Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks for sharing!

1 1

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 1d

It’s nice to look back on a paper after a few months and think: this actually doesn’t suck

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 2d

The interim president of UVA sent out an email asking for input on this “compact”. I’d strongly encourage anyone at UVA to read this op ed before responding and firmly oppose any response to the “offer”

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

2

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 5d

@tomdee.bsky.social has a recent paper that combines several data sources to do something like this: tom-dee.github.io/files/TCR_De...

I think it’s challenging given the lack of centralized data on private schools.

tom-dee.github.io

4 1 8

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 6d

Best movie I’ve seen in years. Love his character too

1

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · 9d

Reminiscing on when I was an undergrad and cold emailed Alberto Abadie to tell him I was using synthetic controls in my thesis lol

4

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · 11d

This is a pretty remarkable paper and seems to suggest "grit" is not necessarily the driving force behind student achievement:

www.nber.org/papers/w3427...

Why Don’t Struggling Students Do Their Homework? Disentangling Motivation and Study Productivity as Drivers of Human Capital Formation

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...

www.nber.org

2 11 55

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Gema Zamarro @gzamarro.bsky.social · 12d

🚨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

1 5 11

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Paul Bruno @paul-bruno.com · Sep 8

"for-profit-trained teachers have higher turnover and lower value-added...But the policy significantly increased the supply of certified teachers...lower licensing requirements improved access to teaching and reduced training costs without harming
students" evanriehl.github.io/papers/dr_fo...

1 1

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Sep 5

Congrats! Look forward to reading

1

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Abhijeet Singh @singhabhi.bsky.social · Sep 5

Many interventions “work” in small trials but fail at scale

Also, EdTech often promises much, but delivers little

In a new paper (bit.ly/3JKLgVn)
@karthik-econ.bsky.social
& I show how personalized adaptive learning (PAL) software can sharply improve learning outcomes at scale🧵1/16

2 21 64

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Sep 5

Cue the “OLS” chants 🎉

1 1

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Jeff Denning @jeffdenning.com · Sep 4

If you know of a student who is looking for a education post doc (now, odd timing I know), I may have an opportunity for them. They would be working Texas admin data so experience with that would be a big plus.

8 5

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Sep 4

Does this still apply if you’re sorting by a variable that uniquely identifies each observation? I’ve run into issues where, after setting a seed, sorting by a variable that isn’t unique gives different results each time

1

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Wesley T. Morris @wesleytmorris.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨 New working paper!

I examine how universities and students use federal TEACH Grants, how these grants change recipients’ financial aid packages and out-of-pocket costs, and their relationship to students’ decisions to pursue teaching degrees.

Read it here: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1278

Financial Aid For Future Educators: Assessing A Federal Grant's Impact On Students' Postsecondary Decisions

Created in 2007, the federal TEACH grant program is a large federal financial aid program that seeks to attract postsecondary students to the teaching profession by providing financial assistance to h...

edworkingpapers.com

2 5

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Aug 30

That second tie break was amazing !

1

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Aug 28

Z -> X -> Y 😎
Z -> Y 😡

1

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · Aug 27

(Z’X)^{-1}Z’Y

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · Aug 27

Every academic has one core theory they don't actually believe in, but can't stop using because it’s so **neat**

4 9 89

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · Aug 26

My department is searching for two tenure-line positions to start in August 2026. Come join our growing team and make a difference in building the future!

Assistant professor of higher education: apply.interfolio.com/172680

Associate/full professor of education policy: apply.interfolio.com/172632

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

1 36 53

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Aug 23

Weapons is an Education Policy film

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Aug 19

All that work for some standard errors 😭

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Aug 4

Why do some journals make you submit word documents 😭

Reposted by Andrew Avitabile

Paul Bruno @paul-bruno.com · Jul 26

FYI: I've updated my list of Useful Data Resources, primarily with a bunch of (20-ish?) new links to state-specific public school datasets and data repositories.

go.illinois.edu/UsefulDataRe...

Suggestions/corrections are always welcome.

useful_data_resources

go.illinois.edu

14 31

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Jun 25

Out of curiosity, how do you think policy evaluation work falls into all this? I feel like we have a good base of evidence on things like performance pay, but probably still worth evaluating as we implement things. Maybe it’s just a matter of not overselling contributions?

1 2

Andrew Avitabile @andrewavit.bsky.social · Jun 16

Leave my grandpa out of your housing policy 👴🏼

1 1