Andrew Camp

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https://www.azfamily.com/2025/07/24/dysart-schools-defends-500k-vegas-trip-students-lose-bus-service/

As a side note, props to this reporter for a very astute observation about the internal validity of a study.

... which can be hard!

But, I think the need for evidence and this reminder that there are real tradeoffs on how those $s are spent highlights the importance of rigorous research. Esp. in a post-ESSER world where federal dollars are being held up.

To be clear, I fully believe that districts want to do what's best for kids. I think that's (probably) what administrators here were trying to do.

But I think they also felt a lot of push and pull in different directions. They have to weigh evidence from industry and academia...

Dysart Schools defends $500K Vegas trip as students lose bus service Dysart Unified School District sent nearly 200 employees to Las Vegas for a training event that cost $500,000 weeks after ditching its school bus service for hundreds of students.

When you have limited $, how do you decide how to spend it?

A lot of districts are grappling with this question right now, and this story is a great window into those decisions.

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/07/24/dysart-schools-defends-500k-vegas-trip-students-lose-bus-service/

This highlights an information problem - districts think the 4DSW will help them, and so they adopt the calendar. Leaders may then over-attribute regular changes in the labor market to be benefits from the 4DSW.

So what's our recommendation for rural schools? I think this participant said it best:

When we look at districts in MO, however, we see essentially no evidence that 4DSWs have a significant impact on teacher recruitment or retention. The point estimates are so small, in fact, that if taken at face value, would correspond to (on average) < 1 teacher retained per district per year.

We conduct a series of semi-structured interviews to better understand districts' motivations for adopting the 4DSW. Consistent with much of the media coverage surrounding this topic, staying competitive in the teacher labor market was a major driver of adoption.

From small positives in AR to nulls in CO and negative impacts in OR, the 4DSW doesn't seem to help recruit and retain teachers. This is especially surprising given the rapid growth in 4DSWs recently.

In Missouri, where this study takes place, growth in 4DSWs has been rapid since the pandemic

New working paper from me and a great group of coauthors: The Effects of the Four-Day School Week on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

caldercenter.org/publications...

Read on to see what's different about this vs. some of my prior work 🧵⬇️

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

Curious what conferences will be like once they have AI review the obviously AI-generated submissions.

Will presenters just hit play and let ChatGPT talk about how OLS can identify causal effects from observational data by controlling for 3 variables?

Facts are very 20th Century. To be successful in today's interconnected world LLMs need 21st Century skills like creativity.

If you're a grad student or an undergrad interested in research I need to you listen to me very carefully.

You cannot learn to write good research papers if you do not read good research papers.

Stop asking LLMs to summarize papers for you.

This! 👇

Education Policy Early Career Paper Swap The goal is to create an opportunity for early career scholars and recent Ph.D. graduates to connect with peers at similar stages and receive constructive feedback on article-length drafts they’re pre...

🚨Organizing a paper swap for early career edu policy researchers.🚨
Share a nearly-complete draft, exchange feedback, and connect with peers.
Great if you’ve got a lingering project or diss chapter that could use feedback and soft deadlines to move it forward this summer.
Sign up & learn more here:

This is Gunner. He is a big strong dog who happens to not be able to sleep until he's tucked into bed with two pillows and his Eeyore stuffy. 13/10

I thought exactly the same many, many times. Reviewers entirely ignore the methodological part of the paper and take its results at face value, but they will debate the "framing" of it in every little detail.

Would love to see more critiques in this style for ed policy research.

Not only do we have a professional duty to enforce quality standards, but the ways the original article was used highlights how bad science can be used to justify positions that are otherwise indefensible on empirical grounds.

When I taught, I tried to encourage my students while also pushing them to be realistic. I'd remind them the odds of becoming a pro athlete weren't in their favor.

Happy to have been proven wrong today as one of my former students was drafted to the Bucs!

Expand popular, successful school choice programs The Boston METCO program is extremely successful, so why is it stuck at 1980 levels?

{new} Call me crazy, but I think policymakers should try to expand popular, successful school choice programs like Boston's METCO: www.chadaldeman.com/p/expand-pop...

A wide-eyed dog who appears to be expressing emotions of shock and worry

Every time someone asks me if I've checked the news lately:

Fun fact: if you preregister classified attack plans on OSF you can embargo them until after you lose your job.

New comment! We clarify the difference between two types of confidence intervals for individual scores: standard error of measurement intervals centered around the observed score, and standard error of estimation intervals centered around an estimated true score.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

One resource Josh forgot to mention: fantastic collaborators!

Great job opportunity ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Abrego Garcia's wife: "I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive. Kilmar, if you can hear me, stay strong. God hasn't forgotten about you. Our children are asking when you will come home ... they miss their dad so much."

Veep writers kicking themselves for not thinking of this bit

For your enjoyment: here is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon talking about implementing AI in schools, but pronouncing it "A1," as in "A1 Steak Sauce"

www.youtube.com/live/lxrg28z...

Congrats Doc!

“They were careless people... they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness... and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”