Selected Topics in Education Policy Research

3 credits

The course will examine some issues that arise in educational accountability. The purpose is to develop a deeper understanding of the policy issues and a critical appreciation of the relevant methodological strategies. Topics include the establishment and use of state-specific performance standards under NCLB and the quantification of the relative rigor of those standards; the evaluation of school or teacher effectiveness using so-called value-added models; and the policy evaluation of school reform efforts (such as charter schools) using data from large-scale cross-sectional surveys. The latter two topics both involve causal inferences from observational studies.