In an NBER Working Paper released in November, Marianne Bitler, Thad Domina, Emily Penner, and I use statistical models commonly used in research, policy, and practice to estimate teacher “effects” on student height. See also our related blog post at the Brookings Institution Brown Center Chalkboard.

When Politifact needs a fact check for presidential contender Marianne Williamson, I say “Girlfriend, you are so on!”

Building on prior work with Democracy Prep Public Schools, I was delighted to join forces with Brian Gill, Emilyn Whitesell, Charles Tilley, Liz Potamites, and Mariel Ficucane from Mathematica Policy Research on this new study out today: The Impact of Democracy Prep Public Schools on Civic Participation

The takeaway finding is simple, and important: students admitted via random lottery admission to a Democracy Prep school were 16 percentage points more likely to be registered to vote upon graduation and 12 percentage points more likely to vote in a presidential election.

Our high school choice app, the NYC High School Application Guide, was recently profiled by The 74 Million. This app, which can be used on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone, was developed by the Heckscher Family Foundation for Children in collaboration with our team.

Our study, “Leveling the Playing Field for High School Choice: Results from a Field Experiment of Informational Interventions” was released today as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. The paper reports the results of a field experiment in 165 high-poverty New York City middle schools designed to help students navigate a complex high school choice process and access higher-performing schools. This paper and related publications can be found on our project website.