Research

Job Market Paper

Principal Quality and the Role of Personnel Management in Public Education - Submitted

Principals shape almost every aspect of schools, from curating school culture to determining classroom assignments. Leveraging the movement of principals across schools, I quantify the impact of principal quality on student academic achievement and document the practices of effective principals. I find that a one standard-deviation increase in principal value-added (PVA) raises student test scores by 5% of a standard-deviation. These improvements occur through attracting stronger teachers, retaining top faculty, and assigning better teachers to larger classrooms. I then document a robust relationship between PVA and various leadership and teacher empowerment measures emphasizing the importance of soft-skills in effective management.

Work in Progress

The Impact of Tenure Removal on Teacher's Labor Supply Responses