The Education Research Program in The Murphy Institute Center for Public Policy Research is an excellent complement to CPPR's other program areas.
CPPR provides funding for The Education Research Alliance (ERA) at Tulane University, a research center that collaborates with local education stakeholders to produce objective, rigorous, and useful research to inform the community’s understanding of how to improve students’ experiences in schools and beyond.
ERA produces research papers focused on a variety of subjects including student outcomes, parental choice, teachers & leaders, test-based accountability, charter schools & charter management organizations, and finances. Researchers at ERA include an internal team of expert researchers, a National Research Team of experts from across the country, partners within Tulane, and a Board of Advisors that includes local community groups, teacher unions, and local and state government agencies.
This year, ERA is launching the third Citywide Youth Survey to better understand New Orleans students' experiences, including their views on teachers, neighborhood support, and career aspirations. This year's survey, running from March to April 2025, will include private school students for the first time, providing a more comprehensive look at the city's diverse education landscape and informing policies that support youth success.
Doug Harris is the Director of the Education Research Program in The Murphy Institute and Director of the Education Research Alliance (ERA) at Tulane University. He is also a Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics, the Schlieder Foundation Chair in Public Education, and Director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), all at Tulane University. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
He has published his work on the education of education policy in the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Economics of Education Review, and the general interest journal, Science, among many others. He is author of the book, Charter School City: What the End of Traditional Public Schools in New Orleans Means for American Education (University of Chicago Press, 2020). His first book, Value-Added Measures in Education (Harvard Education Press, 2011), was nominated for the national Grawemeyer prize in education.
With nearly 100 journal articles and other publications, and $28 million in research grants, his research also has a practical impact on a wide variety of K-12 and higher education policy issues. He has advised governors in six states, testified in the U.S. Senate, and advised the U.S. Department of Education and Obama White House on multiple education policies. His work is also widely cited in national media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, and NPR.
Matías Morales is a Postdoctoral Scholar in The Murphy Institute Center for Public Policy Research. He researches topics in economics of education. development economics and causal inference. He received his Ph.D. in Public Administration at New York University in 2024 and an M.A. in Economics from Duke University in 2017.
