Greer Mellon

Applications are open for the Annenberg postdoc! It's a fantastic research community and I've really enjoyed my time here:

Haha - amazing sign! So relatable!

A national randomized controlled trial of the impact of public Montessori preschool at the end of kindergarten | PNAS Although seminal studies from the early 1960s suggested quality preschool can have lasting positive effects, agreement is lacking on the efficacy o...

After hearing a teaser of the results at AEFP last year, I'm excited to fully read this exciting new paper on the impact of Montessori preschool programs! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Competence over Partisanship: Party Affiliation Does Not Affect the Selection of School District Superintendents - Greer Mellon, 2025 In recent decades, affective polarization and partisan animosity have risen sharply in the United States. To what extent have these trends affected hiring decis...

Great to see @greermellon.bsky.social with the lead article in the latest ASR. And there’s good news: even in polarized times, school boards are selecting superintendents based on perceived competence and interpersonal skills, not party affiliation. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Thanks so much for sharing!

Arnold Ventures | The Results Are In: Big Brothers Big Sisters Makes… A 4-year randomized controlled trial finds BBBS mentoring cuts youth delinquency and substance use.

Thrilled to read these new RCT results on the positive impact of Big Brothers Big Sisters (@bbbsamerica.bsky.social)! As a former Big Sister volunteer myself, it was such a privilege to support and cheer on my amazing Little on her journey from middle school to college! shorturl.at/fEbX2

Really looking forward to reading this:

In recent decades, affective polarization and partisan animosity have risen sharply in the United States. To what extent have these trends affected hiring decisions? I examine partisan biases in hiring by considering the case of school district superintendent appointments: chief executives of local U.S. elementary/secondary education systems. I analyze mixed-methods data on a decade of hiring outcomes in Florida and California from 2009 to 2019. Despite rising polarization, the data consistently show that partisan affiliation is not a primary factor in these hiring decisions. Quantitative analyses reveal no significant relationship between changes in board partisan composition and superintendent hiring outcomes within school districts. I find no relationship between board-level partisan composition and superintendent exits. Qualitative findings show hiring decisions are primarily shaped by evaluations of candidates’ interpersonal skills and competence, even among board members with strong partisan views on other policy issues. Board members discuss a strong commitment to building consensus in their selections. While I cannot rule out very small effects, these results show that school boards do not routinely prioritize applicants from their own political party. This study advances research on affective polarization and social closure by demonstrating the contingent nature of partisan affiliation on decision-making and by providing evidence of a strong respect for professionalism in a critical U.S. public sector setting.

In @asrjournal.bsky.social, ten years of mixed-methods data analyzed by @greermellon.bsky.social on hiring outcomes in Florida and California school districts suggests that partisan affiliation does not affect superintendent hiring outcomes.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

I'm at #ASA2025 presenting new research on school district superintendents' funding priorities on Tuesday, 8/12 at 8am. The panel has a great set of papers - hope to see folks there, or around the conference!

There’s also an accompanying podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

In our polarized political environment, I’m excited to share my new ASR publication: “Competence over Partisanship: Party Affiliation Does Not Affect the Selection of School District Superintendents”. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Two new papers on when and how school spending matters. With fabulous co-authors @greermellon.bsky.social @susannaloeb.bsky.social
Now if only the federal govt would fund schools appropriately...

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

What a kickoff! 🎉

Our 1st #EdWorkingPapers webinar brought together researchers, policymakers, & educators for a real-time conversation on when and how funding matters in schools.

Thanks to @weilanch.bsky.social, @chriscandelaria.com, @emilyrauscher.bsky.social, and all who attended.

Look forward to presenting our work about when school funding matters most with coauthor @greermellon.bsky.social
Please join us!
@annenberginstitute.bsky.social

Does school funding actually improve outcomes? 🤔Join our first-ever #EdWorkingPapers webinar Wed 5/21 at 2pm ET with @emilyrauscher.bsky.social and @chriscandelaria.com to find out. buff.ly/TW1oFhu #research #schoolfunding

Love this! Since becoming a mom, I deeply appreciate the booths that have stress balls or slinkies! Easiest way to pick up the “new toy” I promised I’d bring home from a trip! :)

We analyzed racial justice statements from the 500 largest US companies and found that DEI officials really did have an influence Only 1 in 5 Fortune 500 companies made strong racial justice commitments in response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Those companies were more likely to have DEI staff.

PLEASE REPOST
Two colleagues and I have been looking at corporate racial justice responses to the George Floy murder/BLM protests. Top line finding is influential DEI staff mattered. I suspect that the current DEI backlash is at least in part a response.
theconversation.com/we-analyzed-...

Ohio State cutting DEI programs shows a breathtaking fear of the truth | Opinion Pretending racism does not exist will not stop Donald Trump's attack on higher education.

An important and courageous op-ed from @tiffjhuang.bsky.social on the critical need to uphold commitments in the fight against racial inequality in education: www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...

Summing up the damages

I'm really looking forward to #AEFP2025 next week! I'm presenting new work with @emilyrauscher.bsky.social and @susanna-loeb.bsky.social on superintendents' funding priorities at the Politics and School Finance panel on Friday at 1:45pm!

I'm looking forward to attending #ESS this week. I'm presenting research on the role of partisan affiliation in local public sector hiring - focusing on the case of school district superintendents - in the "From Polarization to Solidarity" mini-conference. DM me if you want to chat or grab coffee!

This is all so terrible - lays out the details of cancelled contracts (including extensions to core datasets like the ECLSK, and RCTs on reading interventions).

In This Brave New World, Does Scholarship Still Matter? If the recent past is no longer a useful guide to seeking change in the present, what good is policy-adjacent scholarship?

Thanks to @lpeblog.bsky.social for the invitation to write about what policy scholars should do if "policy" is permanently broken. There are lots of good answers, but we can't afford to ignore the question.