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Jo R. King @jo-r-king.bsky.social · 9d

First pub on the tenure track! 📣🎉

Stoked to see my work with Luis Rodriguez out in AERA-Open. We provide evidence regarding the distribution of different types police interventions in NYC public schools across school-level demographic characteristics.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Overpoliced? A Descriptive Portrait of School-Based Targeted Police Interventions in New York City - Jo R. King, Luis A. Rodriguez, 2025

This study provides a descriptive analysis of police intervention as a response to student behavior in New York City public schools. We find that between the 20...

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Paul Bruno @paul-bruno.com · 8d

For grad students or postdocs out there: let me know if you'd like to present in my department's (Ed Policy, Org, & Leadership) Quantitative Working Group meeting Wednesday of next week (October 8) at 3pm Central time. Work at any stage is fine, it's very informal. I have a presenter gap this month.

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Roddy Theobald @roddy-theobald.bsky.social · 13d

Really excited to have this paper out in the world! See Dan's thread below!

Dan Goldhaber @cedr.bsky.social · 13d

Hot off the presses a new @caldercenter.bsky.social paper on which college students are opting into a path toward becoming a teacher (by applying to a teacher ed program): caldercenter.org/publications...

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

SPARC Center @sparccenter.bsky.social · 19d

Policy solutions can help stabilize and diversify the paraeducator workforce to improve #SpecialEducation outcomes. A recent paper by @lindseykaler.bsky.social and @roddy-theobald.bsky.social at @caldercenter.bsky.social examines turnover patterns in WA and offers suggestions for policymakers.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

As always, this study left us with many more Qs and directions for future work - I'm excited to keep digging deeper. And a huge thanks to my dissertation committee @natejones.bsky.social, @lizbettini.bsky.social, and @jengreen.bsky.social for their feedback & support with this study along the way!

Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

So what are some implications, esp. for policy? In short, characteristics of both individuals and schools shape patterns in retention & turnover, so as policymakers try to stabilize the para workforce, they need to think about how these intersecting factors may shape policy impact & effectiveness.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

Finally, using linear regression, we find that when controlling for numerous factors (e.g., race, gender, experience, salary), gender remains the most significant demographic factor in predicting workforce exit and salary is the most consistently protective factor buffering against attrition.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

Are there differences by race and gender? Using survival analysis, we find differences by both race and gender, but especially gender. White and BIPOC men have similar exit rates over time, but there are distinct differences b/w White men and women, BIPOC men and women, and White and BIPOC women.

Kaplan-Meier survival estimates for paraeducators by race and gender, showing that White and BIPOC males tend to exit the workforce earliest, followed by BIPOC females, and then White females.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

When do we lose paras over the course of their employment? Looking across a 10 year span, we find that most of those who leave (move schools, switch roles, or exit the workforce entirely) do so w/i the first three years. By year 10, about 30% of the original cohort remain employed as paraeducators.

Stacked line plot showing patterns in the proportion of novice paraeducators who stay, move, switch roles, or exit the workforce across a 10 year period starting in 2013.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

In sum, we find that paraeducators who exit the workforce tend to do so early (w/i 3 years), race and gender matter when it comes to paraeducators’ career trajectories. We also find (perhaps unsurprisingly) that salary may be a protective factor for paraeducator retention. Let’s dig deeper…

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

The paraeducator workforce is large and growing, and more studies are looking more closely at their labor market patterns. But, there’s still a lot more to know. In this study, we examine paraeducators’ career paths over time and how they vary by demographic and other characteristics (e.g., salary).

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 22

Excited to circulate another @caldercenter.bsky.social WP! Another study from my dissertation, w/ @roddy-theobald.bsky.social‬. Using data from WA, we track individual paraeducators to predict exit from the state education workforce. Ungated WP here: ‬ tinyurl.com/3wtfrm2m
🧵 below:

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

SPARC Center @sparccenter.bsky.social · Jul 17

Our researchers are digging into questions about the #SpecialEducation teacher workforce. Recently, @lizbettini.bsky.social, @lindseykaler.bsky.social, @hannahmmathews.bsky.social,‬ Malavika Ragunathan & Katheryn Meyer explored teacher beliefs about students labeled with EBD.

“Well, Those Students Have a Name:” Special Educators’ Beliefs About Students Labeled With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders | SPARC Center

sparccenter.org

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Annenberg Institute @annenberginstitute.bsky.social · Jul 9

🏫🌎 How do schools impact the environment?

From energy use to food systems, schools have a substantial ecological footprint. Join the #SustainableED team on 7/15 at 1PM ET to explore how schools can reduce their impact & lead on sustainability.

📅 Register: buff.ly/2IrefK2

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · Jul 1

New pub alert! 🎉 Check out our new paper in EC, in which we use DisCrit to examine special educators' beliefs about students labeled with EBD. I loved working with @hannahmmathews.bsky.social, @lizbettini.bsky.social, @katiekat.bsky.social, and Mal Ragunathan on this one! doi.org/10.1177/0014...

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Andrew Camp @andrewmcamp.com · Jun 9

New working paper from me and a great group of coauthors: The Effects of the Four-Day School Week on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

caldercenter.org/publications...

Read on to see what's different about this vs. some of my prior work 🧵⬇️

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Nelson Brunsting @brunnc3.bsky.social · May 30

Updated literature review on special education teachers' occupational wellbeing and burnout is published online! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/... @lizbettini.bsky.social @michellecumming.bsky.social Excited to see the nascent intervention work prior research has catalyzed!

Figure titled "conceptualization of factors with strong empirical support for special educator wellbeing and burnout, 1979 to present. Figure includes working conditions (specifically, administrator support, planning time, and instructional grouping) predicting special education teachers' workload manageability, which in turn predicts stress, which in turn predicts burnout. This chain of special education teachers' workload-stress-burnout is moderated by their identity, characteristics, and experience as well as their affective responses to work stress. Teacher wellbeing/burnout, in turn, is associated with teacher outcomes, including teaching self-efficacy, evidence-based practice use, intervention fidelity, and intent to leave. All of these, in turn, predict student outcomes.

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Liz Bettini @lizbettini.bsky.social · May 29

This is an AWESOME webinar for anyone interested in learning about how to use state longitudinal data systems to study the special education teacher workforce! Researchers, doc students, state data folks - come join us!

SPARC Center @sparccenter.bsky.social · May 29

There's a #SpecialEducation teacher shortage—but defining and identifying special education teachers varies by state and system. We’re unpacking the complexity in our upcoming webinar.

🗓️ June 26 at 3pm ET

🔗 Register: sparccenter.org/events/regis...

Upcoming Webinar: Using State Longitudinal Data Systems to Study Special Education Teachers

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Reposted by Lindsey Kaler

Kate Harris-Walls @k8harris.bsky.social · May 28

My first First Author paper is out with @fchriscurran.bsky.social 🥳

This study examines the political, economic, and social factors influencing state adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) using an event history analysis.

journals.sagepub.com/eprint/YYPWZ...

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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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

Again, huge thanks to my co-authors and dissertation committee members (including @jengreen.bsky.social sky.social‬), and everyone else who helped improve this paper from start to finish! Links again:
• Working paper: https://tinyurl.com/j3rykkp9
• One-pager: https://tinyurl.com/bddtzxtp

Impacts of Staff Turnover on Test Scores for Students With and Without Disabilities | CALDER Center

tinyurl.com

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

The bottom line: schools must invest in retention of both general and special ed staff if they’re serious about improving outcomes for students with disabilities. Silos b/w general and special ed don’t reflect the interaction b/w the two in practice. Researchers should keep bridging these gaps too.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

We find null effects for paras. But we caution against interpreting that to mean paras don’t matter. In fact, other studies show that paras positively impact student outcomes. In future studies, we hope to explore how para turnover may impact other key outcomes (e.g., foundational skills, behavior).

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

So how does this impact students? We use fixed effects to compare schools to themselves in years in which they have higher or lower turnover. We find that GET turnover matters for all students, and SET turnover matters most for students with disabilities:

Two coefficient plots demonstrating that general education teacher turnover negatively impacts ELA test scores for students with and without disabilities, while special education teacher turnover negatively impacts ELA test scores for students with disabilities.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

Another reason, which we show in this WP, is that turnover rates among paraeducators and teachers, as well as among general and special ed staff are different. Special ed staff consistently turn over more than their gen ed counterparts, and paras consistently turn over more than teachers:

Line graph showing increasing rates of general and special education paraeducator and teacher turnover in Washington state from 2010-2019.

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Lindsey Kaler @lindseykaler.bsky.social · May 20

Why do we care about these differences? One reason is that SWDs are increasingly educated in gen ed settings. That means that all students are increasingly supported by different staff (GETs, SETs, paras) and diff rates of turnover may impact them differently.

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