This report describes the value-added models (VAMs) created for the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers. Pittsburgh's VAMs use not only state assessments but also course-specific assessments, student attendance, and course completion rates, aiming to produce...

This working paper examines the sensitivity and precision of teacher value-added model (VAM) estimates obtained under model specifications that differ based on whether they include student-level background characteristics, peer-level background characteristics, and/or a double-lagged achievement...

The federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) program provides loans to parents of dependent undergraduate students to help pay for education expenses. To bring the standards in line with those used by banks, the U.S. Department of Education tightened the credit standards for PLUS...

A problem that is frequently encountered in statistics concerns testing for equality of multiple probability vectors corresponding to independent multinomials against an alternative they are not equal. In applications where an assumption of some type of stochastic ordering is reasonable, it is...

We develop an equilibrium model of the US labor market, fit to Panel Study of Income Dynamics data from 1968–96. Our main innovation is a finer differentiation of types of labor than in prior work (i.e., by occupation, education, gender, and age). This lets us fit wage and employment patterns...

The Kauffman School is a charter school in Kansas City, Missouri that opened in 2011 to serve middle and high school students from the city’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods . This report evaluates the effectiveness of the School at improving student achievement, attendance, and...

Western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) chicks are precocial and leave the nest shortly after hatch to forage independently. Chicks require thermoregulatory assistance from parents (brooding) for 5--7 days posthatch, and parents facilitate chick survival for 2--3 weeks posthatch by leading and...