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Mark Chin

Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Inequality, Vanderbilt University
Chapter Member: Tennessee SSN
Areas of Expertise:

About Mark

Chin studies how public education in the U.S. can help combat racial and socioeconomic inequality. His research draws on the economics of education, psychology, and sociology literatures and he uses rigorous quantitative methodology to identify the causal impacts of different policies, programs, and interventions in schools on students' outcomes. His current projects focus on school integration, school choice, racial bias in education, and how schools support the development of antiracist youth.

Contributions

In the News

Guest on Have You Heard, June 20, 2024.

Publications

"The Impact of School Desegregation on White Individuals’ Racial Attitudes and Politics in Adulthood" Education Finance and Policy (2024): 1-29.

Examines how school desegregation following Brown v. Board of Education impacted White individuals' racial attitudes and political views in adulthood. Finds that desegregation reduced political conservatism among White individuals in the U.S. South, but had smaller effects on attitudes towards Black individuals and racial equity policies. 

"Desegregated but Still Separated? The Impact of School Integration on Student Suspensions and Special Education Classification" Journal of Urban Economics 141 (2024).

Examines the effects of court-mandated school desegregation on student suspensions and special education classifications, using data from the largest school districts in the 1970s and 1980s. Finds that while Black-White integration increased in desegregated districts, Black student suspension rates grew faster, and their rates of classification as having an intellectual disability decreased more slowly compared to districts that were not under court order.

"School District Consolidation in North Carolina: Impacts on School Composition and Finance, Crime Outcomes, and Educational Attainment" Economics of Education Review 95 (2023).

Analyzes data from North Carolina to study the effects of K-12 school district consolidations, where multiple districts merge into one administrative unit. Examines the impact on school and district mechanisms, as well as long-term youth outcomes. Findings show that consolidation reduces per-pupil spending on instruction and district support services, while increasing racial integration in schools.

"The Stability of Families’ Revealed Preferences for Schools" Educational Researcher 51, no. 9 (2022).

Explores how families’ school preferences evolve over time by analyzing their applications to middle and high schools within a large urban district's universal enrollment system. Finds that preferences for schools' racial/ethnic composition are more stable than those for quality and proximity, and White and Hispanic families’ preferences for composition are more durable than those of Black families.

"The Effect of English Learner Reclassification on Student Achievement and Noncognitive Outcomes" Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 14, no. 1 (2020): 57-89.

Examines the impact of reclassification from English learners (ELs) to fully English proficient status on students' academic and noncognitive outcomes. Results show that reclassified ELs score significantly higher on math and reading tests in both fifth and eighth grades. 

"Bias in the Air: A Nationwide Exploration of Teachers’ Implicit Racial Attitudes, Aggregate Bias, and Student Outcomes" (with David M. Quinn, Tasminda K. Dhaliwal, and Virginia S. Lovison). Educational Researcher 49, no. 8 (2020).

Explores the relationship between U.S. teachers' implicit racial biases and educational disparities. Findings show that teachers' implicit White/Black biases vary by teacher gender and race, with bias levels being lower in counties with larger Black student populations.