Brian Kisida
Associate Professor
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E339 Locust Street Bldg., 615 Locust Street
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About
Dr. Kisida is is an Associate Professor in the Truman School of Government & Public Affairs, Director of Mizzou's Open Minds Initiative, and Co-Director of the National Endowment for the Arts-sponsored Arts, Humanities, & Civic Engagement Lab. His research spans several key areas of K-12 education policy, including civics education, arts & humanities education, student engagement, and school choice. He has extensive experience conducting randomized controlled trials and has co-authored multiple experimental impact evaluation reports through the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. He is currently a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow focused on civics education reform.
His academic publications include articles in the American Economic Journal, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Sociology of Education, Educational Researcher, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance & Policy, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, Economics of Education Review, Policy Studies Journal, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, and Education and Urban Society. His work has been cited in congressional testimony before the U.S. House and Senate, and it has appeared in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.
Selected Publications
Valuing the Arts: A Randomized Controlled Trial with School Leaders
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Arts Education Policy Review, (in press), 2026
Arts Education Policy Review, (in press), 2026
Randomized study examining how school leaders value arts education, providing causal evidence on how exposure to arts programming influences perceptions and decision-making among educational leaders.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2026.2633694
Searching for the Queen’s Gambit: An Exploratory Analysis of Male–Female Rating Gaps in U.S. Chess
Kisida, B.; Pepper, M.; Podgursky, M.; Wickman, M.
Analyzes two decades of U.S. Chess Federation data to examine gender gaps in chess ratings. Finds large male–female gaps at entry across the full rating distribution, with similar returns to experience thereafter. Differences persist over time, with limited impact from attrition and modest evidence that higher local female participation reduces gaps at entry.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:
Should Schools Teach that America is Good?
Kisida, B.; Ritter, C.; Shuls, J.; Ritter, G.
Education Next, 25(4), 2025
Examines whether and how schools should approach normative questions about the United States, exploring public opinion and implications for civic education and classroom practice.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
School Choice and Culture Wars: CRT Exposure and Viewpoint Diversity Across Educational Sectors
Erickson, H. H.; Gontram, J. S.; Lee, M. H.; Anglum, J. C.; Kisida, B.; Ritter, G. W.
Journal of School Choice, 19(4), 2025, 641–654
Examines differences in exposure to critical race theory and viewpoint diversity across public, charter, and private schools. Findings contribute to debates over school choice and the role of educational institutions in shaping students’ exposure to controversial topics.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2025.2575615
Exploring Claims of Critical Race Theory, Divisive Topics, and Indoctrination in the Classroom
Lee, M. H.; Kisida, B.; Anglum, J. C.; Erickson, H. H.; Gontram, J. S.; Ritter, G. W.
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming (in press), 2025
Analysis of claims about critical race theory and classroom “indoctrination,” examining how these debates relate to actual instructional practices and perceptions in K–12 education.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1162/EDFP.a.423
Bridging the Divide over Critical Race Theory in America’s Classrooms
Kisida, B.; Gontram, J.; Erickson, H.; Lee, M.; Ritter, G.; Anglum, J.; Leatherwood, D.
Education Next, 25(2), 2025
Accessible analysis of debates over critical race theory in K–12 education, examining areas of disagreement and potential common ground in public opinion and classroom practice.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Say Something, Do Something: The Impact of Participatory Theater on Preventing and Reducing Violence and Bullying
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.; Diemer, A.; Frankel, G.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2025, 1–8
Using a randomized design, we investigate changes in students’ attitudes and behaviors as a result of participating in Say Something, Do Something, an interactive and immersive drama-based violence prevention program for youth in upper elementary and middle school settings. Our outcome measures focus on students’ ability to recognize bullying, interpret it as an emergency, accept responsibility for intervening, know strategies to intervene, implement intervention decisions, and see themselves as efficacious upstanders. While we find no overall effects for the full sample, our investigation reveals heterogenous effects for subgroups that differ for male and female students. Female students demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of interventions and upstander efficacy. Male students demonstrated gains in noticing the event, accepting responsibility for intervening, and having knowledge of intervention strategies. These findings can inform future educational policy decisions regarding partnerships with arts organizations that provide programming designed to reduce bullying in school settings.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2025.2476958
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing: The Effects of Dance Exposure on Children’s Cultural Interests and Social-Emotional Development
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2024, 1–13
Stratification by race and socioeconomic status generates disparities in cultural exposure and consumption. Though public education can serve as a mechanism for addressing social inequalities, schools with high concentrations of low-income and minority students often lack the resources to provide enriching cultural experiences. Efforts to make cultural exposure and consumption more equitable remain stymied by school and neighborhood stratification, as well as by lingering questions about the value of cultural consumption for students. Employing a randomized research design, we analyze the effects of elementary students in under-resourced schools participating in a collaborative dance program provided by a major ballet company. We find that participation increases students’ enthusiasm for dance and sense of self-efficacy. Students with prior lower levels of arts and culture exposure demonstrate the largest gains in self-efficacy and experience an increase in their sense of school connectedness. Male students, who were less enthusiastic about dance prior to the program, show the largest increase in dance enthusiasm. These findings demonstrate that targeted efforts by schools and arts organizations can play a meaningful role in students’ cultural capital acquisition, which in turn leads to higher student self-efficacy and sense of belonging, particularly for students with lower levels of arts and cultural learning experience.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2024.2424572
Investigating Arts Education Effects on School Engagement and Climate
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Educational Policy, 38(5), 2023, 1077–1107
There is a renewed focus on what constitutes a well-rounded education, as well as a growing interest in broader indicators of educational success, including social and emotional development and school engagement. However, identifying educational practices that improve such outcomes has proven elusive. We explore the role of arts education on a broad range of educational outcomes using administrative and survey data from Boston’s public schools. We find that students receiving the arts in school attend more, are more engaged, and their parents and teachers are more likely to participate and be engaged at school, with larger effects for students with individualized education plans, students with lower standardized test scores, and students with a history of chronic absenteeism. These findings call attention to the pivotal role of the arts in providing students with socially and emotionally supportive learning environments that enhance relationships between students and schools.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/08959048231174880
Improving Arts Access through Multisector Collaborations
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Arts Education Policy Review, 125(4), 2023, 279–289
Schools in the United States have encountered substantial cuts to arts education, prompting them to partner with arts organizations to provide arts learning opportunities. Arts education advocates see potential benefits and drawbacks to these arrangements. While they can provide schools with valuable resources, such arrangements could further reduce the status and oversight of the arts in schools by outsourcing to external providers. One strategy that may provide benefits without these potential drawbacks is the facilitation of partnerships through multisector collaborations. From our research in Houston, we find that multisector collaborations can be effective at improving student arts access through partnerships that address schools’ needs, while also helping schools secure arts resources and facilitating efforts that are more mutually beneficial.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2023.2212187
Investigating the Causal Benefits of Arts Education
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 43(3), 2023, 624–647
There is a paucity of research on the causal relationship between arts learning and educational outcomes. Investigating these relationships has become imperative as policymakers increasingly prioritize empirical evidence of educational impacts, which often leads to curriculum narrowing that favors traditionally-tested subjects. Employing a randomized controlled trial with 42 elementary and middle schools in Houston, Texas, we find that randomly assigning arts educational opportunities reduces disciplinary infractions, improves writing achievement, and increases students’ emotional empathy. Students in elementary schools, which were the primary focus of the program, also experience increases in school engagement, college aspirations, and cognitive empathy. As the first large-scale randomized control trial of arts learning in an authentic school setting, these findings provide strong evidence that the arts can produce meaningful impacts on students’ academic outcomes and social-emotional development. Education policymakers should consider these benefits when assessing the role of the arts in schools
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1002/pam.22449
The Fine Art of School Engagement
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Education Next, 23(3), 2023, 48–54
Analysis of how arts education contributes to student engagement and school climate, highlighting the role of cultural experiences in fostering connection to school and improving student outcomes.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:
School Vouchers and College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from Washington, DC
Chingos, M.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 45(3), 2023, 422–436
Washington, DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the only federally funded school voucher program in the United States, has provided private school scholarships to low-income students in DC since 2004. From its inception, the program has received significant attention in national debates and has been the subject of rigorous evaluations mandated by Congress. We conduct an experimental evaluation of the effect of the OSP on college enrollment by comparing the college enrollment rates of students offered a scholarship in lotteries held in 2004 and 2005 with those of students who applied but did not win a scholarship. Students who won scholarships to attend private schools were not significantly more or less likely to enroll in college than students who did not.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/01623737221131549
Spread Too Thin? The Effects of Specialization on Teaching Effectiveness
Hwang, N.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(4), 2022, 593–607
Although the majority of elementary school teachers cover all major subjects in self-contained classrooms, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in elementary schools. We find that teacher specialization leads to lower teaching effectiveness in math and reading, and the negative effects are larger when teaching students who are more likely to experience obstacles in school. Moreover, we find no evidence that increasing the proportion of teacher specialists at the school level generates improvements in indicators of school quality. Our findings underscore the importance of fostering opportunities to develop stronger student–teacher relationships
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/01623737221084312
The Effect of Charter Schools on School Segregation
Monarrez, T.; Kisida, B.; Chingos, M.
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(1), 2022, 301–340
We examine the impact of the expansion of charter schools on racial segregation in public schools, defined using multiple measures of racial sorting and isolation. Our research design utilizes between-grade differences in charter expansion within school systems and an instrumental variables approach leveraging charter school openings. Charter schools modestly increase school segregation for Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White students. On average, charters have caused a 6 percent decrease in the relative likelihood of Black and Hispanic students being exposed to schoolmates of other racial or ethnic groups. For metropolitan areas, our analysis reveals countervailing forces, as charters reduce segregation between districts.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190682
A Familiar Face: Student–Teacher Rematches and Student Achievement
Hwang, N.; Kisida, B.; Koedel, C.
Economics of Education Review, 85, 2021, 1–7
We use administrative data from Indiana to test whether student-teacher rematches in consecutive years affect student achievement. Using models that control for student and teacher fixed effects, we show that student- teacher rematches increase test scores in math and English Language Arts. The positive effects of rematching are constant over elementary and middle-school grades and more pronounced for historically underserved students. Our findings directly support strategies that aim to keep students and teachers together for longer periods of time during K-12 education. They are also consistent with the broader hypothesis that students benefit from increased student-teacher familiarity.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102194
The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality
Winters, M.; Kisida, B.; Cho, I.
Education Finance and Policy, 18(2), 2021, 302–318
Transitions to a new principal are common, especially within urban public schools, and potentially highly disruptive to a school's culture and operations. We use longitudinal data from New York City to investigate if the effect of principal transitions differs by whether the incoming principal was hired externally or promoted from within the school. We take advantage of variation in the timing of principal transitions within an event-study approach to estimate the causal effect of principal changes. Changing principals has an immediate negative effect on student test scores that is sustained over several years regardless of whether hired internally or externally. However, externally hired principals lead to an increase in teacher turnover and a decline in perceptions of the school's learning environment, whereas transitions to an internally promoted principal have no such effects. This pattern of results raises important questions about leadership transitions and the nature of principal effects on school quality.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1162/edfp_a_00362
Teaching History through Theater: The Effects of Arts Integration on Students' Knowledge and Attitudes
Kisida, B.; Goodwin, L. G.; Bowen, D. H.
AERA Open, 6(1), 2020
Faced with accountability pressures and limited resources, education policymakers make difficult choices regarding school curricula. In recent years, studies have documented a decreased emphasis in arts and humanities instruction. One potential way for schools to fill this gap includes partnering with arts and cultural organizations to provide arts learning opportunities through arts integration, yet there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such programs. We examine one such partnership by evaluating the efficacy of a program that infuses history content with theater. By randomly assigning school groups to participate in this program, we are able to draw causal conclusions about its effects. We find that students demonstrate increases in historical content knowledge, enthusiasm for learning about history, historical empathy, and interest in the performing arts as a result of this program. These findings suggest that there are valuable educational benefits from arts-integrated learning opportunities provided through school partnerships with arts organizations.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/2332858420902712
Arts Education Partnerships: Sources of Harmony and Dissonance with Cultural Institutions’ Collaborative Efforts
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Cultural Trends, 28(5), 2019, 379–390
Due to budget constraints, schools in the United States have increasingly turned to community arts organizations for support. School-community arts partnership stakeholders collaborate because of shared missions to provide students with valuable arts learning experiences. Investigations of these initiatives indicate that these partnerships improve arts learning opportunities and increase public support and resources for arts education. However, not much is known about the experiences and perspectives of the arts organizations that participate in these partnerships. Coordinating collective efforts with a multitude of institutions and interests poses challenges. In this study, we examine survey data collected from arts organization administrators who participated in a large-scale school-community arts partnership initiative. We find that these organizations are generally positive about their impacts on students’ educational outcomes, but there is substantial variation in these views. We also find that organizations differ in their levels of support for these collective efforts. Sources of this variation appears to be attributable to organizations’ preexisting resources and extent to which they are established. While this difference in levels of support is potentially inevitable, we find evidence that the operations handled by the “backbone” organization, i.e. the initiative’s facilitators and overseers, can significantly influence organizations’ levels of support for these efforts. Organizations are more likely to support these collaborative efforts when they believe the backbone organization ensures transparency with initiative operations, provides regular,
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/09548963.2019.1679995
Never Again: The Impact of Learning about the Holocaust on Civic Outcomes
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 13(1), 2019, 67–91
Preparing students to be effective citizens is a longstanding goal of public education. Historical content provides illustrative opportunities for civic learning. Teaching about the Holocaust exemplifies this approach. Employing an experimental research design with 865 secondary school students, we analyze effects on civic outcomes from learning about the Holocaust through a school-sponsored trip to a Holocaust museum. We find that lessons about the Holocaust increase students’ support for civil liberties and deepen historical content knowledge, but decrease religious tolerance. High school students and those from college-educated households drive increases in support for civil liberties, and these students are more likely to donate to human rights causes as a result of the intervention. Middle school students and those from less-educated households drive the negative religious tolerance effect. These findings suggest that history lessons can produce meaningful impacts on civic educational outcomes. However, a stronger educational foundation that comes with engaging with challenging political issues may be a vital prerequisite to avoid undesirable consequences.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2019.1652712
Do Charter Schools Increase Segregation?
Monarrez, T.; Kisida, B.; Chingos, M.
Education Next, 19(4), 2019, 66–74
Accessible summary of research on charter school expansion and segregation, showing that charter growth is associated with modest increases in within-district segregation, alongside offsetting integration effects across districts. Highlights the nuanced and context-dependent impacts of school choice policies.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Cultivating Interest in Art: Causal Effects of Arts Exposure During Early Childhood
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.; Greene, J. P.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45(4), 2018, 197–203
Despite a growing body of literature examining the effects of arts exposure and participation for youth, little is known about the development of attitudes toward art in early childhood. In this study, we used an experimental research design to investigate the effect of arts exposure on the development of children’s attitudes toward art. Applicant groups (n = 26) with students in kindergarten through 2nd grade (n = 2,253) were randomly assigned to participate in an art museum’s educational program, which included pre-curricular materials, a visit to an art museum with a guided tour and arts-based activities, and post-curricular classroom materials. We collected original data from students in their classrooms that measured their attitudes toward art museums and art generally, as well as art knowledge. We found that exposure to the arts at an early age produced significant positive effects on the development of students’ attitudes toward the arts. Our findings demonstrate that arts-based exposure facilitated by schools can be an effective strategy for developing positive orientations toward art in young children.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.09.002
The Effects of Teacher Match on Students’ Academic Perceptions and Attitudes
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(1), 2018, 59–81
Using student survey data from six U.S. school districts, we estimate how assignment to a demographically similar teacher affects student reports of personal effort, happiness in class, feeling cared for and motivated by their teacher, the quality of student–teacher communication, and college aspirations. Relying on a classroom fixed-effects strategy, we show that students assigned to a teacher with similar demographic characteristics experience positive benefits in terms of these academic perceptions and attitudes. The most consistent benefits are among gender matches, and the largest benefits are demonstrated by the combination of gender and racial/ethnic matches. The effects of gender matches are largely consistent across elementary and middle school, while the most consistent effects from race matches occur in middle school
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/0162373717714056
“No Excuses” Charter Schools: A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Student Achievement
Cheng, H.; Hitt, C.; Kisida, B.; Mills, J. M.
Journal of School Choice, 11(2), 2017, 209–238
Many most well-known charter schools in the United States use a “No Excuses” approach. We conduct the first meta-analysis of the achievement impacts of No Excuses charter schools, focusing on experimental, lottery-based studies. We estimate that No Excuses charter schools increase student math and literacy achievement by 0.25 and 0.17, respectively, for approximately each year of attendance. These are large and meaningful gains. Moreover, these effects are substantially larger than those of attending other kinds of charter schools. We discuss policy implications and offer necessary caveats.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2017.1286210
School Size and Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Analysis
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.
School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2016, 44–52
Numerous initiatives by private philanthropies and the US government have supported school size reduction policies as an educational reform intended to improve student outcomes. Empirical evidence to support these claims, however, is underdeveloped. In this article, we draw on information from a longitudinal dataset provided by the Northwest Evaluation Association covering more than 1 million students in 4 US states. Employing a student fixed effects strategy, we estimate how a student’s achievement changes as (s)he moves between schools of different sizes. We find evidence that students’ academic achievement in math and reading declines as school size increases. The negative effects of large schools appear to matter most in higher grades, which is also when schools tend to be the largest
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:10.1080/09243453.2016.1190385
Measuring Critical Thinking: Results from an Art Museum Field Trip Experiment
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D.; Greene, J. P.
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 2016
Research shows that participation in school-based arts education has declined over the past decade. A problem for the arts’ role in education has been a lack of rigorous scholarship that demonstrates educational benefits. A component of this problem has been a lack of available data. In this study, we use original data collected through a randomized controlled trial to measure the effects of school visits to an art museum. Building on previous work, we find positive effects of art museum visits on students’ ability to critically examine a work of art. Importantly, we validate our previous findings with an additional experiment that utilizes a different style of art to assess critical-thinking outcomes, adding extra validity to the assessment instrument and our results. Our research suggests that policymakers should more fully consider the educational benefits of arts education, and scholars should consider broader approaches to measuring student performance in nontested subjects.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2015.1086915
Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teachers on Student Achievement
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.; Winters, M.
Economics of Education Review, 45, 2015, 44–52
Previous research suggests that there are academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. In this paper, we obtain estimates of achievement changes as students are assigned to teachers of different races/ethnicities from grades 3 through 10 utilizing a large administrative dataset provided by the Florida Department of Education that follows theuniverseoftest-taking students in Florida public schools from2001–2002through 2008–2009. We find small but significant positive effects when black and white students are assigned to race-congruent teachers in reading (.004–.005 standard deviations) and for black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students in math (.007–.041 standard deviations). We also examine the effects of race matching by students’ prior performance level, finding that lower-performingblackandwhitestudentsappeartoparticularlybenefitfrombeingassigned to a race-congruent teacher.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007
Creating Cultural Consumers: The Dynamics of Cultural Capital Acquisition
Kisida, B.; Greene, J. P.; Bowen, D. H.
Sociology of Education, 87(4), 2014, 281–295
The theories of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility have largely shaped the study of the effects of cultural capital on academic outcomes. Missing in this debate has been a rigorous examination of how children actually acquire cultural capital when it is not provided by their families. Drawing on data from a largescale experimental study of schools participating in an art museum’s educational program, we show that students’ exposure to a cultural institution has the effect of creating ‘‘cultural consumers’’ motivated to acquire new cultural capital. We find that the experience has the strongest impact on students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. As such, our analysis reveals important aspects about the nature of cultural capital acquisition. To the extent that the evidence supporting cultural mobility is accurate, it may be because disadvantaged children can be activated to acquire cultural capital, thus compensating for family background characteristics and changing their habitus.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0038040714549076
Customer Satisfaction and Educational Outcomes: Experimental Impacts of the Market-Based Delivery of Public Education
Kisida, B.; Wolf, P. J.
International Public Management Journal, 18(2), 2015, 265–285
School choice, through private school vouchers or direct government subsidies, is a mechanism of outsourcing government services in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim. While extensive research exists on the effects of private school choice programs, nearly all focus on test score outcomes. Lost in the heated debates about the effectiveness of private school vouchers is substantial discussion of the effects on parental satisfaction. Drawing from a federally funded evaluation of a means-tested private school choice program in Washington, DC, we examine whether customer satisfaction is greater when education is delivered through a market-based governance structure. Because the program was oversubscribed in its early years of operation, vouchers were awarded by lottery, allowing us to experimentally determine the impacts. Our analysis reveals evidence that the program had a sustained positive impact on parental satisfaction. Moreover, positive student achievement and attainment impacts strengthen the validity of parental satisfaction as a reliable outcome measure.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10967494.2014.996629
Conducting Experiments in Public Management Research: A Practical Guide
Baethge, C.; Bækgaard, M.; Blom-Hansen, J.; Dunlop, C.; Kjærgaard, M.; Jakobsen, M.; Kisida, B.; Marvel, J.; Serritzlew, S.; Stewart, P. A.; Thomsen, M.; Wolf, P. J.
International Public Management Journal, 18(2), 2015, 323–342
This article provides advice on how to meet the practical challenges of experimental methods within public management research. We focus on lab, field, and survey experiments. For each of these types of experiments we outline the major challenges and limitations encountered when implementing experiments in practice and discuss tips, standards, and common mistakes to avoid. The article is multiauthored in order to benefit from the practical lessons drawn by a number of experimental researchers.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10967494.2015.1024905
Learning to Think Critically: A Visual Art Experiment
Bowen, D. H.; Greene, J. P.; Kisida, B.
Educational Researcher, 42(1), 2014, 37–44
This article examines whether exposure to the arts has an effect on the ability of students to engage in critical thinking. We conduct a randomized controlled trial involving 3,811 students who were assigned by lottery to participate in a School Visit Program at the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Students who participated in the School Visit Program demonstrated significantly stronger critical thinking skills when analyzing a new painting. These effects were larger for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In light of recent declines in the availability of the arts for disadvantaged populations, our results have important policy implications for efforts to restore and expand access to the arts.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/0013189X13512675
The Educational Value of Field Trips
Greene, J. P.; Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.
Education Next, 14(1), 2014, 78–86
Accessible summary of experimental research showing that field trips to cultural institutions improve students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and tolerance. Highlights the broader educational value of experiential learning.
Article: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Science Standards, Science Achievement, and Attitudes about Evolution
Belin, C.; Kisida, B.
Educational Policy, 29(7), 2014, 1053–1075
This article explores the relationships between (a) the quality of state science standards and student science achievement, (b) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and the quality of state standards, and (c) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and student science achievement. Using multiple measures, we find no evidence of a relationship between the quality of a state’s science standards and student science achievement. We also examine the relationship between state-level beliefs about evolution and student achievement. Here, we find a positive and consistent relationship between a state’s acceptance of evolution and student science achievement. Our results suggest that the attitudes that the public has toward evolutionary science are strongly related to student science achievement—more so than the quality of state science standards.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0895904814550069
Urban School Choice and Integration: The Effect of Charter Schools in Little Rock
Ritter, G.; Jensen, N.; Kisida, B.; Bowen, D.
Education and Urban Society, 48(6), 2016, 535–555
We examine the impact of charter schools on school integration in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolitan area. We find that charters are less likely to be hyper-segregated than traditional public schools (TPS), but TPS have compositions more closely reflecting the region. However, differences in each case are slight. Using student-level data to follow students who left TPS for charters, we find that most transfers improve integration levels at the schools they left. This finding is attributed to the fact that most transfers involve minority students leaving predominately minority schools or White students leaving predominantly White schools.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0013124514546219
School Vouchers and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Washington, DC
Wolf, P.; Kisida, B.; Gutmann, B.; Puma, M.; Rizzo, L.; Eissa, N.
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(2), 2013, 246–270
Randomized evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program finds positive effects on high school graduation rates, suggestive gains in reading achievement, and no effects on math achievement. Provides rigorous evidence on the long-term impacts of school vouchers.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1002/pam.21691
School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State-Mandated Study of Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program
Cowen, J.; Wolf, P. J.; Fleming, D.; Witte, J.; Kisida, B.
Policy Studies Journal, 41(1), 2013, 147–168
Analysis of Milwaukee’s voucher program finds that participation is associated with higher high school graduation rates and increased enrollment and persistence in four-year colleges. Highlights the importance of attainment outcomes in evaluating school choice policies.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1111/psj.12006
A Knowing Ear: The Effect of Explicit Information on Children’s Experience of a Musical Performance
Margulis, E. H.; Kisida, B.; Greene, J. P.
Psychology of Music, 42(6), 2013
Experimental study of schoolchildren attending a live music performance finds that providing program-note information increases attention and comprehension, with effects on enjoyment concentrated among students with less prior exposure. Highlights the role of prior experience in shaping arts engagement.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0305735613510343
School Governance and Information: Does Choice Lead to Better-Informed Parents?
Kisida, B.; Wolf, P. J.
American Politics Research, 38(5), 2010, 783–805
Using experimental data from a school voucher program, this study finds that parents offered school choice have higher levels of accurate information about school characteristics. Provides evidence that choice can increase information acquisition among participants.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/1532673X09350981
The State of State Polls: Old Challenges, New Opportunities
Parry, J.; Kisida, B.; Langley, R.
State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 8(2), 2008, 198–216
The prospect of a full complement of regularly-conducted, publicly-released statelevel polls has both excited and eluded scholars of state politics and public opinion for decades. Here, we examine the current status of state level polling in the U.S. Specifically, we rely on interviews with 51 state poll directors to investigate the location, frequency, scope, budget, purpose, content, and perceived policy impact of such projects. We also explore the still challenging prospect of greater state-to state collaboration. We conclude that while current = state polling is a robust industry, calls for greater collaboration remain unheeded largely because of limited resources and the incompatible reward structures of project directors. Still, improved data archiving together with regional polling projects on hot-button topics would serve to diminish such challenges.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/153244000800800205
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2026.2633694
Searching for the Queen’s Gambit: An Exploratory Analysis of Male–Female Rating Gaps in U.S. Chess
Kisida, B.; Pepper, M.; Podgursky, M.; Wickman, M.
Analyzes two decades of U.S. Chess Federation data to examine gender gaps in chess ratings. Finds large male–female gaps at entry across the full rating distribution, with similar returns to experience thereafter. Differences persist over time, with limited impact from attrition and modest evidence that higher local female participation reduces gaps at entry.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:
Should Schools Teach that America is Good?
Kisida, B.; Ritter, C.; Shuls, J.; Ritter, G.
Education Next, 25(4), 2025
Examines whether and how schools should approach normative questions about the United States, exploring public opinion and implications for civic education and classroom practice.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
School Choice and Culture Wars: CRT Exposure and Viewpoint Diversity Across Educational Sectors
Erickson, H. H.; Gontram, J. S.; Lee, M. H.; Anglum, J. C.; Kisida, B.; Ritter, G. W.
Journal of School Choice, 19(4), 2025, 641–654
Examines differences in exposure to critical race theory and viewpoint diversity across public, charter, and private schools. Findings contribute to debates over school choice and the role of educational institutions in shaping students’ exposure to controversial topics.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2025.2575615
Exploring Claims of Critical Race Theory, Divisive Topics, and Indoctrination in the Classroom
Lee, M. H.; Kisida, B.; Anglum, J. C.; Erickson, H. H.; Gontram, J. S.; Ritter, G. W.
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming (in press), 2025
Analysis of claims about critical race theory and classroom “indoctrination,” examining how these debates relate to actual instructional practices and perceptions in K–12 education.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1162/EDFP.a.423
Bridging the Divide over Critical Race Theory in America’s Classrooms
Kisida, B.; Gontram, J.; Erickson, H.; Lee, M.; Ritter, G.; Anglum, J.; Leatherwood, D.
Education Next, 25(2), 2025
Accessible analysis of debates over critical race theory in K–12 education, examining areas of disagreement and potential common ground in public opinion and classroom practice.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Say Something, Do Something: The Impact of Participatory Theater on Preventing and Reducing Violence and Bullying
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.; Diemer, A.; Frankel, G.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2025, 1–8
Using a randomized design, we investigate changes in students’ attitudes and behaviors as a result of participating in Say Something, Do Something, an interactive and immersive drama-based violence prevention program for youth in upper elementary and middle school settings. Our outcome measures focus on students’ ability to recognize bullying, interpret it as an emergency, accept responsibility for intervening, know strategies to intervene, implement intervention decisions, and see themselves as efficacious upstanders. While we find no overall effects for the full sample, our investigation reveals heterogenous effects for subgroups that differ for male and female students. Female students demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of interventions and upstander efficacy. Male students demonstrated gains in noticing the event, accepting responsibility for intervening, and having knowledge of intervention strategies. These findings can inform future educational policy decisions regarding partnerships with arts organizations that provide programming designed to reduce bullying in school settings.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2025.2476958
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing: The Effects of Dance Exposure on Children’s Cultural Interests and Social-Emotional Development
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2024, 1–13
Stratification by race and socioeconomic status generates disparities in cultural exposure and consumption. Though public education can serve as a mechanism for addressing social inequalities, schools with high concentrations of low-income and minority students often lack the resources to provide enriching cultural experiences. Efforts to make cultural exposure and consumption more equitable remain stymied by school and neighborhood stratification, as well as by lingering questions about the value of cultural consumption for students. Employing a randomized research design, we analyze the effects of elementary students in under-resourced schools participating in a collaborative dance program provided by a major ballet company. We find that participation increases students’ enthusiasm for dance and sense of self-efficacy. Students with prior lower levels of arts and culture exposure demonstrate the largest gains in self-efficacy and experience an increase in their sense of school connectedness. Male students, who were less enthusiastic about dance prior to the program, show the largest increase in dance enthusiasm. These findings demonstrate that targeted efforts by schools and arts organizations can play a meaningful role in students’ cultural capital acquisition, which in turn leads to higher student self-efficacy and sense of belonging, particularly for students with lower levels of arts and cultural learning experience.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2024.2424572
Investigating Arts Education Effects on School Engagement and Climate
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Educational Policy, 38(5), 2023, 1077–1107
There is a renewed focus on what constitutes a well-rounded education, as well as a growing interest in broader indicators of educational success, including social and emotional development and school engagement. However, identifying educational practices that improve such outcomes has proven elusive. We explore the role of arts education on a broad range of educational outcomes using administrative and survey data from Boston’s public schools. We find that students receiving the arts in school attend more, are more engaged, and their parents and teachers are more likely to participate and be engaged at school, with larger effects for students with individualized education plans, students with lower standardized test scores, and students with a history of chronic absenteeism. These findings call attention to the pivotal role of the arts in providing students with socially and emotionally supportive learning environments that enhance relationships between students and schools.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/08959048231174880
Improving Arts Access through Multisector Collaborations
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Arts Education Policy Review, 125(4), 2023, 279–289
Schools in the United States have encountered substantial cuts to arts education, prompting them to partner with arts organizations to provide arts learning opportunities. Arts education advocates see potential benefits and drawbacks to these arrangements. While they can provide schools with valuable resources, such arrangements could further reduce the status and oversight of the arts in schools by outsourcing to external providers. One strategy that may provide benefits without these potential drawbacks is the facilitation of partnerships through multisector collaborations. From our research in Houston, we find that multisector collaborations can be effective at improving student arts access through partnerships that address schools’ needs, while also helping schools secure arts resources and facilitating efforts that are more mutually beneficial.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10632913.2023.2212187
Investigating the Causal Benefits of Arts Education
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 43(3), 2023, 624–647
There is a paucity of research on the causal relationship between arts learning and educational outcomes. Investigating these relationships has become imperative as policymakers increasingly prioritize empirical evidence of educational impacts, which often leads to curriculum narrowing that favors traditionally-tested subjects. Employing a randomized controlled trial with 42 elementary and middle schools in Houston, Texas, we find that randomly assigning arts educational opportunities reduces disciplinary infractions, improves writing achievement, and increases students’ emotional empathy. Students in elementary schools, which were the primary focus of the program, also experience increases in school engagement, college aspirations, and cognitive empathy. As the first large-scale randomized control trial of arts learning in an authentic school setting, these findings provide strong evidence that the arts can produce meaningful impacts on students’ academic outcomes and social-emotional development. Education policymakers should consider these benefits when assessing the role of the arts in schools
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1002/pam.22449
The Fine Art of School Engagement
Bowen, D.; Kisida, B.
Education Next, 23(3), 2023, 48–54
Analysis of how arts education contributes to student engagement and school climate, highlighting the role of cultural experiences in fostering connection to school and improving student outcomes.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:
School Vouchers and College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from Washington, DC
Chingos, M.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 45(3), 2023, 422–436
Washington, DC’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the only federally funded school voucher program in the United States, has provided private school scholarships to low-income students in DC since 2004. From its inception, the program has received significant attention in national debates and has been the subject of rigorous evaluations mandated by Congress. We conduct an experimental evaluation of the effect of the OSP on college enrollment by comparing the college enrollment rates of students offered a scholarship in lotteries held in 2004 and 2005 with those of students who applied but did not win a scholarship. Students who won scholarships to attend private schools were not significantly more or less likely to enroll in college than students who did not.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/01623737221131549
Spread Too Thin? The Effects of Specialization on Teaching Effectiveness
Hwang, N.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(4), 2022, 593–607
Although the majority of elementary school teachers cover all major subjects in self-contained classrooms, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in elementary schools. We find that teacher specialization leads to lower teaching effectiveness in math and reading, and the negative effects are larger when teaching students who are more likely to experience obstacles in school. Moreover, we find no evidence that increasing the proportion of teacher specialists at the school level generates improvements in indicators of school quality. Our findings underscore the importance of fostering opportunities to develop stronger student–teacher relationships
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/01623737221084312
The Effect of Charter Schools on School Segregation
Monarrez, T.; Kisida, B.; Chingos, M.
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(1), 2022, 301–340
We examine the impact of the expansion of charter schools on racial segregation in public schools, defined using multiple measures of racial sorting and isolation. Our research design utilizes between-grade differences in charter expansion within school systems and an instrumental variables approach leveraging charter school openings. Charter schools modestly increase school segregation for Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White students. On average, charters have caused a 6 percent decrease in the relative likelihood of Black and Hispanic students being exposed to schoolmates of other racial or ethnic groups. For metropolitan areas, our analysis reveals countervailing forces, as charters reduce segregation between districts.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190682
A Familiar Face: Student–Teacher Rematches and Student Achievement
Hwang, N.; Kisida, B.; Koedel, C.
Economics of Education Review, 85, 2021, 1–7
We use administrative data from Indiana to test whether student-teacher rematches in consecutive years affect student achievement. Using models that control for student and teacher fixed effects, we show that student- teacher rematches increase test scores in math and English Language Arts. The positive effects of rematching are constant over elementary and middle-school grades and more pronounced for historically underserved students. Our findings directly support strategies that aim to keep students and teachers together for longer periods of time during K-12 education. They are also consistent with the broader hypothesis that students benefit from increased student-teacher familiarity.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102194
The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality
Winters, M.; Kisida, B.; Cho, I.
Education Finance and Policy, 18(2), 2021, 302–318
Transitions to a new principal are common, especially within urban public schools, and potentially highly disruptive to a school's culture and operations. We use longitudinal data from New York City to investigate if the effect of principal transitions differs by whether the incoming principal was hired externally or promoted from within the school. We take advantage of variation in the timing of principal transitions within an event-study approach to estimate the causal effect of principal changes. Changing principals has an immediate negative effect on student test scores that is sustained over several years regardless of whether hired internally or externally. However, externally hired principals lead to an increase in teacher turnover and a decline in perceptions of the school's learning environment, whereas transitions to an internally promoted principal have no such effects. This pattern of results raises important questions about leadership transitions and the nature of principal effects on school quality.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1162/edfp_a_00362
Teaching History through Theater: The Effects of Arts Integration on Students' Knowledge and Attitudes
Kisida, B.; Goodwin, L. G.; Bowen, D. H.
AERA Open, 6(1), 2020
Faced with accountability pressures and limited resources, education policymakers make difficult choices regarding school curricula. In recent years, studies have documented a decreased emphasis in arts and humanities instruction. One potential way for schools to fill this gap includes partnering with arts and cultural organizations to provide arts learning opportunities through arts integration, yet there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such programs. We examine one such partnership by evaluating the efficacy of a program that infuses history content with theater. By randomly assigning school groups to participate in this program, we are able to draw causal conclusions about its effects. We find that students demonstrate increases in historical content knowledge, enthusiasm for learning about history, historical empathy, and interest in the performing arts as a result of this program. These findings suggest that there are valuable educational benefits from arts-integrated learning opportunities provided through school partnerships with arts organizations.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/2332858420902712
Arts Education Partnerships: Sources of Harmony and Dissonance with Cultural Institutions’ Collaborative Efforts
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Cultural Trends, 28(5), 2019, 379–390
Due to budget constraints, schools in the United States have increasingly turned to community arts organizations for support. School-community arts partnership stakeholders collaborate because of shared missions to provide students with valuable arts learning experiences. Investigations of these initiatives indicate that these partnerships improve arts learning opportunities and increase public support and resources for arts education. However, not much is known about the experiences and perspectives of the arts organizations that participate in these partnerships. Coordinating collective efforts with a multitude of institutions and interests poses challenges. In this study, we examine survey data collected from arts organization administrators who participated in a large-scale school-community arts partnership initiative. We find that these organizations are generally positive about their impacts on students’ educational outcomes, but there is substantial variation in these views. We also find that organizations differ in their levels of support for these collective efforts. Sources of this variation appears to be attributable to organizations’ preexisting resources and extent to which they are established. While this difference in levels of support is potentially inevitable, we find evidence that the operations handled by the “backbone” organization, i.e. the initiative’s facilitators and overseers, can significantly influence organizations’ levels of support for these efforts. Organizations are more likely to support these collaborative efforts when they believe the backbone organization ensures transparency with initiative operations, provides regular,
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/09548963.2019.1679995
Never Again: The Impact of Learning about the Holocaust on Civic Outcomes
Bowen, D. H.; Kisida, B.
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 13(1), 2019, 67–91
Preparing students to be effective citizens is a longstanding goal of public education. Historical content provides illustrative opportunities for civic learning. Teaching about the Holocaust exemplifies this approach. Employing an experimental research design with 865 secondary school students, we analyze effects on civic outcomes from learning about the Holocaust through a school-sponsored trip to a Holocaust museum. We find that lessons about the Holocaust increase students’ support for civil liberties and deepen historical content knowledge, but decrease religious tolerance. High school students and those from college-educated households drive increases in support for civil liberties, and these students are more likely to donate to human rights causes as a result of the intervention. Middle school students and those from less-educated households drive the negative religious tolerance effect. These findings suggest that history lessons can produce meaningful impacts on civic educational outcomes. However, a stronger educational foundation that comes with engaging with challenging political issues may be a vital prerequisite to avoid undesirable consequences.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2019.1652712
Do Charter Schools Increase Segregation?
Monarrez, T.; Kisida, B.; Chingos, M.
Education Next, 19(4), 2019, 66–74
Accessible summary of research on charter school expansion and segregation, showing that charter growth is associated with modest increases in within-district segregation, alongside offsetting integration effects across districts. Highlights the nuanced and context-dependent impacts of school choice policies.
PDF: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Cultivating Interest in Art: Causal Effects of Arts Exposure During Early Childhood
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.; Greene, J. P.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45(4), 2018, 197–203
Despite a growing body of literature examining the effects of arts exposure and participation for youth, little is known about the development of attitudes toward art in early childhood. In this study, we used an experimental research design to investigate the effect of arts exposure on the development of children’s attitudes toward art. Applicant groups (n = 26) with students in kindergarten through 2nd grade (n = 2,253) were randomly assigned to participate in an art museum’s educational program, which included pre-curricular materials, a visit to an art museum with a guided tour and arts-based activities, and post-curricular classroom materials. We collected original data from students in their classrooms that measured their attitudes toward art museums and art generally, as well as art knowledge. We found that exposure to the arts at an early age produced significant positive effects on the development of students’ attitudes toward the arts. Our findings demonstrate that arts-based exposure facilitated by schools can be an effective strategy for developing positive orientations toward art in young children.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.09.002
The Effects of Teacher Match on Students’ Academic Perceptions and Attitudes
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(1), 2018, 59–81
Using student survey data from six U.S. school districts, we estimate how assignment to a demographically similar teacher affects student reports of personal effort, happiness in class, feeling cared for and motivated by their teacher, the quality of student–teacher communication, and college aspirations. Relying on a classroom fixed-effects strategy, we show that students assigned to a teacher with similar demographic characteristics experience positive benefits in terms of these academic perceptions and attitudes. The most consistent benefits are among gender matches, and the largest benefits are demonstrated by the combination of gender and racial/ethnic matches. The effects of gender matches are largely consistent across elementary and middle school, while the most consistent effects from race matches occur in middle school
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/0162373717714056
“No Excuses” Charter Schools: A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Student Achievement
Cheng, H.; Hitt, C.; Kisida, B.; Mills, J. M.
Journal of School Choice, 11(2), 2017, 209–238
Many most well-known charter schools in the United States use a “No Excuses” approach. We conduct the first meta-analysis of the achievement impacts of No Excuses charter schools, focusing on experimental, lottery-based studies. We estimate that No Excuses charter schools increase student math and literacy achievement by 0.25 and 0.17, respectively, for approximately each year of attendance. These are large and meaningful gains. Moreover, these effects are substantially larger than those of attending other kinds of charter schools. We discuss policy implications and offer necessary caveats.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2017.1286210
School Size and Student Achievement: A Longitudinal Analysis
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.
School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2016, 44–52
Numerous initiatives by private philanthropies and the US government have supported school size reduction policies as an educational reform intended to improve student outcomes. Empirical evidence to support these claims, however, is underdeveloped. In this article, we draw on information from a longitudinal dataset provided by the Northwest Evaluation Association covering more than 1 million students in 4 US states. Employing a student fixed effects strategy, we estimate how a student’s achievement changes as (s)he moves between schools of different sizes. We find evidence that students’ academic achievement in math and reading declines as school size increases. The negative effects of large schools appear to matter most in higher grades, which is also when schools tend to be the largest
PDF: [PDF] | DOI:10.1080/09243453.2016.1190385
Measuring Critical Thinking: Results from an Art Museum Field Trip Experiment
Kisida, B.; Bowen, D.; Greene, J. P.
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 2016
Research shows that participation in school-based arts education has declined over the past decade. A problem for the arts’ role in education has been a lack of rigorous scholarship that demonstrates educational benefits. A component of this problem has been a lack of available data. In this study, we use original data collected through a randomized controlled trial to measure the effects of school visits to an art museum. Building on previous work, we find positive effects of art museum visits on students’ ability to critically examine a work of art. Importantly, we validate our previous findings with an additional experiment that utilizes a different style of art to assess critical-thinking outcomes, adding extra validity to the assessment instrument and our results. Our research suggests that policymakers should more fully consider the educational benefits of arts education, and scholars should consider broader approaches to measuring student performance in nontested subjects.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2015.1086915
Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teachers on Student Achievement
Egalite, A.; Kisida, B.; Winters, M.
Economics of Education Review, 45, 2015, 44–52
Previous research suggests that there are academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. In this paper, we obtain estimates of achievement changes as students are assigned to teachers of different races/ethnicities from grades 3 through 10 utilizing a large administrative dataset provided by the Florida Department of Education that follows theuniverseoftest-taking students in Florida public schools from2001–2002through 2008–2009. We find small but significant positive effects when black and white students are assigned to race-congruent teachers in reading (.004–.005 standard deviations) and for black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students in math (.007–.041 standard deviations). We also examine the effects of race matching by students’ prior performance level, finding that lower-performingblackandwhitestudentsappeartoparticularlybenefitfrombeingassigned to a race-congruent teacher.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007
Creating Cultural Consumers: The Dynamics of Cultural Capital Acquisition
Kisida, B.; Greene, J. P.; Bowen, D. H.
Sociology of Education, 87(4), 2014, 281–295
The theories of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility have largely shaped the study of the effects of cultural capital on academic outcomes. Missing in this debate has been a rigorous examination of how children actually acquire cultural capital when it is not provided by their families. Drawing on data from a largescale experimental study of schools participating in an art museum’s educational program, we show that students’ exposure to a cultural institution has the effect of creating ‘‘cultural consumers’’ motivated to acquire new cultural capital. We find that the experience has the strongest impact on students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. As such, our analysis reveals important aspects about the nature of cultural capital acquisition. To the extent that the evidence supporting cultural mobility is accurate, it may be because disadvantaged children can be activated to acquire cultural capital, thus compensating for family background characteristics and changing their habitus.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0038040714549076
Customer Satisfaction and Educational Outcomes: Experimental Impacts of the Market-Based Delivery of Public Education
Kisida, B.; Wolf, P. J.
International Public Management Journal, 18(2), 2015, 265–285
School choice, through private school vouchers or direct government subsidies, is a mechanism of outsourcing government services in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim. While extensive research exists on the effects of private school choice programs, nearly all focus on test score outcomes. Lost in the heated debates about the effectiveness of private school vouchers is substantial discussion of the effects on parental satisfaction. Drawing from a federally funded evaluation of a means-tested private school choice program in Washington, DC, we examine whether customer satisfaction is greater when education is delivered through a market-based governance structure. Because the program was oversubscribed in its early years of operation, vouchers were awarded by lottery, allowing us to experimentally determine the impacts. Our analysis reveals evidence that the program had a sustained positive impact on parental satisfaction. Moreover, positive student achievement and attainment impacts strengthen the validity of parental satisfaction as a reliable outcome measure.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10967494.2014.996629
Conducting Experiments in Public Management Research: A Practical Guide
Baethge, C.; Bækgaard, M.; Blom-Hansen, J.; Dunlop, C.; Kjærgaard, M.; Jakobsen, M.; Kisida, B.; Marvel, J.; Serritzlew, S.; Stewart, P. A.; Thomsen, M.; Wolf, P. J.
International Public Management Journal, 18(2), 2015, 323–342
This article provides advice on how to meet the practical challenges of experimental methods within public management research. We focus on lab, field, and survey experiments. For each of these types of experiments we outline the major challenges and limitations encountered when implementing experiments in practice and discuss tips, standards, and common mistakes to avoid. The article is multiauthored in order to benefit from the practical lessons drawn by a number of experimental researchers.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1080/10967494.2015.1024905
Learning to Think Critically: A Visual Art Experiment
Bowen, D. H.; Greene, J. P.; Kisida, B.
Educational Researcher, 42(1), 2014, 37–44
This article examines whether exposure to the arts has an effect on the ability of students to engage in critical thinking. We conduct a randomized controlled trial involving 3,811 students who were assigned by lottery to participate in a School Visit Program at the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Students who participated in the School Visit Program demonstrated significantly stronger critical thinking skills when analyzing a new painting. These effects were larger for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In light of recent declines in the availability of the arts for disadvantaged populations, our results have important policy implications for efforts to restore and expand access to the arts.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.3102/0013189X13512675
The Educational Value of Field Trips
Greene, J. P.; Kisida, B.; Bowen, D. H.
Education Next, 14(1), 2014, 78–86
Accessible summary of experimental research showing that field trips to cultural institutions improve students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and tolerance. Highlights the broader educational value of experiential learning.
Article: [PDF] | URL: HERE
Science Standards, Science Achievement, and Attitudes about Evolution
Belin, C.; Kisida, B.
Educational Policy, 29(7), 2014, 1053–1075
This article explores the relationships between (a) the quality of state science standards and student science achievement, (b) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and the quality of state standards, and (c) the public’s belief in teaching evolution and student science achievement. Using multiple measures, we find no evidence of a relationship between the quality of a state’s science standards and student science achievement. We also examine the relationship between state-level beliefs about evolution and student achievement. Here, we find a positive and consistent relationship between a state’s acceptance of evolution and student science achievement. Our results suggest that the attitudes that the public has toward evolutionary science are strongly related to student science achievement—more so than the quality of state science standards.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0895904814550069
Urban School Choice and Integration: The Effect of Charter Schools in Little Rock
Ritter, G.; Jensen, N.; Kisida, B.; Bowen, D.
Education and Urban Society, 48(6), 2016, 535–555
We examine the impact of charter schools on school integration in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolitan area. We find that charters are less likely to be hyper-segregated than traditional public schools (TPS), but TPS have compositions more closely reflecting the region. However, differences in each case are slight. Using student-level data to follow students who left TPS for charters, we find that most transfers improve integration levels at the schools they left. This finding is attributed to the fact that most transfers involve minority students leaving predominately minority schools or White students leaving predominantly White schools.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0013124514546219
School Vouchers and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Washington, DC
Wolf, P.; Kisida, B.; Gutmann, B.; Puma, M.; Rizzo, L.; Eissa, N.
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(2), 2013, 246–270
Randomized evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program finds positive effects on high school graduation rates, suggestive gains in reading achievement, and no effects on math achievement. Provides rigorous evidence on the long-term impacts of school vouchers.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1002/pam.21691
School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State-Mandated Study of Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program
Cowen, J.; Wolf, P. J.; Fleming, D.; Witte, J.; Kisida, B.
Policy Studies Journal, 41(1), 2013, 147–168
Analysis of Milwaukee’s voucher program finds that participation is associated with higher high school graduation rates and increased enrollment and persistence in four-year colleges. Highlights the importance of attainment outcomes in evaluating school choice policies.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1111/psj.12006
A Knowing Ear: The Effect of Explicit Information on Children’s Experience of a Musical Performance
Margulis, E. H.; Kisida, B.; Greene, J. P.
Psychology of Music, 42(6), 2013
Experimental study of schoolchildren attending a live music performance finds that providing program-note information increases attention and comprehension, with effects on enjoyment concentrated among students with less prior exposure. Highlights the role of prior experience in shaping arts engagement.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/0305735613510343
School Governance and Information: Does Choice Lead to Better-Informed Parents?
Kisida, B.; Wolf, P. J.
American Politics Research, 38(5), 2010, 783–805
Using experimental data from a school voucher program, this study finds that parents offered school choice have higher levels of accurate information about school characteristics. Provides evidence that choice can increase information acquisition among participants.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/1532673X09350981
The State of State Polls: Old Challenges, New Opportunities
Parry, J.; Kisida, B.; Langley, R.
State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 8(2), 2008, 198–216
The prospect of a full complement of regularly-conducted, publicly-released statelevel polls has both excited and eluded scholars of state politics and public opinion for decades. Here, we examine the current status of state level polling in the U.S. Specifically, we rely on interviews with 51 state poll directors to investigate the location, frequency, scope, budget, purpose, content, and perceived policy impact of such projects. We also explore the still challenging prospect of greater state-to state collaboration. We conclude that while current = state polling is a robust industry, calls for greater collaboration remain unheeded largely because of limited resources and the incompatible reward structures of project directors. Still, improved data archiving together with regional polling projects on hot-button topics would serve to diminish such challenges.
PDF: [PDF] | DOI: 10.1177/153244000800800205
Democracy
Social Policy
State and Local Governance