The Trusted Source for Emerging Education Research
Researchers and policymakers can both benefit from timely access to research. EdWorkingPapers is a platform for prompt and open dissemination of high-quality studies. By connecting researchers and informing policymakers, the series accelerates progress in education.
Learn more about the platform →
Submit a paper
Have a paper you wish to post? Check out the EdWorkingPapers' scope and FAQs, and then submit your manuscript.
NEW EdWorkingPapers
Do Neighbors Shape the Sticker Price? Spatial Competition and State Funding in Cost of Attendance Reporting Over Time
Federal law requires U.S. postsecondary institutions to publish a Cost of Attendance (COA) that serves as the legal ceiling on a student's federal financial aid eligibility, yet off-campus living costs are estimated by institutions at their own discretion, with no standardized methodology or external audit.
Property Tax Salience and Public Good Investment: Evidence from School Bond Elections
In 2019, Texas passed legislation requiring that the ballot text for all school bond referenda include the phrase “THIS IS A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE,” highlighting property taxes as their primary funding mechanism. Evaluating the impact of this policy change on voter behavior in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that the introduction of property tax disclaimers reduced the passage… more →
First Impressions Matter: Instructor Gender and Women’s Persistence in Economics
Using near-random assignment of students to instructors in introductory economics at a broad-access public university, we study how instructor gender affects women’s persistence in economics. Female instructors close roughly 40 percent of the gender gap in advanced economics course-taking, with a similar but less precisely estimated improvement in major completion. The effect is concentrated… more →
Separation of Church and State Curricula? Public Standards, Private Values, and Textbook Content
Curricula are a critical site of cultural transmission, yet we know little about the values conveyed in textbooks across educational settings or the forces that shape them. We examine textbooks from Texas and California public schools and religious-private and home schools spanning 1980-2022, using computational and AI tools to measure presence and portrayal of people, topics, and values over… more →
Identifying Effective Attendance Strategies in Michigan
Chronic absenteeism remains a persistent challenge in Michigan and across the country in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic (Singer, 2024). While schools have expanded their efforts to improve attendance—implementing a wide range of practices, systems, and supports (Singer & Lenhoff, 2025)—there is still limited evidence about which of these strategies are most effective in… more →
High School Effects on Civic Engagement
Preparing young people for citizenship is a foundational purpose of public education, yet little is known about whether or how K-12 schools impact civic engagement. Using education, birth, and voting records for nine cohorts of students in Indiana, I estimate and assess the validity of high school effects on voting. School effects on voting are significant and practically meaningful: a one… more →
Policy and Practice Series
Webinar Series
Improving Student Attendance in the ICE Era
Join us for our next EdWorkingPapers Webinar, where we’ll bring timely, policy-relevant research to life through live conversation. In our spring session on Wednesday, June 17 at 1:30pm ET, researchers will describe the effects of immigration enforcement actions on student attendance and practical strategies schools are using to improve attendance and build trust with families.
When: Wednesday, June 17 from 1:30pm - 3:00pm ET
Where: Zoom (click here to register)
During this interactive session, you hear from:
Andrew Camp (Annenberg Institute at Brown University) and author team presenting "Immigration Enforcement Actions and Empty Desks: Persistent and Acute Attendance Effects"
Jeremy Singer (University of Michigan-Flint) and author team presenting "What are schools doing to improve attendance? Evidence from Michigan and Georgia"
Thomas Dee (Stanford University) moderating