Ben Backes
Biographic Data
| ID | 5180863 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ben Backes |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ben |
| FAMILY NAME | Backes |
| SIGNATURE | BEN BACKES |
| AFFILIATIONS | American Institutes for Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3485-1586 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 6 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Measuring the Quality of the Teacher Workforce
Researchers from the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research at the American Institutes for Research examine two approaches to measuring teacher effectiveness: traditional value-added measures (VAMs) based on test scores and newer measures focusing on non-test outcomes like attendance and behavior. Analysis of data from 8,000 Massachusetts teachers reveals three key findings: teachers vary significantly in their effectivene…
Misalignments Between Student Teaching Placements and Initial Teaching Positions
Graduates of special education teacher education programs can teach in a range of special education settings, raising the potential that their training can occur in very different settings than where they find their first jobs. We follow 263 completers of Moderate Disabilities programs in the U.S. state of Massachusetts from their field placements to their early-career teaching positions and study the characteristics of their field placements and…
Leveling Up
Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive outcomes, yet low-income students and students who identify as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented. Policies such as “algebra for all” that accelerate middle school students into advanced courses are well-studied, but little is known about newer academic acceleration policies that target older students. Between 2014–2015 and 2016–2017, 72 districts in Washington implemented Academi…
Four years of pandemic-era emergency licenses
Examining Spillover Effects From Teach For America Corps Members in Miami-Dade County Public Schools
This article examines Teach For America's (TFA) placement strategy in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, in which large numbers of TFA corps members are placed as clusters into a targeted set of disadvantaged schools, to investigate whether the large-scale infusion of TFA corps members into these schools induced broader improvements across the school. Using 6 years of administrative data from the district, we exploit variation in TFA density over …
Benefit or Burden? On the Intergenerational Inequity of Teacher Pension Plans
Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative microdata from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities—effectively debt—owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49 state plans, an amount that exceeds 10% of current teachers’ earnings is being set aside to pay for previously a…
Benefit or Burden? On the Intergenerational Inequity of Teacher Pension Plans
Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative microdata from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities—effectively debt—owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49 state plans, an amount that exceeds 10% of current teachers’ earnings is being set aside to pay for previously a…
Leveling Up
Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive outcomes, yet low-income students and students who identify as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented. Policies such as “algebra for all” that accelerate middle school students into advanced courses are well-studied, but little is known about newer academic acceleration policies that target older students. Between 2014–2015 and 2016–2017, 72 districts in Washington implemented Academi…
Benefit or Burden? On the Intergenerational Inequity of Teacher Pension Plans
Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative microdata from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities—effectively debt—owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49 state plans, an amount that exceeds 10% of current teachers’ earnings is being set aside to pay for previously a…
Examining Spillover Effects From Teach For America Corps Members in Miami-Dade County Public Schools
This article examines Teach For America's (TFA) placement strategy in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, in which large numbers of TFA corps members are placed as clusters into a targeted set of disadvantaged schools, to investigate whether the large-scale infusion of TFA corps members into these schools induced broader improvements across the school. Using 6 years of administrative data from the district, we exploit variation in TFA density over …
Four years of pandemic-era emergency licenses
Measuring the Quality of the Teacher Workforce
Researchers from the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research at the American Institutes for Research examine two approaches to measuring teacher effectiveness: traditional value-added measures (VAMs) based on test scores and newer measures focusing on non-test outcomes like attendance and behavior. Analysis of data from 8,000 Massachusetts teachers reveals three key findings: teachers vary significantly in their effectivene…
Misalignments Between Student Teaching Placements and Initial Teaching Positions
Graduates of special education teacher education programs can teach in a range of special education settings, raising the potential that their training can occur in very different settings than where they find their first jobs. We follow 263 completers of Moderate Disabilities programs in the U.S. state of Massachusetts from their field placements to their early-career teaching positions and study the characteristics of their field placements and…
Leveling Up
Taking advanced courses in high school predicts many positive outcomes, yet low-income students and students who identify as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented. Policies such as “algebra for all” that accelerate middle school students into advanced courses are well-studied, but little is known about newer academic acceleration policies that target older students. Between 2014–2015 and 2016–2017, 72 districts in Washington implemented Academi…
Political science (4 works) · Academic achievement (3 works) · Economics (3 works) · Mathematics education (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · School Choice and Performance (3 works) · Business (2 works) · Higher Education Research Studies (2 works) · Medicine (2 works) · Student achievement (2 works)