CALDER Center

@caldercenter

A project of the American Institutes for Research (@AIRInforms) and university scholars, committed to analysis of data that informs education policy

Washington, D.C. caldercenter.org Joined October 2010

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CALDER Center @caldercenter Sep 23

Do university students with stronger academic records become more effective, longer-lasting teachers? New CALDER paper links college application & transcript data in Washington to teacher workforce entry, effectiveness, and retention.

🔗 caldercenter.org/publications/d…

Does Better Academic Preparation Predict Teacher Workforce Outcomes?
Dan Goldhaber, John Krieg, Roddy Theobald, Vivien Chen, Jennifer M. Dechaine, Amy Roth McDuffie, & David Slavit
CALDER Working Paper No. 346-0926
September 2026
Abstract
We link comprehensive student data on university applications and transcripts from three public universities in Washington to teacher workforce entry, effectiveness (measured by value added), and retention. We find that SAT scores are not strongly related to any of these outcomes, but college students with higher university GPAs are more likely to become teachers, and those who enter the workforce with higher GPAs are more effective as measured by math and English language arts (ELA) value-added. These findings are robust to sample selection adjustments and to checks for selection into different college courses, school districts, and out of the teacher workforce. The relationship between GPA and teacher effectiveness is driven largely by ...

CALDER Center @caldercenter Sep 25

New CALDER brief: Researchers partnered with five WA teacher prep programs to examine who becomes a teacher, how candidates are selected, and how academic preparation in college relates to teacher effectiveness.

🔗 caldercenter.org/publications/n…

CALDER Brief: New Evidence from the Early Teacher Pipeline
Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, Amy Roth McDuffie, David Slavit, Jennifer M. Dechaine, John Krieg, Michael DeArmond

Few school-based factors matter more to student success than teacher quality. Because teachers are so important, the policies that shape the teacher workforce—teacher licensure, for example—are critical issues in education policy and research. But before prospective teachers can be licensed, they first need to choose to pursue teaching and complete an approved teacher education program. Largely because of data limitations, these early stages of the teacher pipeline have received relatively less policy and research attention. This is a problem because the decisions people make before entering teacher preparation programs ultimately help determine who is available to join the teacher workforce.

To help learn more about the early teacher pipeline, a unique partnership between five university-based teacher...

CALDER Center @caldercenter Aug 13

New CALDER paper by @cedr_us, @maiagoodman, & Luke Caldwell explores the spread of no-zeros grading policies in WA. We find adoption has more than doubled over the past decade and varies widely across districts in design and implementation.

🔗 caldercenter.org/publications/w…

Where Have All the Zeros Gone? The Landscape of No Zeros Grading Policies
Dan Goldhaber, Maia Goodman Young, & Luke Caldwell
CALDER Working Paper No. 345-0826
August 2026
Abstract: Debates about grading reform are intensifying, yet little is known about the formal policies that govern how teachers assign grades. This paper examines one prominent example – no-zeros policies (NZPs), which prohibit assigning zeros for assignments or course grades – by analyzing policy documents from school districts in Washington State and linking them to administrative data on district and school characteristics. We find that NZP adoption has more than doubled over the past decade, from roughly 30 districts in 2015-16 to nearly 70 in 2024-25, with the sharpest growth at the high school level. We develop a typology revealing substantial variation in how NZPs are structured, where they appear, and how they are communicated to families. Perhaps most striking, despite being framed as equity-promoting...

CALDER Center @caldercenter Aug 12

While ESSER-funded interventions had limited success in recovering pandemic test score losses, they may have benefited students in other ways. New CALDER paper examines the impact of tutoring & summer school on non-test student outcomes.

🔗 caldercenter.org/publications/b…
🧵 Findings 👇

Ian Callen @IanCallen6 Aug 12

New @caldercenter paper! w/@edizonross, @CEDR_US, Tom Kane, @ajmceachin, and @emily_r_morton

We know the pandemic hit student test scores hard.

But what happened to attendance, discipline, and grades?

Did ESSER-funded intervention programs affect students on these measures?

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CALDER Center @caldercenter Aug 10

New CALDER paper by @mary_laski, @CalenClifton, & @cedr_us studies the impact of team teaching in AZ. Student achievement effects are mostly null overall, but middle school math improves. Teachers also see lower turnover & higher evaluation ratings.

Read: caldercenter.org/publications/e…

Evidence on Team-Based Teaching Models in Arizona
Mary Laski, Calen Clifton, & Dan Goldhaber
CALDER Working Paper No. 343-0826
August 2026
Abstract: Strategic staffing models are scaling rapidly nationwide. We study the impacts of a team teaching model implemented in one large district in Arizona over several years. We exploit the staggered rollout over time in a difference-in-differences design to estimate effects on student test achievement. We find overall null impacts on student learning, but important heterogeneity by grade and subject. In particular, we find consistently positive effects on middle school math achievement across all specifications, but negative effects at the elementary level in some specifications. Across grades and subjects, teamed teachers also have significantly lower turnover rates and higher evaluation ratings, but the patterns of effects are not consistent with the achievement results. The student achievement findings are broadly consistent with the...