Joshua Goodman
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joshua-goodman.com
Joshua Goodman
@joshua-goodman.com
Education economist @ BU Wheelock & Economics Dept | Wheelock Education Policy Center | Co-editor @ JHR | White House CEA 2022-23 | www.joshua-goodman.com
Definitely exacerbated by post-pandemic enrollment losses we show in recent work.

At left: enrollment losses for the highest income 20% of MA school districts.

At right: Newton's losses are even larger. District is 1,100 students (9%) smaller than it "should" be.

drive.google.com/file/d/1O5Ry...
November 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Hard times for states starting with "M".

From the latest @mattbarnum.bsky.social newsletter on pandemic-era school closures and post-pandemic learning recovery:

cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/we-re-stil...
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
This email was not spam but was trying its hardest to convince me that it was.
November 14, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Great Q to which I don't have a ready answer. I'm wondering whether @ehutt.bsky.social might?

FWIW, here's Claude's answer to the question:
November 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
And here's the corrected abstract, as the one I posted mis-described the sign of the treatment effect (even as the rest of the paper described it correctly):
November 12, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Corrected abstract here (we had misdescribed the sign of the treatment effect in the abstract, though the rest of the paper is correct):
November 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Joe Winkelmann & I have released a new @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social working paper:

"Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment"

We show stronger labor markets since 2009 explain most of the decline in community college enrollments.

wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...
November 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Why would you phrase it this way? Just be a normal website and ask if I'm willing to provide a reference. This is chaotic bad.
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"Cambridge voters show desire for change on school committee, less so on city council"

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/04/m...
November 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My name is even less Brazilian than yours ;)
November 4, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I voted.
November 4, 2025 at 1:48 PM
There are a lot of us, particularly born from the late 1970s through the 2000s.
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
“Adopting a phone-free schools policy is a more effective intervention than anything we have seen before...”

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/30/o...
October 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Better, more timely data can protect Americans. It's a shame our current fed govt is actively degrading such capabilities.

Just out in AEJ Pol by @vaibhavanand.bsky.social:

"Does Getting Forecasts Earlier Matter? Evidence from Winter Advisories and Vehicle Crashes"

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
October 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Massachusetts is typical of the nation as a whole.

Though national data is lagged by a year, we still see US-wide drops in public school enrollment, driven more White and Asian families and largest in middle grades.

This is a national phenomenon.
October 24, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Public school losses are almost entirely concentrated in middle grades (5-8), where enrollment is down 8%.
October 24, 2025 at 12:37 PM
White and Asian public school enrollments have stabilized at levels 3% and 8% below pre-pandemic trends

Black and Hispanic enrollments have more than fully recovered.
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
This is largely a phenomenon of high income families leaving public schools.

The highest income 20% of districts have lost more public school students than the other 80% combined (lower income districts have largely recovered enrollments).
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Fall 2020 and 2021 saw massive disruptions to school enrollment patterns. Did they persist five year later? Yes!

In Massachusetts, local public school enrollment is down 2% relative to trend, while private and home school enrollments are up 16% and 50% respectively.
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
🚨New publication alert🚨

I'm thrilled Economics of Education Review has just published my work w/ @abbyfrancis.bsky.social:

"School enrollment shifts five years after the pandemic"

Abstract below, but read the next few posts for the story told via a handful of graphs.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...
October 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I'm at a conference run by U Arkansas' Dept of Education Reform and the setting (the Crystal Bridges Art Museum) couldn't be more stunning.

On the lunch tour, we ran across Rosie the Riveter!
October 23, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Turns out the OECD is taking our research on heat and learning seriously!
October 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Meanwhile, BU's economics department has been overrun by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
October 8, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Join us next week online @buwheelock.bsky.social for this conversation on changing school enrollment patterns 5 years after the pandemic's onset.

We'll discuss our recent research on which families have shifted from public to private/home schooling.

bostonu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
🚨Important paper alert🚨

"Who Wants to Be a Teacher in America?"

"Lower interest among men, students of color, and high-achieving students... Recommenders rate students interested in teaching as having lower intellectual promise... but greater concern for others."

edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1285
October 7, 2025 at 6:28 PM