Wheelock Educational Policy Center

Fall 2023 BU Wheelock Ed Policy Speaker Series: Adai Tefera (University of Arizona)
2023-11-07 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
This seminar session co-hosted with BU Wheelock Special Education Department
Dr. Tefera (she/her) is an associate professor of special education. Her interdisciplinary scholarship examines how educational policies aimed at improving equity among students at the intersections of race, disability, language, and other social categories are enacted, interrupted, and resisted by students, families, educators, and leaders. Her recent work explores how historical, sociocultural, and spatial contexts mediate how educators and leaders respond to and understand citations for racial disproportionality in the identification, placement, and discipline of students with disabilities. Her work has been included in journals such as American Educational Research Journal, Review of Research in Education, Sociology of Education, and Teachers College Record. She is also the recipient of the American Educational Research Association, Division G (Social Context of Education) Early Career Award.
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UPDATED SPEAKER! Fall 2023 BU Wheelock Ed Policy Speaker Series: Christopher Campos (University of Chicago)
2023-12-05 15:00 - 16:30 | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
Christopher Campos is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he currently focuses on research on the economics of education. He is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Talk Title: Social Interactions and Preferences for Schools: Experimental Evidence from Los Angeles
This paper studies how parents’ preferences for schools are affected by information about school and peer quality and how social interactions mediate changes in demand. I design an information intervention that cross-randomizes whether parents receive information about school quality (school value-added) and peer quality. Using a spillover design that varies the saturation of information across schools, I also randomize parents’ proximity to other parents with similar information. I find that the information leads to changes in parental preferences toward higher value-added schools, and this occurs when both parents and their neighbors receive information. These results imply substantial information spillovers. I complement this evidence with survey data on the distribution of beliefs over school and peer quality and conclude that the direct and spillover effects of my experiment come primarily from changes in parental preferences rather than an updating of parental beliefs in response to information. These findings show that when parents are informed about school and peer quality, their social interactions lead to changes in preferences in a way that rewards more effective schools.

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Spring 2024 BU Wheelock Ed Policy Speaker Series: David DeMatthews (UT Austin)
2024-02-13 15:00 - 16:30 | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States

In Pursuit of Greatness: Bold Strategies to Grow a Strong and Diverse Educator Workforce
2024-02-28 16:00 | Zoom
Event Summary
On February 29th, Boston University’s Wheelock Educational Policy Center, Latinos for Education, and MassINC hosted a virtual event for the public release of the report: “In Pursuit of Greatness: Bold Strategies to Grow a Strong and Diverse Workforce.” A panel of experts from each organization discussed the Commonwealth’s progress over the last decade in diversifying the educator workforce and bold strategies to tackle the issues of today for a successful tomorrow.

READ THE REPORT

AEFP 49th Annual Conference
2024-03-14 08:00 - 2024-03-16 13:15 | Marriott Baltimore Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna St., Baltimore, MD, 21202, United States
WEPC is attending this year’s Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) 2024 Conference in Baltimore. This conference will bring together researchers, students, policymakers, practitioners, and others interested in education finance and policy to share and learn about research spanning from early childhood education to long-term postsecondary outcomes. In addition to several faculty presentations selected for inclusion in the agenda, most of our WEPC-affiliated colleagues and several of our policy partners will be in attendance.
Below are the WEPC-affiliated presentations currently on the agenda:

Spring 2024 BU Wheelock Ed Policy Speaker Series: Daphna Bassok (University of Virginia)
2024-04-09 15:00 - 16:30 | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
Building a More Stable and Supported Early Childhood Teacher Workforce: Lessons from a Decade-Long Research Policy Partnership

The early childhood education (ECE) workforce in the United States faces persistent challenges, including low wages and high turnover rates. These conditions detrimentally affect young children during a critical phase of their development and they are disruptive for working families and for the economy. It is now more widely acknowledged that addressing staffing challenges in ECE is essential. At the same time there is very little systematic data available to understand staffing challenges in ECE, track improvements, and test whether policies aimed to support early educators actually work. This talk will describe how through a decade-long research-policy partnership between researchers and policy partners in the Louisiana and Virginia Departments of Education, we tried to iteratively improve ECE workforce data, evaluation, and policy. I will share examples of partnered studies– both descriptive and experimental– which have improved our understanding of turnover among this large diverse workforce and informed policies to better support them.
Daphna Bassok is a Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and the Associate Director of EdPolicyWorks. She works closely with early childhood policy makers at both the Virginia and Louisiana Departments of Education on research aimed to inform efforts to build more cohesive, higher quality, early childhood education systems. Bassok’s research addresses early childhood education policy, with a focus on efforts to improve early childhood systems at scale. She is particularly interested in policies aimed at supporting the early childhood workforce and is currently leading a multi-year evaluation of Virginia’s Federal Preschool Development Grant Birth-5 initiative.

Spring 2024 BU Wheelock Ed Policy Speaker Series: Li Feng (Texas State University)
2024-04-30 15:00 - 16:30 | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
The Impact of STEM Teacher Scholarship on Local Teacher Shortage and Student Outcomes

Broad consensus exists on the need to train, place, and retain high-quality teachers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects throughout the nation’s public schools, particularly in high-need districts (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2010). Yet, we need to know more about the STEM teacher workforce in these districts and how to ensure equal access to quality teachers.
One of the longest-running STEM teacher scholarship for the past 20 years is the Robert Noyce scholarship program funded by the National Science Foundation. The Noyce program aims to alleviate the chronic staffing problems among STEM teachers in high-need school districts. Through both sponsoring interdisciplinary teachers training programs and sponsoring individual students in STEM majors to become teachers in disadvantaged settings, the program aims to increase the flow of high-quality STEM teachers into the high-need districts where their talents are needed the most. We investigate the estimated impact of proximity to the Noyce program on the overall STEM teacher workforce in high-need districts and their student outcomes. Our main research question is what is the estimated impact of proximity to the Noyce program on the STEM teacher workforce in high-need school districts?
More About Li Feng:
Li Feng is a Professor of Economics at Texas State University’s Department of Finance and Economics. During 2016-2017, she served as a Visiting Scholar in the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University and a Visiting Fellow in the Brown Center on Education Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.
Feng’s research interests include the economics of education, labor economics, and health economics. Specifically, her work examines education policy issues related to teachers such as the relationship between teacher quality (value-added) and student outcomes, the nexus of school accountability and teacher labor market, the connection between classroom characteristics and teacher mobility, and the role of Collective Bargaining Agreements in the distribution of teachers across schools.

Spring 2025 Ed Policy Seminar Series
2025-01-28 15:00 - 2025-04-15 17:00 | 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101 Boston, MA 02215, 610 Commonwealth Avenue Room 101, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
WHEELOCK EDUCATIONAL POLICY CENTER SPRING SEMINAR 2025

Boston University’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and The Wheelock Educational Policy Center are excited to host three leading scholars this spring for a Ed Policy Seminar Series. Given growing interest in our local community and increased prominence of presenters, we’re happy to open this speaker series to individuals outside of the BU faculty and students typically in attendance.
All are welcome. The seminar series is geared towards an academic audience and will include detailed and technical discussion about methods used in the research, in addition to the policy context and implications.
Register for one or all. Events are in-person. Reception to follow. Space is limited, please RSVP.
If you require parking or other logistics support, please email the Wheelock Policy team.

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Constance Lindsay (University of North Carolina): Tuesday, January 28th, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Bio: Constance Lindsay earned a doctorate in human development and social policy from Northwestern University, where she was an Institute of Education Sciences’ predoctoral fellow. Since leaving Northwestern, Lindsay has worked in education policy in various contexts, applying her research training in traditional studies and in creating and evaluating new systems and policies regarding teachers. Lindsay’s areas of expertise include teacher quality and diversity, analyzing and closing racial achievement gaps, and adolescent development. Her work has been published in such journals as Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and Social Science Research. Lindsay received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University. Before doctoral study at Northwestern, she was a Presidential Management Fellow at the US Department of Education. Constance Lindsay’s research focuses on policies and practices to close racial achievement gaps in education. Currently, her main focus is on teacher diversity and how to obtain a high quality, diverse educator workforce.
Topic: How Teachers Learn Racial Competency: Through Peers and in Context
Abstract: The US teaching force remains disproportionately white while the student body grows more diverse. It is therefore important to understand how and under what conditions white teachers learn racial competency. This study applies a mixed-methods approach investigate the hypothesis that Black peers improve white teachers’ effectiveness when teaching Black students. The quantitative portion of this study relies on longitudinal data from North Carolina to show that having a Black same-grade peer significantly improves the achievement and reduces the suspension rates of white teachers’ Black students. These effects are persistent over time and largest for novice teachers, which suggests that the mechanism at play is peer learning. Qualitative evidence from open-ended interviews of North Carolina public school teachers reaffirms these findings, and uncovers sources of learning for teachers and contextual factors that moderate these findings.

Mark Chin (Vanderbilt University): Tuesday, April 15th, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
I am an Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Inequality in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.
I study how public education in the U.S. can help combat racial and socioeconomic inequality. In my research, I draw on the economics of education, psychology, and sociology literatures and use rigorous quantitative methodology to identify the causal impacts of different policies, programs, and interventions in schools on students’ outcomes. My current projects focus on school integration, school choice, racial bias in education, and how schools support the development of antiracist youth.
I received my Ph.D. in Education with a concentration in Education Policy and Program Evaluation from Harvard University in 2022.

Education Policy Seminar Fall 2025 Series
2025-11-04 15:00 - 2025-12-10 17:00 | BU Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), 665 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 02215, United States
WHEELOCK EDUCATIONAL POLICY CENTER FALL SEMINAR 2025

Boston University’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and The Wheelock Educational Policy Center are excited to host three leading scholars this fall for an Ed Policy Seminar Series. Given growing interest in our local community and increased prominence of presenters, we’re happy to open this speaker series to individuals outside of the BU faculty and students typically in attendance.
All are welcome. The seminar series is geared towards an academic audience and will include detailed and technical discussion about methods used in the research, in addition to the policy context and implications.
Register for one or all. Events are in-person. Reception to follow. Space is limited, please RSVP.
If you require parking or other logistics support, please email the Wheelock Policy team.

REGISTER NOW

Briana Ballis (University of California, Merced): Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 @ 3pm - 4:30pm
Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: BU Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) Building, Room 1646
Bio: Briana Ballis is an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Merced, and an affiliate of the Inequality, Measurement, Interpretation and Policy network of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group (HCEO). Her areas of interest include labor economics, public economics, and the economics of education. Her research has focused on special education, the spillover effects of DACA, and the long-run impacts of the social safety net. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the Social Security Administration (via Mathematica). Prior to joining UC Merced, she received her PhD from UC Davis in 2020, received her BA/MA from Boston University in 2011, and was a research analyst at RTI international between 2011 and 2014.
Topic & Abstract: TBA

David Houston (George Mason University): Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 @ 3pm - 4:30pm
Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: Location: BU Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) Building, Room 1646
Bio: David M. Houston is an Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. He is also the academic program coordinator of the Education Policy program, the director of EdPolicyForward: The Center for Education Policy, and a university affiliate faculty in the Schar School of Policy and Government. Prof. Houston studies K-12 education politics, governance, and public opinion. His research has appeared in academic outlets such as the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and the Harvard Educational Review. It has also been featured in media outlets such as Chalkbeat, Education Week, The 74 Million, and Vox. This work has been supported by the Fordham Institute, the Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, and the W. T. Grant Foundation. Prior to his position at Mason, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He earned his Ph.D. in Politics and Education from Columbia University, where he studied in both the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at Teachers College and the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Arts and Science. Before pursuing his doctorate, he taught first and second grade in New York City.
Topic & Abstract: TBA

Christina Weiland (University of Michigan): Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 @ 3pm - 4:30pm
Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: Location: BU Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) Building, Room 1646
Bio: Christina Weiland is a professor at the Marsal Family School of Education at the University of Michigan and (by courtesy) the Ford School of Public Policy, where she is affiliated with the Educational Studies department and the Combined Program in Psychology and Education program. She serves as co-Director of the Education Policy Initiative at the Ford School of Public Policy and as Director of the University of Michigan’s Predoctoral Training Program in Causal Inference in Education Policy Research. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Urban Institute. Dr. Weiland’s research focuses on the effects of early childhood interventions and public policies on children’s development, especially on children from families with low-incomes. She is particularly interested in the active ingredients that drive children’s gains in successful, at-scale public preschool programs. She is also interested in quantitative research methods, educational measurement, and developmental processes research. Her work is characterized by strong, long-standing research collaborations with practitioners, particularly the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood.
Topic & Abstract: TBA

Association for Education Finance & Policy - 51st Annual Conference
2026-03-19 - 2026-03-21 | Swissotel, Chicago, 323 East Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
WEPC is attending this year’s Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) 2026 Conference in Chicago. This conference brings together researchers, students, policymakers, practitioners, and others interested in education policy to share and learn about research spanning from early childhood education to long-term postsecondary outcomes. This year, WEPC faculty and students will be presenting more than 15 papers, chairing 3 sessions and hosting one of the can’t miss Policy Dialogue blocks. Get details on WEPC-specific sessions and be sure to join us or follow along on socials!
