Blog

To conclude the year, Veronica Clevenstine, Wendy Edelberg, Moriah Macklin, Beatriz Rivera, Winnie Yee present a month-by-month journey in figure through The Hamilton Project's research, analysis, and policy proposals. 

In this analysis, Kristen Broady, Eliana Buckner, Jennifer Umanzor, and Sarah Wheaton find that while nearly every school in our sample offered in-person experiences in March, only about 30 percent were planning to maintain that in-person experience by September. Public schools and community colleges were particularly likely to go online, which disproportionately impacted students of color as well as low-income students.

A new data interactive by The Hamilton Project—which includes data for every school and zip code in the U.S.—examines factors that affect learning at local elementary, middle and high school levels.

Early childhood education improves school readiness and has impacts not only into adulthood, but on the next generation, according to commentary by Fellow Lauren Bauer on the latest Head Start Impact Study.

The Hamilton Project has released a new interactive map that examines chronic absence rates at the school, district, and state levels. The map accompanies a new report offering a comprehensive analysis of nationwide data on chronic absence in U.S. schools, and recommend tools and strategies for reducing chronic absence. 

Fellow Lauren Bauer breaks down why chronic absenteeism matters for all students, drawing on a new Hamilton Project strategy paper on school accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Late last week, Congress agreed to spend an additional $4 billion over the next two years on programs to improve college completion rates. "How should these resources be used?" asks THP author David Deming in this blog post on higher education, featuring research from his recent Hamilton Project policy proposal.

In this op-ed, Hamilton Project Director Jay Shambaugh and Senior Research Assistant Becca Portman discuss the talent pipeline for STEM fields and how expanding the pipeline to more women and minorities could boost productivity.

In this op-ed, Hamilton Project Director Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach and Rose Hall Montessori School Director Stephanie Howard Larson summarize their research finding that redshirting at the kindergarten level bestows few benefits and exacts some substantial costs. The authors note that both research and experience suggest that the gains that accrue from being an older student are likely to be short-lived.

In this blog post, we examine our economic analysis and interactive tool, "Putting Your Major to Work: Career Paths after College," exploring how college majors and occupations interact to produce a wide range of labor market outcomes. Using psychology as an illustrative example of choice of major, we trace possible career outcomes. 

Scholars and public commentators have recently debated the impact of education on earnings and earnings inequality. Some have argued that improving education is not the sole solution to inequality. Brad Hershbein, Melissa Kearney and Lawrence H. Summers clarify the different elements of the public debate and respond to a contending essay from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Previous Hamilton Project authors Sandy Baum and Judith Scott-Clayton comment on President Obama's recent proposal to eliminate tuition for America's community college students.

In previously released work, The Hamilton Project has emphasized that individuals who obtain college-level education have notably higher earnings than those with lower levels of education. Accordingly, The Hamilton Project has commissioned a series of papers in recent years describing opportunities to strengthen community college programs and vocational training, presented in this blog post as an overview.

Recent Hamilton Project author Harry Holzer provides commentary on two new initiatives by President Obama for expanding college opportunities and training for low- and middle-income students.

High rates of crime and incarceration impose tremendous costs on society, with lasting negative effects on individuals, families, and communities. Although crime rates in the US have been falling steadily, they still constitute a serious economic and social challenge.

The value of higher education is widely reported. But what can graduates expect to earn given their choice of major & degree? THP’s new economic analysis & interactive explore career earnings by college major.

Hamilton Project Author Harry Holzer comments on recent legislation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Economist Sue Dynarski explores the "Pay It forward" student lending system and suggests ways to make it a more successful system for student loan repayment.

Wonkblog features two of THP Founder Robert Rubin's favorite graphs of the year, including The Hamilton Project's graph "Highest Educational Attainment of Family Head, by Income Relative to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)."

On October 21st, The Hamilton Project hosted a forum focusing on the evolving role of higher education in American society and released three new policy proposals by outside experts on how changes in student lending and financial-aid policies can help improve college outcomes. Key findings from each of the papers are outlined here.

Yesterday, Delaware announced a new effort to steer low-income, high-achieving students to top schools, the New York Times’ David Leonhardt reports. Under the initiative, which is funded by the College Board, the state will send qualifying high school students a packet with information on selective schools, application fee waivers and other information. “In a recent experiment by Caroline M. Hoxby of Stanford and Sarah E. Turner of the University of Virginia, similar packets increased the number of students who applied to top colleges,” Leonhardt writes. In a recent Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Informing Students about Their College Options: A Proposal for Broadening the Expanding College Opportunities Project,” Hoxby and Turner build on previous research showing that most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges and outline how a relatively low-cost informational intervention could impact students’ college application behavior. To read the full proposal, click here.

This weekend in The New York Times, Robert J. Gordon discussed the decline in education attainment and its potential economic effects. In his piece, he highlighted research that shows low-income students “often don’t apply to elite colleges and wind up at subpar ones, deeply in debt” by Caroline Hoxby. In a recent Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Informing Students about Their College Options: A Proposal for Broadening the Expanding College Opportunities Project,” Hoxby and Sarah Turner outline a strategy for improving college outcomes for high-achieving, low-income students. Building on previous research showing that most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges, Hoxby and Turner propose expanding a recently piloted informational intervention called the Expanding College Opportunities (ECO) Project. To read the full piece, click here.

This week in Business Insider, Mandi Woodruff discusses the difference between the sticker price of college and the net cost. She highlights findings from a recent Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Informing Students about Their College Options: A Proposal for Broadening the Expanding College Opportunities Project,” in which Caroline Hoxby and Sarah Turner present a strategy for improving college outcomes for high-achieving, low-income students.  Building on previous research showing that most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges, Hoxby and Turner propose expanding a recently piloted informational intervention called the Expanding College Opportunities (ECO) Project. Woodruff notes that the paper found “that cultural or familial factors are not a primary driver of students’ behavior,” and instead that information is the key barrier to many low-income high achieving students applying to selective schools.

In a recent New York Times“Economix” story on a new report that found incomes are down since the recovery began, Catherine Rampell discusses findings from a Hamilton Project employment analysis. In “The Long-term Effects of the Great Recession for America’s Youth,” the Project examined how the Great Recession has impacted different age groups. Rampell highlights findings from the new report on how young people and those nearing retirement have been hit harder than other age groups, and cites findings from the Project’s analysis that indicate the average person who graduated around 2010 would be expected to experience an earnings loss of about $70,000 over the following decade.

A recent Washington Post editorial discussed research on the benefits of pushing back start times for high school students. In a Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments,” Brian A. Jacob and Jonah E. Rockoff propose three organizational reforms to increase student learning, including moving to later start times for middle and high school students. Jacob and Rockoff note that changes in circadian rhythm during adolescence are linked to reductions in student performance, stemming from increased absences and fatigue.

Today in Politico, Libby Nelson reports on a new Department of Education report that finds the majority of undergraduates receive some form of federal financial aid and a large percentage of students are taking out loans. In a recent employment analysis, “Rising Student Debt Burdens: Factors Behind the Phenomenon,” The Hamilton Project examines possible explanations for the recent increases in student debt and default rates, including that the Great Recession may have left families with fewer resources, and the increase in enrollment in for-profit colleges.

In this week’s Washington Post Magazine cover story on finding a job after college, Jim Tankersley cites findings from The Hamilton Project’s discussion paper, "Using Data to Improve the Performance of Workforce Training." In the paper, Louis Jacobson of New Horizons Economic Research and Robert LaLonde of the University of Chicago propose a competition to increase the return on workforce training investments by developing the data and measures necessary to provide the information prospective trainees need, by presenting the information in user-friendly “report cards,” by providing help for prospective trainees to use the information effectively, and by creating incentives for states to implement permanent information systems once they prove cost-effective. Tankersley cites the paper to support his suggestion that community college enrollees may save money and maximize their future earnings by “asking pointed questions very early about what degree or certificate you plan to pursue; how likely it is that you’ll complete that degree, given your academic record; and what sort of job prospects await grads in that field.”

Today on Washington Monthly’s “College Guide” blog, Daniel Luzer discusses The Hamilton Project’s latest employment analysis, “Rising Student Debt Burdens: Factors Behind the Phenomenon.” In the analysis, the Project examines possible explanations for the recent increases in student debt and default rates. Luzer posits that one reason students may be contributing less for their education is that they are working in unpaid internships over the summer. “It used to be normal for college students to go home and work for the summer waiting tables or working on farms or serving as counselors at summer camps,” writes Luzer. He adds, “This is still, common, of course, but there are a lot more college students interning in the summer. And that means they’ve got less money to contribute to their education.” To read the full piece, click here.

Today in Business Insider, Mandi Woodruff discusses a new report, "The Economic Impacts of Tax Expenditures” in which researchers from Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley compare upward mobility across different U.S. cities. She notes that the findings support data from many other reports, including The Hamilton Project’s latest policy memo “Thirteen Economic Facts about Social Mobility and the Role of Education,” which have emphasized the link between income inequality and social mobility. She notes that the policy memo drives “home the notion that access to education and a sound family structure also [gives] children the best shot at winding up better off than their parents.” To read the full story, click here.

“Starting school later in the day for middle and high school students would likely increase student achievement, especially for disadvantaged teens, according to a 2011 study by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Sue Shellenbarger in a recent Q&A for in the paper. Shellenbarger highlights The Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments” in which, Brian A. Jacob and Jonah E. Rockoff suggest that implementing managerial reforms and making sure the “trains run on time” can substantially increase student learning at modest cost. Jacob and Rockoff propose three organizational reforms to improve student performance at moderate cost: 1) Starting school later in the day for middle and high school students; 2) Shifting from separate to elementary and middle schools to K-8; 3) allow teachers to teach the same grade level for multiple years or having teachers specializing in the subject where they appear most effective. To read the full paper, click here.

Today in National Journal’s “The Next Economy,” Sophie Quinton highlights findings from The Hamilton Project’s recent discussion paper, “Informing Students about Their College Options: A Proposal for Broadening the Expanding College Opportunities Project.” In the paper, Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University and Sarah Turner of the University of Virginia present a strategy for improving college outcomes for high-achieving, low-income students.  Building on previous research showing that most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges, Hoxby and Turner propose expanding a recently piloted informational intervention called the Expanding College Opportunities (ECO) Project. Quinton quotes Hoxby, who noted at The Hamilton Project’s recent forum on expanding college opportunity that, "It turns out that these interventions are just as effective or more effective than a lot of the in-person interventions that cost at least 100 times as much, and sometimes 300 or 400 times as much." To read the full piece, click here.

The American Association of Community Colleges recently highlighted findings from The Hamilton Project employment analysis ,”Is Starting College and Not Finishing Really That Bad” as part of their “DataPoints” series. In the employment analysis, the examines whether starting college is worth it for students who fail to complete a degree. The findings show that students who complete “some college” earn about $100,000 more throughout their lifetime than their peers with only a high school education, and the rate of return to their investment exceeds the historical return on practically any conventional investment, including stocks, bonds, and real estate. AACC notes that the return on investment for an associate degree is more than three times higher than these conventional investments. To read the full piece, click here.

In a recent story for ABCNews and Univision, Emily DuRuy writes that the “stakes are high for granting more poor students access to quality higher education” and highlights a recent Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Informing Students about Their College Options: A Proposal for Broadening the Expanding College Opportunities Project.” In the paper, Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University and Sarah Turner of the University of Virginia present a strategy for improving college outcomes for high-achieving, low-income students. Building on previous research showing that most high-achieving, low-income students do not even apply to selective colleges, Hoxby and Turner propose expanding a recently piloted informational intervention called the Expanding College Opportunities (ECO) Project. To read the full piece, click here.

In a recent op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, Jeffrey Selingo cites data from The Hamilton Project employment analysis, “Where is the Best Place to Invest $102,000 — In Stocks, Bonds, or a College Degree?” In the analysis, The Project compares the value of a college degree to other investment options and finds higher education provides, by far, the greatest rate of return. Selingo highlights the finding that the “annual return on investment of a bachelor’s degree is 15 percent, compared with 6 percent for stocks and 1 percent for housing.” To read the full piece, click here.

This week, Business Insider’s Laura Brothers and Wonkblog’s Dylan Matthews discussed The Hamilton Project’s latest employment analysis, “Is Starting College and Not Finishing Really That Bad?” In the analysis, the Project examines whether starting college is worth it for students who fail to complete a degree. The findings show that students who complete “some college” earn about $100,000 more throughout their lifetime than their peers with only a high school education. “Taking into account the cost of going to college for a certain period (1.83 years on average, for these students), the return on investment is significantly lower than that for bachelor’s degrees or professional degrees (a category which includes medical, law and dental degrees, but not PhDs or master’s degrees), but still higher than stocks, bonds, or any other conventional investment,” Matthews notes. To read the full Wonkblog story, click here. To read the full Business Insider story, click here.

In his Bloomberg View column, Advisory Council member Peter Orszag discusses two new studies that suggest there are benefits to evaluating teachers using metrics such as students’ test scores. Orszag writes that these metrics should be improved, but “that shouldn’t keep us from using the ones we have now.” A 2006 Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job,” outlines a program of federal support to help states measure the effectiveness of individual teachers. In the paper, Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. Staiger provide recommendations for improving teacher effectiveness, including the removal of barriers to entering the teaching profession and making it more difficult to grant tenure to those least effective on the job. To read the full paper, click here.

In a recent  Huffington Post article, Jillian Berman quotes Hamilton Project Director Michael Greenstone on the economic condition of middle-class families. Greenstone notes that education policy should be priority for strengthening the middle class, stressing that America’s education system should be improved and people should be encouraged to stay in school. To read the full piece, click here.

The Winter issue of Issues in Science and Technology highlights a Hamilton Project discussion paper in which Philip Oreopoulos and Derek Messacar of the University of Toronto present a strategy for reducing the dropout rate that would raise the compulsory schooling age to 18, and also combines stricter and better-enforced school-attendance laws with programs that have been statistically proven to prevent disengagement among at-risk students.

Reuters in an article on selecting a major highlights data from The Hamilton Project paper, “Where is the Best Place to Invest $102,000 — In Stocks, Bonds, or a College Degree?” which finds that investing in college has a higher return than investments in stocks and bonds. The Project compares the economic benefits of a college degree to its costs and finds the benefits of a four-year college degree on average are more than double the average return to stock market investments since 1950 and more than five times the returns to corporate bonds, gold, long-term government bonds, or home ownership. Read the full piece here.

In an Education Week commentary, Hamilton Project Director Michael Greenstone and Policy Director Adam Looney discuss The Project’s “A Dozen Economic Facts About K-12 Education.” Greenstone and Looney note some of the long-term effects of education on Americans’ wellbeing and suggest that improvements to the K-12 education system would benefit both individuals and society. Read the full piece here.

The stagnation of wages in recent years has many causes, but reflects a failure to invest enough in the skills and productivity of the American workforce, Hamilton Project Director Michael Greenstone and Policy Director Adam Looney write in a piece published in the New York Times' Economix.

Derek Thompson in The Atlantic and Dylan Matthews in Washington Post’s Wonkblog highlighted The Hamilton Project’s analysis of the current employment situation, which found that although college costs are rising, the increase in earnings that one receives from a college degree are growing even faster.

In the New York Times’ Economix, Advisory Council member Laura D'Andrea Tyson discusses disparities in educational achievement among children from different income groups and highlights Hamilton Project data on the correlation between earnings and marriage rates from “A Dozen Economic Facts about Tax Reform.” To read the full piece, click here.

Is it enough to find a job, or should we be more focused on the quality of that job? There may be a range of perspectives on the best way to move our economy forward, but one element essential to any answer is education. The Hamilton Project examines the effects of education on income level and shows more education opens the gateway to better, higher-paying jobs.

John Ebersole of The Huffington Post cites findings from a Hamilton Project paper on the return on investment of a college degree compared with returns from investing in the stock market.

Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post’s Wonkblog cites a Hamilton Project paper in response to a recent Newsweek article that argues that college is no longer a good investment. Matthews uses Hamilton Project findings to illustrate return on investment of a college degree compared with returns from alternative investments such as gold or housing. Read the full piece here.

The Village Voice cites Hamilton Project showing that the rate of return of a college degree is nearly double the average return to stock market investments since 1950, and more than five times the returns to corporate bonds, gold, long-term government bonds, or home ownership.

Bloomberg’s Richard Rubin cites Hamilton Project data showing the impacts of reducing income tax rates on revenues and progressivity of the tax schedule.

A report released on Saturday at the convention of the American Association of Community Colleges details the problems plaguing our nation’s community colleges, including too few students completing their degrees, too many students entering remedial programs, and too few students enrolling in programs leading to available jobs. The

Hamilton Project Director Michael Greenstone conducted research as part of his work as professor of economics with MIT on the ability of clean cookstoves to improve health and environment in the developing world.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research’s blog references Hamilton Project research by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney on the stagnation of earnings in America over the last four decades.

The Atlantic cites Hamilton Project research demonstrating that the rate of return of a college degree to be greater than any other investment.

The President’s newly announced Universal Displaced Worker Program draws directly from a Hamilton Project discussion paper, “Policies to Reduce High-Tenured Displaced Workers’ Earnings Losses Through Retraining,” by Louis Jacobson, Robert LaLonde and Danielle Sullivan.

An editorial in The New York Times applauds several of the Obama administration’s education initiatives, including the Department of Education’s “college scorecard,” which will help students compare the value of colleges. The proposal draws from a joint Hamilton Project and Center for American Progress proposal by Bridget Terry Long.

The core concepts from several Hamilton Project discussion papers have influenced education proposals being discussed by the Obama administration.

President Obama’s budget includes proposals to train our nation’s workers similar to plans put forward by The Hamilton Project late last year.

A Vermont legislator plans to hold a hearing and introduce legislative based on the findings of a 2006 Hamilton Project paper “Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job” by Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. Staiger.

Hamilton Project Policy Director Adam Looney is quoted in the Dayton Daily News on how spending on job training remains flat.

In the New York Times' Education Life, Advisory Council Lawrence H. Summers discusses the slow pace of higher education reform, and outlines six "guesses and hopes" of how universities would be different.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune cites Hamilton Project research showing the rate of a return for a college education.

The New York Times’ Economix blog Catherine Rampell cites Hamilton Project research showing that the typical male college graduate earned about 12 percent less in 2009 than his counterpart did in 1969.

A Financial Times story features a new Hamilton Project discussion paper proposing the creation of a Dislocation Workers Training (DWT) program to distribute grants to displaced workers so they can obtain longer-term training to substantially increase their earnings.

Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney draw from previous Hamilton Project research to discuss the stagnating wages of American teachers over the last few decades relative to other comparable professions.

As reported in Chron.com, Harvard University economist Roland Fryer released first year results from an education incentives program in the Houston Independent School District last week.

Drawing from yesterday’s Hamilton Project event on ways to improve K-12 education, the Huffington Post focused its coverage on a new policy briefby University of Chicago economist Derek Neal, which outlines a new approach to assessments for teachers and students.

Drawing from a recent Hamilton Project policy memo on the value of a college degree, in addition to work by other economic policy groups, The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson makes the case for and against college using 10 charts.

The GothamSchools education blog quickly reported on today’s Hamilton Project event, focusing on the new policy proposal by Brad Allan and Roland Fryer, “The Power and Pitfalls of Education Incentives.”

The payoff to a college education has increased dramatically over the last two decades. At the same time, the cost of a college education has increased steeply. High school graduates who are prepared to benefit from college must have access to the financial resources needed to pursue their education.