining" the Institute of Education Sciences It didn't have to be this way

My response to the "Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences" report. It didn't have to be this way: betsyjwolf.substack.com/p/reimaginin...

Great to see you and the new work about the LEARNS Act/minimum teacher salaries!

Amber talks about another study that shows the value of NAEP tests + thanks Amber for the shout out about the #CALDER2026 Conference! So glad you could join us to talk about your just released IES report:https://ies.ed.gov/ies/2026/02/reimagining-ies

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Effects of teachers on students through different pathways (though test and nontest VA not highly correlated) AND the limits of tests to fully capture learning. Indeed, we discussed this here: caldercenter.org/publications...

2/n

What the fadeout effect means for testing, accountability, and school choice | Episode 1008 of The Education Gadfly Show

Loved this convo about the potential reasons for fade out and how to reconcile test fade out, e.g., of teacher effects, with better later life outcomes associated with interventions/having better teachers.

I think it's got to be some combo of ...

1/n

fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

🚨New research looks at early impacts of MA’s free community college policies. Early evidence suggests expanded access & a reshaping of who shows up on campus.

Full brief ➡️ bit.ly/wepcmassreco...

@joshua-goodman.com, @doughesm.bsky.social, Morgan Fleming, Yunee H. Yoon
@buwheelock.bsky.social

The Criminal Justice team at Arnold Ventures is looking for a pending/recent PhD with strong causal inference skills, for a remote, part-time consulting position.

This is a great opportunity for someone considering a transition from academia to the policy space.

Deadline: March 15

Please share!

We are just hours away from #CALDER2026. I've given up on sleep, but I'm definitely looking forward to the day!

caldercenter.org/events/17th-...

But I'm guessing, having talked with Amber, that this is a bit too in the weeds for her to be able to answer.