Douglas N. Harris

This research project assesses the efficacy of The Degree Project (TDP), a "promise program" which seeks to increase college preparation, enrollment, and degree completion among low-income, urban high school students by promising ninth-grade students a scholarship if they engage in college-preparation activities during high school. Promise programs are widely used (73 programs nationally) and are feasible alternatives to traditional "late commitment" grant and loan programs (e.g., Pell grant...

In this study, the researchers proposed to determine which assessments and strategies can be used to select teachers who are effective in raising student achievement. The researchers' primary goal was to shed light on both the merits of general strategies used to select high-quality teachers (professional judgments versus standardized measures) and on the specific assessment criteria that are most highly associated with student outcomes. To conduct this work, the researchers would leverage a...

School choice policies have become increasingly popular in urban districts over the past two decades, and in theory should increase low-income families' access to high-quality schools. However, research is limited on how families engage in school choice application and enrollment processes for early education and elementary school, and on how to design application systems and outreach efforts to support families in achieving the best outcomes for their children. The partnership team will use...

Across the U.S., many students have opportunities to attend schools other than their own traditional neighborhood public schools. These opportunities are commonly referred to as “school choice” and include such practices as open enrollment (both intra- and inter-district), magnet schools, charter schools including virtual schools, and public financial supports for attending private schools (e.g., vouchers, tax credit funded scholarships, education savings accounts, personal tax credits a...