Sofía Wilson

ICE halts "all movement" at Texas detention facility due to measles infections The measles​ cases at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center were detected Friday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CBS News.

Horrifying. ICE confirms measles outbreak at Dilley family detention center. www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-dil...

You and me
are us and them, and it and sky.
It’s hard to believe we didn’t
know that before; it’s hard to believe
we were so hollowed out, so drained,
only so we could shine a little harder
when the light finally came.

Ada Limón

The Politics of Education Lab

To ring in the new year, I'm excited to announce the launch of the Politics of Education Lab (PEdL) at the Stanford GSE. The goal is to advance understanding of the political dimensions of education policymaking to help policymakers and practitioners strengthen school systems.

pedl.stanford.edu

Fabulous postdoc opportunity at Stanford to work on the politics of education with one of the best @bethschueler.bsky.social postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...

@stanford.edu University invites nominations & applications for the position of Dean of @stanfordeducation.bsky.social. We seek individuals with outstanding scholarly & professional careers who have demonstrated potential for academic & administrative leadership. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37933847...

Very concerned how these federal policy changes will impact vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks — with consequences to child health, parental workforce participation, and schooling. See our working paper for impact of recent measles outbreak on student absences: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1358

Thank you for adding this context, @jeremylsinger.bsky.social!

For context, this drop in attendance rates related to the measles outbreak (about 93% to 90%) is almost as large as the initial drop in TX attendance rates from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic (95% in 2018-19 to 91% in 2021-22).

(TX attendance trends over time here: www.aei.org/research-pro...)

thank you, @jenjennings.bsky.social!

thanks @jeremylsinger.bsky.social! -- and yes, your avd daily absence change is roughly in line with our calcs as well.

Public health policy is #EdPolicy

Measles outbreak led to outsized jump in student absences, Stanford research finds A new study shows that school absences from a major outbreak in Texas were 10 times higher than expected for the number of reported cases.

And grateful for coverage by Stanford GSE: ed.stanford.edu/news/measles...

The West Texas Measles Outbreak and Student Absences Declining child-vaccination rates are driving a measles resurgence in the US, yet little evidence documents how these outbreaks may disrupt schooling. Using daily absence data from a school district a...

We provide early evidence on the impact of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks on learning opportunities, and the schooling disruptions that the growing number of low-coverage communities could face if outbreaks continue to spread. See working paper: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1358

The impact on absences is 10x greater than would be expected from known measles cases alone. This suggests absences extended far beyond confirmed cases, likely reflecting precautionary decisions to keep children home.

When measles hit West Texas, school absences soared and it wasn't just sick kids who were out When a measles outbreak hit West Texas this year, school absences surged far beyond the number of children who likely became sick.

We find that a major measles outbreak in West Texas increased student absences by 41 percent. Absences increased among students across all grade levels, with the greatest impact among the youngest students. apnews.com/article/meas...

In 2000, measles was declared eradicated in the U.S. Today, declining child-vaccination rates are driving the largest measles resurgence we've seen in 3+ decades. How do these outbreaks impact schooling? @tomdee.bsky.social and I examine this question in West Texas, the country's largest outbreak.

Great coverage of my new report highlighting ICE's disproportionate targeting on Latinos in New York and around the country.

Woah.

Argentina's 1990s preschool expansion program appears to have been a smashing success.

The program increased high school completion by a whole 11.9 percentage points.

The authors estimate that for every $1 spent, the preschool expansion generated about $11 in benefits.

State Snapshots of Infant and Toddler Early Care and Education State-by-state breakdowns of the supply, demand, affordability, and licensing requirements for early child care and education.

Nationwide, the supply of infant and toddler #ECE does not meet demand, and the costs of care are #unaffordable for many #families. Curious about the status in your state? Check out our new @urbaninstitute.bsky.social snapshots!

www.urban.org/data-tools/s...

Excited to see everyone in Chicago for #AEFP2026!

I 💙 you california

Girls fell further behind in math during, after pandemic — Harvard Gazette Leading sociologist says emotional, family, social disruptions likelier cause than school closures.

Pleased to see our research on the pandemic’s unequal impact on girls’ and boys’ test scores covered by The Harvard Gazette. The math gender gap is now larger than at any point in the past 50 years. Our evidence points to out-of-school factors as potential drivers: news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

Abstract for "The truly isolated: Spatial isolation of advantage in the United States" by Shannon Rieger, Angela Li, and Patrick Sharkey, published at Urban Studies

👉 Our new paper uses daily mobility data to show that spatial isolation is much more common today among those living in advantaged neighborhoods than the converse.

👩🏻‍💻 Lots of massive data wrangling and careful assumptions about mobility data needed - but check it out here! doi.org/10.1177/0042...

Congratulations @jieezhong.bsky.social!

Deeply concerned about the trauma and developmental harm this admin is inflicting on students. Local news reporting absenteeism rate post ICE raid doubled relative to its rate from prior year in Charlotte. What @tomdee.bsky.social found in Central Valley, CA occurring in many cities throughout US.

Why have girls' test scores declined relative to boys' in recent years? Next Tuesday (11/18) at 4 pm, join the PIER Public Seminar series for a conversation with Stanford University's sean... Why have girls' test scores declined relative to boys' in recent years? Next Tuesday (11/18) at 4 pm, join the PIER Public Seminar series for a conversation with Stanford University's sean reardon, wh...

Girls’ test scores dropped more than boys’ post pandemic—but not everywhere. We use 15 years of data from 7k+ districts to understand why, and what this might teach us about how societal shocks impact gender disparities in ed outcomes. Hear sean present our findings tomorrow: lnkd.in/eEe-DTND

Fascinating, important work with novel dataset.

Why is this economics?

We show how backlash to the most significant social policy since the abolition of slavery -- school integration --reshaped markets, reallocated resources, and reduced human capital.

Read the paper 👇

(P.S. I'm presenting this at APPAM this weekend! Come say hi!)

12/12

Nice summary of our paper and related work by @tomdee.bsky.social and @kslungaardmumma.bsky.social here.

www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/10/i...

Hi folks attending #2025APPAM #APPAM2025! Excited to see many of you in Seattle this week.

As usual, I am organizing a very informal happy hour for education policy folks at the conference to get together: Fri 11/14 starting at 6pm at Seattle Beer Co on Western Ave (~15 min walk from conference).