Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Erica Harbatkin
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): eharbatkin@fsu.edu
Position Title: Faculty
FSU College (if applicable): Education
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Education Policy and Evaluation
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Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above): {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable): {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns: {Empty}
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?: {Empty}
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): {Empty}

Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: What is a “low-performing” school? The implications of federal policy changes and state implementation decisions on the equity of school accountability designations
Project Keywords: education, school, public policy, education policy, educational equity
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 2
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
Open to all majors

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 5-10 hours per week
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
The United States has long been requiring states to classify schools as underperforming based on student achievement, but federal policies underlying this mandate have changed. Among the most important changes is how schools are identified as underperforming. Under No Child Left Behind, schools were labeled low performing for failure to meet proficiency targets, which are widely understood to reflect a student body’s socioeconomic advantage rather than a school’s quality. The most recent federal policy expands the definition of low performance and takes a more nuanced view of school quality. 
In this project, we are working to build an understanding of whether and to what extent these new approaches to identifying low-performing schools yield schools a different set of schools than older proficiency-based policies. In particular, we are interested in whether the way states rate school performance under federal law affects the composition of schools that are ultimately designated as low performing. This matters because being identified as low performing is a double-edged sword for schools. On one hand, the low-performing label is demoralizing for communities, educators, and students in those schools. There is a large evidence base showing that schools with more students of color and economically disadvantaged students are labeled as low performing, raising important implications for equity. On the other hand, some policies allocate considerable additional funding for schools that are identified as low performing.

We are looking for an undergraduate research assistant to support, and ultimately lead portions of a document review and analysis of all state plans and revisions submitted to the U.S. Department of Education under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). What measures are states using to rate schools? How are they weighting each of those measures? How can schools exit improvement status in different states? The research assistant will play a central role in developing a coding scheme for these plans, conducting the coding, and potentially helping to analyze plans for academic publication moving forward. 

One outcome for the project will be to disseminate the data that we collect to support additional projects. To that end, we would encourage and support the research assistant to use the expertise they develop on the project to advance their own research.

This is a joint project with a faculty member at University of Pittsburgh. The research assistant will have the opportunity to participate in the project from relatively early stages and follow it through to build a novel dataset that we expect will result in academic publications. This would be a nice opportunity for a student interested in pursuing (or learning about) a master's or Ph.D. in educational policy. 

Research Tasks:
Data collection, document review, data analysis

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Attention to detail required. Familiarity with web-scraping and quantitative data analysis would be nice but are by no means required. The RA will have the opportunity to learn while in the role.  

Mentoring Philosophy:
My approach to mentoring involves initial expectation setting on both sides (i.e., we discuss what tasks need to be completed, how you work best and what you expect from me, and what I expect from you) followed by regular check-ins about progress. I make myself available to answer questions and provide support as the need arises. It is also important to me that this is a symbiotic relationship; I need support on the project and you can leverage your experiences on this project toward meeting your own career or academic goals. I like to be clear about what those goals are (and how they evolve) so I can best support you to get the most out of your work.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable):: N/A
Please add any additional information here (if applicable)::
You can learn more about me and my work at www.harbatkin.com. You can learn more about my collaborator and his work at https://www.education.pitt.edu/people/jbleiber. 


Roundtable times and Zoom links:
Tuesday, September 5 from 10-10:30am (https://fsu.zoom.us/j/93543715087)
Thursday, September 7 from 4-4:30pm (https://fsu.zoom.us/j/97024320118)

UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes

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Year: 2023
update url: https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=IpiyewZk5inDWtwZL6BhzOmZrK2rQRnFkHiiOhjX0Cc