Publications
"Why Aren't There More Republican Women in Congress? Gender, Partisanship, and Fundraising Support in the 2010 and 2012 Elections" with Michele Swers in Politics & Gender, 2016
Article can be found here.
Abstract: Research indicates that fundraising is not an impediment to women candidates because women raise just as much money as men after accounting for seat status. However, previous research focuses solely on general election candidates. By examining both primary and general election candidates, we find both gender and partisan differences in fundraising. While incumbency, competitiveness, and candidate quality predict fundraising in the general election, we show that Democratic women raise more money than their male counterparts in the primary election. However, Republican women do not enjoy greater fundraising success compared with their male counterparts, and in limited cases, being a Republican woman can be an obstacle to fundraising in the primary election.
Presented at Midwest 2014
The Hispanic Extracurricular Participation Gap in Middle School (with William Gormley) (Forthcoming at Social Science Quarterly)
Abstract: Some scholars have noted a gap in extra-curricular (EC) participation between Hispanic students and other students (Darling, Caldwell & Smith 2005). But why exactly does this gap exist? One possibility is that Hispanic parents, whose education levels are relatively low, do not value EC activity as much as other parents. Another possibility is that limited financial resources make it difficult for Hispanic parents to finance EC activities that require special fees (like sports or marching bands). A third possibility is that Hispanic students have limited financial resources that limit time available for EC activity (e.g., girls have to baby sit). A fourth possibility is that there is less access to activities for Hispanic students. We analyze membership in EC activities across seven different activity types for 381 Hispanic students and 447 white students in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We find that parental awareness, as measured by mother’s education, is the dominant predictor of EC activity. We also find that EC activity predicts academic outcomes in middle school, even after controlling for early academic success.
(Presented at SRA 2016)
"Why Aren't There More Republican Women in Congress? Gender, Partisanship, and Fundraising Support in the 2010 and 2012 Elections" with Michele Swers in Politics & Gender, 2016
Article can be found here.
Abstract: Research indicates that fundraising is not an impediment to women candidates because women raise just as much money as men after accounting for seat status. However, previous research focuses solely on general election candidates. By examining both primary and general election candidates, we find both gender and partisan differences in fundraising. While incumbency, competitiveness, and candidate quality predict fundraising in the general election, we show that Democratic women raise more money than their male counterparts in the primary election. However, Republican women do not enjoy greater fundraising success compared with their male counterparts, and in limited cases, being a Republican woman can be an obstacle to fundraising in the primary election.
Presented at Midwest 2014
The Hispanic Extracurricular Participation Gap in Middle School (with William Gormley) (Forthcoming at Social Science Quarterly)
Abstract: Some scholars have noted a gap in extra-curricular (EC) participation between Hispanic students and other students (Darling, Caldwell & Smith 2005). But why exactly does this gap exist? One possibility is that Hispanic parents, whose education levels are relatively low, do not value EC activity as much as other parents. Another possibility is that limited financial resources make it difficult for Hispanic parents to finance EC activities that require special fees (like sports or marching bands). A third possibility is that Hispanic students have limited financial resources that limit time available for EC activity (e.g., girls have to baby sit). A fourth possibility is that there is less access to activities for Hispanic students. We analyze membership in EC activities across seven different activity types for 381 Hispanic students and 447 white students in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We find that parental awareness, as measured by mother’s education, is the dominant predictor of EC activity. We also find that EC activity predicts academic outcomes in middle school, even after controlling for early academic success.
(Presented at SRA 2016)
Papers Under Review and Working Papers
Exit or Invest: How segregation still shapes public education (Under Review)
Article can be downloaded here or Poster presented at the 2016 Political Methodology conference here
Abstract: Does segregation help or hurt support for public education? Previous literature has identified diversity, and more recently segregation, as key predictors for spending less on public goods. Because of schools' historical legacy with segregation, segregation could play a very different role in funding public education. To test this, I have collected data on the 11,000 plus school district in the United States from 1995 to 2011. Using multi-level models with a state-school district nested design, I find that white-black segregation leads to more investment in public education while white-Hispanic segregation, as well as segregation by income, has no effect. This result is robust across a broad array of alternative specifications, including an instrumental variable analysis using the number of years after an overturned court desegregation order as an instrument for school segregation. The results imply that segregation is still shaping public education.
(Presented at APSA 2015)
Diversity and the State: Do rules at the state level help or hurt local governments?
Abstract: As Peterson (1981) pointed out, local governments are fundamentally constrained by their geography. They do not have the same autonomy as a nation-state and are limited in what they can do. One area that this is particularly true for is education. School districts have become more dependent on state funding over the last 40 years, with close to half of education spending coming from the state. How do rules and the political environment at the state level help or hinder local governments as they deal with challenges of their community becoming more diverse? Some states have set tax caps or other types of constraints which restrict how much local control there is in the taxation process. This relationship between local and state governments in education gives an opportunity to see how intergovernmental relations effects public investment as communities become more diverse. I find that the more constraints that state governments place on local governments, the more difficult it is for local governments to respond to changes in diversity. In addition to formal constraints, the political environment and which party is in charge at the state level impact local school district funding capabilities. While state education funding is through a general funding formula that is supposed to ensure equitable funding, the formula and changes to it are often political. In order to better understand state level effects, I use multi-level models to analyze school district budget data from 1992 to 2013. This is supplemented with data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 Census as well as state level information on the political environment and taxation constraints.
Statebuilding, Social Order and Violence: Evidence from U.S. Reconstruction (with Megan Stewart)
Abstract: Why does statebuilding provoke violence? We argue that although many statebuilding efforts fail, precisely when statebuilding produces some successes, these achievements may nevertheless lead to violence. Certain cases of statebuilding entail normative goals of altering rigid social hierarchies and corroding sociopolitical inequities. When historically repressed communities have access to statebuilding resources, they can make social, economic and political progress toward achieving these normative goals. Yet, this is exactly when violent backlash is more likely: effective reductions to long-standing social inequities trigger resentment, anxiety and violence among privileged communities. Furthermore, because statebuilding efforts frequently institutionalize social and economic gains, such gains, as well as violence in response to them, may endure over the long-term. To test our arguments, we use historical, county-level data on post-U.S. Civil War Reconstruction. Our findings support our argument, and have implications for our understanding of how actors consolidate social orders, and societies’ responses to these orders. Available here.
School-based mechanisms of differential long-term pre-K effects among black and white youth (with Sara Anderson and Deborah Philips)
Abstract: Pre-K holds the potential for raising the achievement of children from diverse racial backgrounds (Gormley & Gayer, 2005). Its role in reducing achievement gaps is less understood (Weiland & Yoshikawa, 2013). Yet, black-white achievement gaps remain an intractable outcome of the U.S. education system (Fryer & Levitt, 2004). A major hypothesis posits that black students’ lagging achievement scores are due to poorer school quality; others consider parent involvement and racial biases among school staff (Skiba, Michael, & Nardo, 2000). This paper examines the potential for the Tulsa pre-K program to mitigate the achievement gap among black youth, particularly boys. Positive effects of the program were found for both black and white students in kindergarten and third grade (Gormley, Gayer, Phillips, & Dawson, 2005; Hill et al., 2015), but effects did not persist for black students in middle school. We examine potential mechanisms that could explain the emergence of a difference in enduring pre-K impacts for blacks and whites, focusing on middle-school-level factors: school-level achievement, suspension rates, and parental involvement.
Exit or Invest: How segregation still shapes public education (Under Review)
Article can be downloaded here or Poster presented at the 2016 Political Methodology conference here
Abstract: Does segregation help or hurt support for public education? Previous literature has identified diversity, and more recently segregation, as key predictors for spending less on public goods. Because of schools' historical legacy with segregation, segregation could play a very different role in funding public education. To test this, I have collected data on the 11,000 plus school district in the United States from 1995 to 2011. Using multi-level models with a state-school district nested design, I find that white-black segregation leads to more investment in public education while white-Hispanic segregation, as well as segregation by income, has no effect. This result is robust across a broad array of alternative specifications, including an instrumental variable analysis using the number of years after an overturned court desegregation order as an instrument for school segregation. The results imply that segregation is still shaping public education.
(Presented at APSA 2015)
Diversity and the State: Do rules at the state level help or hurt local governments?
Abstract: As Peterson (1981) pointed out, local governments are fundamentally constrained by their geography. They do not have the same autonomy as a nation-state and are limited in what they can do. One area that this is particularly true for is education. School districts have become more dependent on state funding over the last 40 years, with close to half of education spending coming from the state. How do rules and the political environment at the state level help or hinder local governments as they deal with challenges of their community becoming more diverse? Some states have set tax caps or other types of constraints which restrict how much local control there is in the taxation process. This relationship between local and state governments in education gives an opportunity to see how intergovernmental relations effects public investment as communities become more diverse. I find that the more constraints that state governments place on local governments, the more difficult it is for local governments to respond to changes in diversity. In addition to formal constraints, the political environment and which party is in charge at the state level impact local school district funding capabilities. While state education funding is through a general funding formula that is supposed to ensure equitable funding, the formula and changes to it are often political. In order to better understand state level effects, I use multi-level models to analyze school district budget data from 1992 to 2013. This is supplemented with data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 Census as well as state level information on the political environment and taxation constraints.
Statebuilding, Social Order and Violence: Evidence from U.S. Reconstruction (with Megan Stewart)
Abstract: Why does statebuilding provoke violence? We argue that although many statebuilding efforts fail, precisely when statebuilding produces some successes, these achievements may nevertheless lead to violence. Certain cases of statebuilding entail normative goals of altering rigid social hierarchies and corroding sociopolitical inequities. When historically repressed communities have access to statebuilding resources, they can make social, economic and political progress toward achieving these normative goals. Yet, this is exactly when violent backlash is more likely: effective reductions to long-standing social inequities trigger resentment, anxiety and violence among privileged communities. Furthermore, because statebuilding efforts frequently institutionalize social and economic gains, such gains, as well as violence in response to them, may endure over the long-term. To test our arguments, we use historical, county-level data on post-U.S. Civil War Reconstruction. Our findings support our argument, and have implications for our understanding of how actors consolidate social orders, and societies’ responses to these orders. Available here.
School-based mechanisms of differential long-term pre-K effects among black and white youth (with Sara Anderson and Deborah Philips)
Abstract: Pre-K holds the potential for raising the achievement of children from diverse racial backgrounds (Gormley & Gayer, 2005). Its role in reducing achievement gaps is less understood (Weiland & Yoshikawa, 2013). Yet, black-white achievement gaps remain an intractable outcome of the U.S. education system (Fryer & Levitt, 2004). A major hypothesis posits that black students’ lagging achievement scores are due to poorer school quality; others consider parent involvement and racial biases among school staff (Skiba, Michael, & Nardo, 2000). This paper examines the potential for the Tulsa pre-K program to mitigate the achievement gap among black youth, particularly boys. Positive effects of the program were found for both black and white students in kindergarten and third grade (Gormley, Gayer, Phillips, & Dawson, 2005; Hill et al., 2015), but effects did not persist for black students in middle school. We examine potential mechanisms that could explain the emergence of a difference in enduring pre-K impacts for blacks and whites, focusing on middle-school-level factors: school-level achievement, suspension rates, and parental involvement.
Additional Research
Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS), Georgetown University
As a fellow at CROCUS, I have worked on varies projects relating to the long-term effects of pre-k. I have worked on policy briefs, including "Do Middle Class Families Benefit from Pre-k?". A more detailed description of on-going projects and presentations can be found here: CROCUS WEBSITE
RAND Corporation
I have worked on a variety of topics at RAND including education, transportation, and Army Force Structure. Publications can be found here: RAND Website
Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS), Georgetown University
As a fellow at CROCUS, I have worked on varies projects relating to the long-term effects of pre-k. I have worked on policy briefs, including "Do Middle Class Families Benefit from Pre-k?". A more detailed description of on-going projects and presentations can be found here: CROCUS WEBSITE
RAND Corporation
I have worked on a variety of topics at RAND including education, transportation, and Army Force Structure. Publications can be found here: RAND Website