Even as the U.S. education system becomes more ethnically and racially diverse, many racial disparities persist with regard to school segregation, educational resources, and ultimately educational outcomes. These disparities harm students individually and have significant societal impacts as well, including economic consequences. Educational…

The Great Recession was one of the sharpest economic downturns of the past century, with significant impacts across the U.S. labor market. Over past decades, one key feature of the U.S. labor market has been the high and stable returns to education. In this paper I estimate the returns to education for large samples of young workers in Arkansas…

This study examines the labor market gains for students who enrolled at for-profit colleges after beginning their post-secondary education in community college. We use student-level administrative record data from college transcripts, Unemployment Insurance earnings data, and progression data from the National Student Clearinghouse across full…

Approximately half of all New York City public school students who live in families with incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty level (FPL) do not graduate from high school. These dropouts are much less likely to achieve economic self-sufficiency in adulthood. This creates both a fiscal and social burden. Rothstein, Wilder and Allgood…