Joshua M Cowen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4136820 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Joshua M Cowen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Joshua M |
| FAMILY NAME | Cowen |
| SIGNATURE | COWEN J M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0961-7624 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 116 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Deurbanization and the Struggle to Sustain a Black Teaching Corps: Evidence From Michigan
From 2005 to 2015, the number of Black teachers in Michigan dropped by 48%, substantially exceeding declines in the corresponding K–12 Black student population. These teacher losses are an acute phenomenon within a broader national context of deurbanization of K–12 student populations away from those districts with the largest and most established faculties of color. Districts receiving large numbers of incoming Black students hired few Black tea…
Public School Teacher Contracts and State-Level Reforms: Assessing Changes to Collective Bargaining Restrictiveness Across Three States
In many school districts, the policies that regulate teaching personnel are governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). While there is significant policy attention that has affected the scope of these agreements, there is relatively little research on how CBAs vary over time, or whether they change in response to states’ legislative reforms. Using a panel data set of over 1,200 CBAs across three states, we compare CBA change before and a…
Socioeconomic-Based School Assignment Policy and Racial Segregation Levels: Evidence From the Wake County Public School System
In the wake of political and legal challenges facing race-based integration, districts have turned to socioeconomic integration initiatives in an attempt to achieve greater racial balance across schools. Empirically, the extent to which these initiatives generate such balance is an open question. In this article, we leverage the school assignment system that the Wake County Public School System employed throughout the 2000s to provide evidence on…
Grading Teachers: Race and Gender Differences in Low Evaluation Ratings and Teacher Employment Outcomes
In July 2011, the State of Michigan adopted a broad set of teacher labor market reforms, including a high-stakes evaluation system designed in part to remove low-performing teachers. We examine the characteristics of teachers rated as “minimally effective” and “ineffective,” as well as their schools, and the relationship between low effectiveness ratings and later employment outcomes. Results suggest teachers of color across traditional and chart…
Who Are the Homeless? Student Mobility and Achievement in Michigan 2010–2013
This article provides provide a new, systematic profile of more than 18,000 homeless students in Michigan, utilizing rich administrative data from all test-taking students in Grades 3–9 during three academic years. These data are part of a larger study of school choice and student mobility in that state. Homelessness is a condition found disproportionately away from suburban school districts. African American and Hispanic students are more freque…
In the Union Now: Understanding Public Sector Union Membership
Despite periodic consideration of public sector unions in the public management and administration literature, empirical evidence on the union membership decisions of public employees remains scant. In this article, we begin to address this issue by considering unique data on union membership drawn from a local educational agency in a midsize American city. We find union membership rates to be highest in schools that are hardest to staff and wher…
Similar Students, Different Choices: Who Uses a School Voucher in an Otherwise Similar Population of Students
We examine what factors predict why some parents enroll their children in voucher schools while other parents with similar types of children and from similar neighborhoods do not. Furthermore, we investigate how aware parents are of their educational options, where they get their information, and what school characteristics they deem the most important. To answer these questions, we analyze the school choice patterns in the Milwaukee Parental Cho…
Student Neighborhoods, Schools, and Test Score Growth: Evidence from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Schools and neighborhoods are thought to be two of the most important contextual influences on student academic outcomes. Drawing on a unique data set that permits simultaneous estimation of neighborhood and school contributions to student test score gains, we analyze the distributions of these contributions to consider the relative importance of schools and neighborhoods in shaping student achievement outcomes. We also evaluate the sensitivity o…
Would a Value-Added System of Retention Improve the Distribution of Teacher Quality? A Simulation of Alternative Policies: Value Added Teacher Retention Policies
Public Employee Quality in a Geographic Context: A Study of Rural Teachers
Recruiting high quality employees is one of the key functions of public human resource managers and a critical component of effective public service delivery. This is particularly true in education but little is known about public sector or teacher hiring patterns in areas that are predominantly rural, poor, and isolated from other locales. This article begins to fill that gap. We find that rural educational agencies employ the new teachers of lo…
Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies
Several states have recently adopted or are pursuing policies that deny or revoke tenure from teachers who receive poor evaluation ratings over time based in part on quantitative measures of performance. Using data from the state of Florida, we estimate such value-added measures to consider the future effectiveness and number of teachers who would have been dismissed under different versions of these policies. Students assigned to teachers who wo…
School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State‐Mandated Study of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program
In this article we examine educational attainment levels for students in Milwaukee's citywide voucher program and a comparable group of public school students. Using unique data collected as part of a state‐mandated evaluation of the program, we consider high school graduation and enrollment in postsecondary institutions for students initially exposed to voucher schools and those in public schools at the same time. We show that exposure to vouche…
Going Public: Who Leaves a Large, Longstanding, and Widely Available Urban Voucher Program
This article contributes to research concerning the determinants of student mobility between public and private schools. The authors analyze a unique set of data collected as part of a new evaluation of Milwaukee’s citywide voucher program. The authors find several important patterns. Students who switch from the private to the public sector were performing lower than their peers on standardized tests in the prior year. African Americans were dis…
Who Chooses, Who Refuses? Learning More from Students Who Decline Private School Vouchers
I argue that lottery-based school choice programs offer the opportunity to study a unique group of students: those who want to attend or are very interested in attending private school but simply cannot, even when given the chance. The differences between these students and those who choose private school are compelling education outcomes in their own right. To illustrate the argument, I analyze data from a small and little-known private school s…
School Choice as a Latent Variable: Estimating the “Complier Average Causal Effect” of Vouchers in Charlotte
Randomized field trials of school voucher policy interventions face major statistical hurdles in the measurement of a voucher effect on student achievement. Selection bias undermines the benefits of randomization when the treatment, a random offer of a voucher, is declined by participants who systematically differ from those who accept. This article argues that the complier average causal effect (CACE) is the parameter of interest in voucher eval…
Student Neighborhoods, Schools, and Test Score Growth: Evidence from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Schools and neighborhoods are thought to be two of the most important contextual influences on student academic outcomes. Drawing on a unique data set that permits simultaneous estimation of neighborhood and school contributions to student test score gains, we analyze the distributions of these contributions to consider the relative importance of schools and neighborhoods in shaping student achievement outcomes. We also evaluate the sensitivity o…
Similar Students, Different Choices: Who Uses a School Voucher in an Otherwise Similar Population of Students
We examine what factors predict why some parents enroll their children in voucher schools while other parents with similar types of children and from similar neighborhoods do not. Furthermore, we investigate how aware parents are of their educational options, where they get their information, and what school characteristics they deem the most important. To answer these questions, we analyze the school choice patterns in the Milwaukee Parental Cho…
Who Are the Homeless? Student Mobility and Achievement in Michigan 2010–2013
This article provides provide a new, systematic profile of more than 18,000 homeless students in Michigan, utilizing rich administrative data from all test-taking students in Grades 3–9 during three academic years. These data are part of a larger study of school choice and student mobility in that state. Homelessness is a condition found disproportionately away from suburban school districts. African American and Hispanic students are more freque…
School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State‐Mandated Study of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program
In this article we examine educational attainment levels for students in Milwaukee's citywide voucher program and a comparable group of public school students. Using unique data collected as part of a state‐mandated evaluation of the program, we consider high school graduation and enrollment in postsecondary institutions for students initially exposed to voucher schools and those in public schools at the same time. We show that exposure to vouche…
Going Public: Who Leaves a Large, Longstanding, and Widely Available Urban Voucher Program
This article contributes to research concerning the determinants of student mobility between public and private schools. The authors analyze a unique set of data collected as part of a new evaluation of Milwaukee’s citywide voucher program. The authors find several important patterns. Students who switch from the private to the public sector were performing lower than their peers on standardized tests in the prior year. African Americans were dis…
Who Chooses, Who Refuses? Learning More from Students Who Decline Private School Vouchers
I argue that lottery-based school choice programs offer the opportunity to study a unique group of students: those who want to attend or are very interested in attending private school but simply cannot, even when given the chance. The differences between these students and those who choose private school are compelling education outcomes in their own right. To illustrate the argument, I analyze data from a small and little-known private school s…
Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies
Several states have recently adopted or are pursuing policies that deny or revoke tenure from teachers who receive poor evaluation ratings over time based in part on quantitative measures of performance. Using data from the state of Florida, we estimate such value-added measures to consider the future effectiveness and number of teachers who would have been dismissed under different versions of these policies. Students assigned to teachers who wo…
School Choice as a Latent Variable: Estimating the “Complier Average Causal Effect” of Vouchers in Charlotte
Randomized field trials of school voucher policy interventions face major statistical hurdles in the measurement of a voucher effect on student achievement. Selection bias undermines the benefits of randomization when the treatment, a random offer of a voucher, is declined by participants who systematically differ from those who accept. This article argues that the complier average causal effect (CACE) is the parameter of interest in voucher eval…
Grading Teachers: Race and Gender Differences in Low Evaluation Ratings and Teacher Employment Outcomes
In July 2011, the State of Michigan adopted a broad set of teacher labor market reforms, including a high-stakes evaluation system designed in part to remove low-performing teachers. We examine the characteristics of teachers rated as “minimally effective” and “ineffective,” as well as their schools, and the relationship between low effectiveness ratings and later employment outcomes. Results suggest teachers of color across traditional and chart…
Public School Teacher Contracts and State-Level Reforms: Assessing Changes to Collective Bargaining Restrictiveness Across Three States
In many school districts, the policies that regulate teaching personnel are governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). While there is significant policy attention that has affected the scope of these agreements, there is relatively little research on how CBAs vary over time, or whether they change in response to states’ legislative reforms. Using a panel data set of over 1,200 CBAs across three states, we compare CBA change before and a…
Socioeconomic-Based School Assignment Policy and Racial Segregation Levels: Evidence From the Wake County Public School System
In the wake of political and legal challenges facing race-based integration, districts have turned to socioeconomic integration initiatives in an attempt to achieve greater racial balance across schools. Empirically, the extent to which these initiatives generate such balance is an open question. In this article, we leverage the school assignment system that the Wake County Public School System employed throughout the 2000s to provide evidence on…
Would a Value-Added System of Retention Improve the Distribution of Teacher Quality? A Simulation of Alternative Policies: Value Added Teacher Retention Policies
Public Employee Quality in a Geographic Context: A Study of Rural Teachers
Recruiting high quality employees is one of the key functions of public human resource managers and a critical component of effective public service delivery. This is particularly true in education but little is known about public sector or teacher hiring patterns in areas that are predominantly rural, poor, and isolated from other locales. This article begins to fill that gap. We find that rural educational agencies employ the new teachers of lo…
In the Union Now: Understanding Public Sector Union Membership
Despite periodic consideration of public sector unions in the public management and administration literature, empirical evidence on the union membership decisions of public employees remains scant. In this article, we begin to address this issue by considering unique data on union membership drawn from a local educational agency in a midsize American city. We find union membership rates to be highest in schools that are hardest to staff and wher…
School Choice as a Latent Variable: Estimating the “Complier Average Causal Effect” of Vouchers in Charlotte
Randomized field trials of school voucher policy interventions face major statistical hurdles in the measurement of a voucher effect on student achievement. Selection bias undermines the benefits of randomization when the treatment, a random offer of a voucher, is declined by participants who systematically differ from those who accept. This article argues that the complier average causal effect (CACE) is the parameter of interest in voucher eval…
Who Chooses, Who Refuses? Learning More from Students Who Decline Private School Vouchers
I argue that lottery-based school choice programs offer the opportunity to study a unique group of students: those who want to attend or are very interested in attending private school but simply cannot, even when given the chance. The differences between these students and those who choose private school are compelling education outcomes in their own right. To illustrate the argument, I analyze data from a small and little-known private school s…
Going Public: Who Leaves a Large, Longstanding, and Widely Available Urban Voucher Program
This article contributes to research concerning the determinants of student mobility between public and private schools. The authors analyze a unique set of data collected as part of a new evaluation of Milwaukee’s citywide voucher program. The authors find several important patterns. Students who switch from the private to the public sector were performing lower than their peers on standardized tests in the prior year. African Americans were dis…
Would a Value-Added System of Retention Improve the Distribution of Teacher Quality? A Simulation of Alternative Policies: Value Added Teacher Retention Policies
Public Employee Quality in a Geographic Context: A Study of Rural Teachers
Recruiting high quality employees is one of the key functions of public human resource managers and a critical component of effective public service delivery. This is particularly true in education but little is known about public sector or teacher hiring patterns in areas that are predominantly rural, poor, and isolated from other locales. This article begins to fill that gap. We find that rural educational agencies employ the new teachers of lo…
Who Would Stay, Who Would Be Dismissed? An Empirical Consideration of Value-Added Teacher Retention Policies
Several states have recently adopted or are pursuing policies that deny or revoke tenure from teachers who receive poor evaluation ratings over time based in part on quantitative measures of performance. Using data from the state of Florida, we estimate such value-added measures to consider the future effectiveness and number of teachers who would have been dismissed under different versions of these policies. Students assigned to teachers who wo…
School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State‐Mandated Study of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program
In this article we examine educational attainment levels for students in Milwaukee's citywide voucher program and a comparable group of public school students. Using unique data collected as part of a state‐mandated evaluation of the program, we consider high school graduation and enrollment in postsecondary institutions for students initially exposed to voucher schools and those in public schools at the same time. We show that exposure to vouche…
In the Union Now: Understanding Public Sector Union Membership
Despite periodic consideration of public sector unions in the public management and administration literature, empirical evidence on the union membership decisions of public employees remains scant. In this article, we begin to address this issue by considering unique data on union membership drawn from a local educational agency in a midsize American city. We find union membership rates to be highest in schools that are hardest to staff and wher…
Similar Students, Different Choices: Who Uses a School Voucher in an Otherwise Similar Population of Students
We examine what factors predict why some parents enroll their children in voucher schools while other parents with similar types of children and from similar neighborhoods do not. Furthermore, we investigate how aware parents are of their educational options, where they get their information, and what school characteristics they deem the most important. To answer these questions, we analyze the school choice patterns in the Milwaukee Parental Cho…
Student Neighborhoods, Schools, and Test Score Growth: Evidence from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Schools and neighborhoods are thought to be two of the most important contextual influences on student academic outcomes. Drawing on a unique data set that permits simultaneous estimation of neighborhood and school contributions to student test score gains, we analyze the distributions of these contributions to consider the relative importance of schools and neighborhoods in shaping student achievement outcomes. We also evaluate the sensitivity o…
Who Are the Homeless? Student Mobility and Achievement in Michigan 2010–2013
This article provides provide a new, systematic profile of more than 18,000 homeless students in Michigan, utilizing rich administrative data from all test-taking students in Grades 3–9 during three academic years. These data are part of a larger study of school choice and student mobility in that state. Homelessness is a condition found disproportionately away from suburban school districts. African American and Hispanic students are more freque…
Grading Teachers: Race and Gender Differences in Low Evaluation Ratings and Teacher Employment Outcomes
In July 2011, the State of Michigan adopted a broad set of teacher labor market reforms, including a high-stakes evaluation system designed in part to remove low-performing teachers. We examine the characteristics of teachers rated as “minimally effective” and “ineffective,” as well as their schools, and the relationship between low effectiveness ratings and later employment outcomes. Results suggest teachers of color across traditional and chart…
Socioeconomic-Based School Assignment Policy and Racial Segregation Levels: Evidence From the Wake County Public School System
In the wake of political and legal challenges facing race-based integration, districts have turned to socioeconomic integration initiatives in an attempt to achieve greater racial balance across schools. Empirically, the extent to which these initiatives generate such balance is an open question. In this article, we leverage the school assignment system that the Wake County Public School System employed throughout the 2000s to provide evidence on…
Deurbanization and the Struggle to Sustain a Black Teaching Corps: Evidence From Michigan
From 2005 to 2015, the number of Black teachers in Michigan dropped by 48%, substantially exceeding declines in the corresponding K–12 Black student population. These teacher losses are an acute phenomenon within a broader national context of deurbanization of K–12 student populations away from those districts with the largest and most established faculties of color. Districts receiving large numbers of incoming Black students hired few Black tea…
Public School Teacher Contracts and State-Level Reforms: Assessing Changes to Collective Bargaining Restrictiveness Across Three States
In many school districts, the policies that regulate teaching personnel are governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). While there is significant policy attention that has affected the scope of these agreements, there is relatively little research on how CBAs vary over time, or whether they change in response to states’ legislative reforms. Using a panel data set of over 1,200 CBAs across three states, we compare CBA change before and a…
School Choice and Performance (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Economics (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (6 works) · Higher Education Research Studies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Mathematics education (5 works)