We are investigating changes in the funding landscape for charter school operators following the passage of the SB 1882 law in 2017 that launched a state-wide initiative to encourge the adoption of portfolio school districts in Texas. We are assessing changes in philanthropic support for charter operators with approved SB 1882 partnerships and districts authorizing them. We ask whether the new law has led to changes in the number of grants and amount of funding over time, the involvement of in-state versus out-of-state actors, and whether we can track any preferential grantees in the group based on network ties.
We are investigating changes in staffing of instructional and non-instructional staff in Texas public school districts. Using stochastic frontier models from economics, we are analyzing whether there is efficient and optimal allocation of non-instructional staff to promote student achievement. As part of our investigation, we consider whether the decentralization of staffing decisions promotes or inhibits efficiency and optimality.
We are assessing whether schools staffing teacher leaders through the Teacher Career Pathways program, a teacher leadership program, are better able to maintain stability within the organization during times of crisis then schools without teacher leaders. Using survey data of principals, teachers, and parents collected by the New York City Department of Education, we examine responses from stakeholders before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.