Project Activities
CALDER is housed at the American Institutes for Research and operated in collaboration with partners at Duke University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Washington.
CALDER's work is organized around six research topics. Multiple studies are to be done under each topic and many of these are to be planned and carried out in conjunction with the collaborating States/districts as they establish and implement new policies and programs.
Focused program of research
Research Topic 1: The contribution of personnel policies (e.g., preparation, recruitment, induction, incentives, supports) to teacher and student outcomes
CALDER will examine a number of State and district programs that have been developed or are under preparation in the areas of teacher and administrator recruitment and induction (e.g., alternative licensure pathways), teacher training programs, performance incentive programs (not yet fully established in its collaborating partners), and professional development and other instructional supports.
Research Topic 2: The extent to which teacher value-added estimates are correlated with other measures of teacher performance (e.g., classroom observations) and with subsequent student outcomes (e.g., grade progression, graduation, college enrollment)
CALDER will examine new evaluation systems for teachers that combine value-added measures with other measures, such as classroom observations and ratings by principals and parents. The technical merits and correlations of the measures will be examined along with relationships between them and teacher characteristics and program interventions. In addition, researchers will examine ways to evaluate teachers in non-tested subjects or grades (e.g., using principal ratings, student ratings, end-of-course exams) and the links between teacher's value-added estimates and students' later outcomes (e.g., high school course-taking, high school graduation, entry into postsecondary education, and labor market outcomes).
Research Topic 4: Teacher exit through retirement and layoffs and the links to teacher quality
CALDER will examine policies regarding pensions, early retirements, and lay-offs and the exit of teachers and changes in the composition and distribution of remaining teachers, especially highly effective ones, that occur as these policies change.
Research Topic 5: Improving and transforming low-performing schools
CALDER will examine the characteristics of low-performing schools and investigate the effects of different improvement strategies proposed by States and districts, especially in regards to the movement of effective teachers in and out of these schools.
Research Topic 6: The policies and practices that affect students' college readiness and the advantages and disadvantages of different measures and predictors of college readiness
CALDER will address student outcomes regarding high school course-taking, high school graduation, and postsecondary enrollment. In addition, the team will explore how investments made and interventions delivered in the early grades and in the later grades will be examined for their impacts on these outcomes.
Structured Abstract
CALDER will attempt to determine the factors associated with the entry, retention, and exit of effective teachers. This work will include the examination of the movement and effectiveness of teachers over time as well as the evaluation of the specific State programs aimed at improving the quality of teachers in high poverty and/or low-performing schools (e.g., expedited certification, bonuses or salary differentials, reduction of seniority provisions).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Select Publications:
Backes, B., Cowan, J., Goldhaber, D., Koedel, C., Miller, L.C., and Xu, Z. (2018). The common core conundrum: To what extent should we worry that changes to assessments will affect test-based measures of teacher performance? Economics of Education Review, 62, 48-65.
Backes, B., Hansen, M., Xu, Z., and Brady, V. (2018). Examining spillover effects from Teach for America corps members in Miami-Dade county public schools. Journal of Teacher Education, 0022487117752309. Full text
Cowan, J., Goldhaber, D. (2018). Do bonuses affect teacher staffing and student achievement in high poverty schools? Evidence from an incentive for national board certified teachers in Washington state. Economics of Education Review, 65, 138-152. Full text
Cowan, J., Goldhaber, D., Hayes, K., & Theobald, R. (2016). Missing elements in the discussion of teacher shortages. Educational Researcher, 45(8), 460-462. Full text
Figlio, D. N., Guryan, J., Karbownik, K., and Roth, J. (2016). Long-term cognitive and health outcomes of school-aged children who were born late-term vs full-term. JAMA Pediatrics, 170(8), 758-764.
Garfield, C. F., Karbownik, K., Murthy, K., Falciglia, G., Guryan, J., Figlio, D. N., and Roth, J. (2017). Educational performance of children born prematurely. JAMA Pediatrics, 171(8), 764-770.
Goldhaber, D., Cowan, J., and Theobald, R. (2017). Evaluating prospective teachers: testing the predictive validity of the EdTPA. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(4), 377-393.
Goldhaber, D., Gratz, T., and Theobald, R. (2017). What's in a teacher test? Assessing the relationship between teacher licensure test scores and student STEM achievement and course-taking. Economics of Education Review, 61, 112-129. Full text
Goldhaber, D., and Grout, C. (2016). Which plan to choose? The determinants of pension system choice for public school teachers. Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 15(1), 30-54. Full text
Goldhaber, D., Grout, C., and Holden, K.L. (2017). Pension structure and employee turnover: Evidence from a large public pension system. ILR Review, 70(4), 976-1007. Full text
Goldhaber, D., Grout, C., Holden, K. L., and Brown, N. (2015). Crossing the border? Exploring the cross-state mobility of the teacher workforce. Educational Researcher, 44(8), 421-431. Full text
Goldhaber, D., Krieg, J., Theobald, R. (2017). Does the match matter? Exploring whether student teaching experiences affect teacher effectiveness. American Educational Research Journal, 54(2), 325-359. Full text
Goldhaber, D., Quince, V., and Theobald, R. (2016). Has it always been this way? Tracing the evolution of teacher quality gaps in U.S. public schools. American Educational Research Journal, 55(1): 171-201. Full text
Goldhaber, D., and Startz, R. (2017). On the distribution of worker productivity: the case of teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Statistics and Public Policy, 4(1), 1-12. Full text
Hansen, M., Backes, B., and Brady, V. (2016). Teacher attrition and mobility during the Teach for America clustering strategy in Miami Dade county public schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(3), 495-516. Full text
Heissel, J.A., and Ladd, H.F. (2018). School turnaround in North Carolina: A regression discontinuity analysis. Economics of Education Review, 62: 302-320. Full text
Kim, D., Koedel, C., Ni, S., and Podgursky, M. (2017). Labor market frictions and production efficiency in public schools. Economics of Education Review, 60, 54-67. Full text
Krieg, J.M., Theobald, R., and Goldhaber, D. (2016). A foot in the door: Exploring the role of student teaching assignments in teachers' initial job placements. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2): 364-388. Full text
Ladd, H. F., Clotfelter, C. T., and Holbein, J. B. (2017). The growing segmentation of the charter school sector in North Carolina. Education Finance and Policy, 12(4), 536-563. Full text
Ladd, H. F., and Sorensen, L. C. (2017). Returns to teacher experience: Student achievement and motivation in middle school. Education Finance and Policy, 12(2), 241-279. Full text
Sass, T. R. (2015). Licensure and worker quality: A comparison of alternative routes to teaching. The Journal of Law and Economics, 58(1), 1-35. Full text
Strunk, K., Goldhaber, D., Knight, D., Brown, N. (2018). Are there hidden costs associated with conducting layoffs? The impact of RIFs and layoffs on teacher effectiveness . Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(4), 755-782. Full text
Center website: http://www.caldercenter.org/
Project website:
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Supplemental information
Key Personnel: Jane Hannaway (American Institutes for Research), David Figlio (Northwestern University), Helen Ladd (Duke University), Susanna Loeb (Stanford University), Rodney Andrews (University of Texas at Dallas), Dan Goldhaber (University of Washington-Bothell), Tim Sass (Florida State University), Michael Podgursky (University of Missouri-Columbia), Cory Koedel (University of Missouri), Charles Clotfelter (Duke University), Jacob Vigdor (Duke University), James Wyckoff (University of Virginia), Erik Hanushek (Stanford University), Steve Rivkin (University of Texas at Dallas), and Clara Muschkin (Duke University)
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