Jesse Rothstein

Teacher quality is increasingly recognized as a crucial component of the educational process. If schools are to hire, promote, or compensate on the basis of quality, they need accurate measures of teacher quality. One measure of a high-quality teacher is one who improves his or her students' achievement. However, this assertion presumes that we know how to measure a teacher's effect on student achievement. What is needed is a measure of the causal effect, distinct from the potentially co...

This project will examine the extent to which college students access existing basic needs safety net benefits they are eligible for, and how those benefits affect their educational outcomes. Across the country, many college students struggle to meet their basic needs while attending school. Public higher education institutions are well-situated to facilitate student access to safety net benefits, but data limitations have hampered previous efforts to assess eligibility and encourage take-up...