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Reposted by David Houston

David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Supported by both the Fordham Institute and @wallacefoundation.bsky.social, Michael Hartney and I explored the extent to which U.S. school board members are politically and demographically representative of the communities they serve.

Here's a summary of our main findings:

1/12

Michael Petrilli @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social · 6h

New from Fordham, the Wallace Foundation, @dmhouston.bsky.social & Michael Hartney:

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict

School boards have become ground zero for America’s education culture wars, with fiery debates over race, gender, curriculum, and pandemic policies making national headlines. But beyond the noise, how...

fordhaminstitute.org

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 14m

I have a graduate student who is interested in studying how state-wide school voucher (and voucher-adjacent) programs have prompted the opening of new private schools.

Does anyone know of a good (and reasonably recently updated) registry of private schools around the country?

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Duration probably matters more than frequency (albeit more difficult to get reliable answers).

Does my two-year-old watch the same two-minute video from Disney's Moana every night after her bath so she sits still while I brush her hair? Yes. Does that count as daily youtube watching? I guess so...

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Finding 7: Most school board members say that their elections are not very competitive and not very partisan, that teachers’ unions play a small role, and that these dynamics have not changed much since the pandemic. In larger school districts, however, the reverse is true.

12/12

David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

However, the majority of students are represented by board members who have views that align with local politics.

Again--whether or not this is the optimal level of partisan alignment depends on how much we want school boards to reflect our larger partisan conflicts.

11/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Finding 6: Only about half of school board members hold positions on polarizing issues that line up with the positions of the party that won the majority of the two-party 2020 presidential vote in their districts.

10/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

We also compared board members' survey responses to a) other nationally representative surveys and b) their communities' partisan compositions.

Finding 5: School board members’ opinions on some high-profile education issues differ from those of the U.S. public.

9/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Over four-fifths of board members share the same racial/ethnic identity as the majority of their residents, but such board members represent only two-thirds of all students. Black Americans and especially Hispanic Americans remain relatively underrepresented on America’s school boards.

8/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

But this pattern is, again, somewhat exaggerated by the large number of small, rural, and mostly white districts. The racial/ethnic disparity is less severe when accounting for the number of students that school board members serve.

7/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Finding 4: Nationwide, school board members are much more likely to be white, to have a college degree, and to have been a teacher than the U.S. public. These differences have grown larger over the past twenty years.

6/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Whether or not this is the optimal level of partisan alignment may be in the eye of the beholder, given the many ways in which school boards are institutionally buffered from partisan politics.

5/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

We also explored the extent to which board members' party affiliations line up with the two-party vote share from the 2020 presidential election in their district.

Finding 3: Two-thirds of school board members—representing seven in ten students—match the partisan lean of their districts.

4/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

But this alignment is somewhat exaggerated by the sizable number of board members representing less populous—and presumably more Republican and conservative—districts.

Finding 2: Students are disproportionately represented by school board members who are moderates, liberals, and/or Democrats.

3/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Finding 1: Nationwide, school board members’ party affiliations and political ideologies almost perfectly mirror the U.S. public.

2/12

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 3h

Supported by both the Fordham Institute and @wallacefoundation.bsky.social, Michael Hartney and I explored the extent to which U.S. school board members are politically and demographically representative of the communities they serve.

Here's a summary of our main findings:

1/12

Michael Petrilli @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social · 6h

New from Fordham, the Wallace Foundation, @dmhouston.bsky.social & Michael Hartney:

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict

School boards have become ground zero for America’s education culture wars, with fiery debates over race, gender, curriculum, and pandemic policies making national headlines. But beyond the noise, how...

fordhaminstitute.org

1 3 1

David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 4h

Combining Cincinnati, Louisville, and St Louis into a shared region (the Ohio River Valley—the southernmost part of the Midwest) is a stroke of genius

William Hazen @williamhazen.bsky.social · 1d

This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.

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Reposted by David Houston

Michael Petrilli @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social · 6h

New from Fordham, the Wallace Foundation, @dmhouston.bsky.social & Michael Hartney:

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict

School boards have become ground zero for America’s education culture wars, with fiery debates over race, gender, curriculum, and pandemic policies making national headlines. But beyond the noise, how...

fordhaminstitute.org

2 2

Reposted by David Houston

Andrew Ho @andrewdeanho.bsky.social · 1d

I finally wrote up my advice to PhD applicants in FAQ format. It's only my unofficial, personal perspective for folks interested in working with me at Harvard @harvardeducation.bsky.social. I also plug other measurement programs at @ncme38.bsky.social! andrewho.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 1d

We offer three program options:

1. A 5-class graduate certificate (to dip your toes in the water)

2. A specialization in our MPP program (for policy-related careers)

3. A specialization in our PhD in Education program (to learn how to consume, conduct, and communicate high-quality research)

2/2

David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 1d

Interested in studying education policy at George Mason University?

Register for our virtual open house on Tuesday, October 21, 5:30 - 6:30pm ET:

education.gmu.edu/education-po...

(The registration link is near the top of the page)

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Education Policy | School of Education

The Education Policy program helps students understand how decisions are made in government and how to use educational research to influence decision-making.

education.gmu.edu

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 1d

I, unfortunately, feel seen

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 1d

quantitative methods, qualitative methods, mixed methods

Photo of a Kansas City Chiefs press conference with Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, and Patrick Mahomes. Reid is wearing a gray suit and red tie with a lapel pin. Kelce is wearing a camp-style short-sleeved shirt with a bird print, along with a suede cap, and Mahomes is wearing a white collared shirt, a pink checkered double-breasted vest, and a pale pink tie.

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Reposted by David Houston

Mirya R. Holman @mirya.bsky.social · 4d

"Full-day kindergarten expansions were responsible for as much as 24 percent of the growth in employment of mothers with kindergartenaged children in this time frame."

AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 5d

Forthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families" by Chloe R. Gibbs, Jocelyn Wikle, and Riley Wilson. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families

(Forthcoming Article) - We leverage pronounced changes in the availability of public schooling for young children— through duration expansions to the kindergarten day—to better understand how an impli...

www.aeaweb.org

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David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 6d

The “community trust” piece is (in my opinion) the new contribution here. School closures mattered, sure, but some places were better able to navigate both the deep uncertainty about the right course of action and the huge logistical challenges of re-opening. I want to know more about those places.

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Reposted by David Houston

Paul Bruno @paul-bruno.com · 6d

"test score declines were larger in districts where more of the 2020–2021 school year was remote or hybrid, where students had less access to broadband, where the pandemic led to larger disruptions, and where trust in government institutions was low." journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by David Houston

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 6d

Perhaps one way to evaluate the quality of a research article is to assess its teachability.

Is the article clear about its identifying assumptions?

Does it lay out the results clearly?

Does it engage with its limitations transparently?

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