David Houston

Dr. Arnzen's Research & Recent Publication on the Administrative Burdens of Voting An introduction to some of my research and my new article out in Policy Studies Journal on how the "costs" of voting matter differently for individuals of different levels of education

The first of my dissertation papers is officially out in @psjeditor.bsky.social! I started this paper in 2023, so I am happy it’s finally out! 🎉

I wrote about it in this post for the North Central College Political Science Bulletin!

I love stats like this because I think they kind of highlight how much variation there is in the American experience and how hard it is to get 80%+ on *anything*

Who Gets What in Education: Can School Matching Improve Student Achievement? Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Who Gets What in Education: Can School Matching Improve Student Achievement? www.nber.org/papers/w34936

"Our findings indicate that capacity constraints, rather than poor school matching, primarily drive educational inequality."

NYC schools chancellor Kamar Samuels taps top deputy, shakes up superintendent oversight Samuels appointed Danielle Giunta the first deputy chancellor of the city’s public schools.

Appointments mirror what has largely been Mamdani’s approach: old hands in NYC governance rather than outsiders or campaign insiders.
@dcbloomfield.bsky.social
@brooklyncollege.bsky.social @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social
By @caylabam.bsky.social @nydailynews.com
www.nydailynews.com/2026/03/05/k...

New paper w/ @ashleyjcarey.bsky.social looks at how non-binary students are erased in state data sets.

Basic arg is: When we have better data, we are better able to see students who are otherwise erased in the binary. We can also work to make things better for them.

epaa.asu.edu/index.php/ep...

I don't think the debate about the future of the Democratic party is between moderates and leftists or between populists and the donor class.

The question is whether the party can field and nominate enough very earnest young people who campaign on "being good and kind to your neighbors."

@mattbarnum.bsky.social on one of the most important developments in K-12 ed politics during the last year:

- The dismantling of the U.S. Dept of Ed

AND

- The aggressive use of federal power to shape state and local decision-making, esp. on policies related to race and gender

@mattbarnum.bsky.social on one of the most important developments in K-12 ed politics during the last year:

- The dismantling of the U.S. Dept of Ed

AND

- The aggressive use of federal power to shape state and local decision-making, esp. on policies related to race and gender

KAINE: To wage offensive war, the framers of the Constitution were absolutely plain that you gotta come to Congress

KERNEN: But it's almost a moot point

KAINE: Let me just underline the fact that I made an argument about the Constitution and you said it's a 'moot point.' I don't believe that

Congrats to the new board members of the best ed policy research org!!

Congratulations to @camarnzen.bsky.social‬ on his appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at North Central College! His research examines how education policy & institutions shape democratic participation, governance, & public life. We’re excited to see this work continue.

There are some good ideas in here, including things that were already in progress before DOGE cuts. But I don't understand why much of the research workforce had to lose their jobs this past year to implement these changes, and I don't see how some of these changes are possible without researchers.

Love this

(Short version: the original finding still holds, but less dramatic after replication with key additional variables accounted for)

I'm so unbelievably thrilled with this outcome, Cam! Well earned! Congratulations!

Hey, hey, hey, more good stuff (i.e., research!): caldercenter.org/publications...

Want to know more about this? Come see @mimiarnoldlyon.bsky.social present it in person at next Monday's CALDER Conference, register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Gifted Identification Across the Distribution of Family Income Currently, 6.1 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive gifted education. Using education and IRS data that provide information on students and their family income, we show pronounced dif...

Stunning work:

"Currently, 6.1 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive gifted education ... Under 4 percent of students in the lowest income percentile are identified as gifted, compared with 20 percent of those in the top income percentile."

edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1375

Per protocol analysis strikes again!

Folks, if you randomize but then don‘t analyze some of the people who got randomized (maybe because they didn’t adhere to instructions, maybe because they dropped out), randomization will no longer do all the heavy causal inference lifting.

Gifted Identification Across the Distribution of Family Income Currently, 6.1 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive gifted education. Using education and IRS data that provide information on students and their family income, we show pronounced dif...

Stunning work:

"Currently, 6.1 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive gifted education ... Under 4 percent of students in the lowest income percentile are identified as gifted, compared with 20 percent of those in the top income percentile."

edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1375

Most Conservative Students Don’t Feel Persecuted on Campus A new survey of college students contradicts Republican rhetoric that campus culture is hostile to right-wing views.

> 71 percent said their professors create a classroom environment that supports both students who express unpopular opinions and those who may be upset by such views.

Good job everyone. And I mean this sincerely. It is hard out there and we are doing a good job.

Brendan & Claude do a version of that recent NYTimes The Daily episode about "What's agentic AI and why does it matter?" specifically for quant education researcher types

Absolutely fascinating/terrifying/exciting

Yikes! Be safe!

Quick musing from what I've seen recently- If you're looking for job opportunities in the ed policy/research space, I think you should probably be on LinkedIn if you aren't already. I've mostly used Bluesky for research engagement, but feel like more job posts are over on LinkedIn (used to be on X).

Teaching as a team sport: What happens when a great teacher moves to a struggling school? New research on a federal program found that when top teachers transferred to high-need schools, their performance dropped significantly. Teacher effectiveness may not be a fixed skill.

Nice @mattbarnum.bsky.social piece describing an important new study on whether really effective (85th%ile) teachers who have a big change in school context continue to be really effective. They don't: they continue to be effective (66th%ile), but not top tier.

www.chalkbeat.org/2026/02/17/t...

No Chicken Left Behind, voucher version:

This is a small sample of chicken-related items Arizona auto-approved for Education Savings Account users.

Arizona has declined to release data showing what funds, if any, have been recouped through auditing.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics of Education in Medford, for Tufts University Exciting opportunity in Medford, for Tufts University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics of...

Postdoc posting: Economics of education at Tufts with my colleague Elizabeth Setren.

main.hercjobs.org/jobs/2203818...

New Science Advances paper w/ Jennifer Candipan:

Racial change doesn’t just reshape neighborhoods, it reshapes school punishment. We show Black–White suspension disparities grow in places where Black populations are changing, especially in majority White, suburban, & rural areas.

And into the causal inference slide deck you go!

Not only do I see this among my students, but I also felt it as a grad student.

Sure, this can go too far. No one wants/needs a 2.5 hour lecture every week.

But there *are* important things to know in our discipline, and one part of a professor's job is to communicate that material clearly.

Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”

Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.

Good advice for faculty too, tbh