Skip to main content

Research

Selected Recent Work

Education Leadership 

Grissom, J. A., Timmer, J. D., Nelson, J. L., & Blissett, R. S. L. (In preparation.) Unequal pay for equal work: The gender gap in principal compensation.

We investigate the male–female gap in principal compensation in both state and national data. In particular, we explore the existence of a gender gap and its antecedents in two data sources: detailed longitudinal personnel records from the state of Missouri and repeated cross-sections from the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). In both data sets, we estimate substantively important compensation gaps. In Missouri, female principals make approximately $1,400 less than their male colleagues, even conditioning on other characteristics and comparing principals leading the same school in different years. Our SASS analyses show that women make about $900 less than men nationally, on average. These gaps are only partially explained by various supply-side mechanisms, suggesting discrimination contributes to pay differences.

 

Timmer, J. D. & Grissom, J. A.(In preparation.) Pathways to the superintendency.

While women comprise about 77% of the teacher workforce in the US, only 54% of principals are women, and just 23% of superintendents are women. In this study, we examine gender differences in common pathways to the superintendency and the likelihood of promotion. We analyze statewide administrative data from Missouri spanning the years from 1991 to 2016 using linear probability models to estimate the likelihood of obtaining the superintendency and other common pre-superintendency leadership positions. We find that women have made significant gains in school- and district-level leadership positions, but they are less likely than men to be promoted at virtually every point of possible promotion.

 

Methods

Cimpian, J. R, & Timmer, J. D. (2019). Large-scale estimates of LGBQ–heterosexual disparities in the presence of potentially mischievous responders: A pre-registered replication and comparison of methods. AERA Open.

Link

Although numerous survey-based studies have found that students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning (LGBQ) have elevated risk for many negative academic, disciplinary, psychological, and health outcomes, the validity of the types of data on which these results rest have come under increased scrutiny. Over the past several years, a variety of data-validity screening techniques have been employed in attempts to scrub datasets of “mischievous responders,” youths who systematically provide extreme and untrue responses to outcome items and who tend to falsely report being LGBQ. We conducted a pre-registered replication of Cimpian et al. (2018) with the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to (1) estimate new LGBQ–heterosexual disparities on 20 outcomes; (2) test a broader, mechanistic theory relating mischievousness effects with a feature of items (i.e., item response-option extremity); and (3) compare four techniques used to address mischievous responders. Our results are consistent with Cimpian et al.’s findings that potentially mischievous responders inflate LGBQ–heterosexual disparities, do so more among boys than girls, and affect outcomes differentially. We also find that the method used to address mischievousness can lead to differences in LGBQ–heterosexual disparities of statistical and practical significance, with boosted regressions coupled with data removal leading to the smallest LGBQ–heterosexual disparities. While the empirical focus of this paper is on LGBQ youth, the issues discussed are relevant to research on other minority groups and youth generally, and speak to survey development, methodology, and the robustness and transparency of research.

 

Lubienski, S. T., Ganley, C. M., Makowski, M. B., Miller, E. K., & Timmer, J. D. (Under review.) “Bold Problem Solving”: A new construct for understanding sex differences in math problem-solving performance.

This study introduces a new construct, “bold problem solving,” which refers to approaching mathematics problems in inventive ways, as opposed to adhering to more familiar, teacher-given procedures. We introduce a self-report survey of students’ bold problem-solving orientation, finding that this measure mediates gender differences in problem-solving performance for both high-achieving middle school students (n = 79) and a more diverse sample of high-school students (n = 222). Confidence was found to mediate the relation between gender and bold problem-solving orientation, with mixed evidence for mental rotation skills and teacher-pleasing tendencies as potential mediators. Overall, bold problem solving appears to be a promising construct for examining gender differences in mathematics, particularly among higher-achieving students.