Heather Rose

Office hours: By appointment. Room 125 SOEB.

Research Interests

Economics of education; Education Policy and Governance; Quantitative methods; School finance

Education

• Ph.D., Economics, University of California, San Diego, June 2001.
• M.A., Economics, University of California, San Diego, March 1997.
• B.A., Economics, University of California, Berkeley, December 1993.
• Education Abroad Program, Universite de Pau et des Pays de L’Adour, France, 1991-1992.

Publications

Working Papers

• “School Staffing and Student Poverty in California: A Decade through the Great Recession and School Finance Reform” (with Margaret Weston) 

Journal Articles

• “High School Choice and Expected College Belonging.” (2024). Heather Rose, Danielle Huddlestun*, Jacob Hibel, Susan E. Ebeler, and Kali Trzesniewski, Journal of School Choice, 18(3): 308-333. Winner of the 2024 Patrick Wolf International School Choice and Reform Conference Best Paper Prize.
• “The Impact of Large Revenue Infusions on Teacher Salaries in High-Poverty Districts.” (2023). Dylan Hawksworth-Lutzow* and Heather Rose, Journal of Education Finance, 49(2): 222-244. Supplemental Appendix. 
• “Student-Teacher Ethnoracial Matching at Charter and Traditional Public Schools.” (2023). Audrey Boochever* and Heather Rose, Journal of School Choice, 17(3): 324-351. Winner of the 2023 Patrick Wolf International School Choice and Reform Conference Best Paper Prize.
• “School District Revenue and Student Poverty in California: A Decade through the Great Recession and School Finance Reform,” Journal of Education Finance, Winter 2022, 47(2): 296-323.  Supplemental Appendix. 
• “Prosperity or Hardship: Equity-Driven Education Funding in the Era of COVID-19” (with Patti F. Herrera), UC Davis Center for Poverty Research Policy Brief, 8(10), 2020.
• “Serving the Underserved? Student Characteristics and Staffing Patterns in California Charter Schools,” (with Sherrie Reed), Journal of School Choice, 2020, 14(2):190-227.
• “Lessons in charter school accountability: evidence from California” (with Sherrie Reed), Journal of School Choice, 2018, 12(3):355-381.
• “Charter School Spending and Saving in California” (with Sherrie Reed), Journal of School Choice, August 2015, 9(3):407-445.
• “Moving Toward a Coherent School Finance System,” Leadership, 2013, 42(5):12-15.
• “California’s School Finance Reforms Target More Funding to Poor Students” (with Margaret Weston), UC Davis Center for Poverty Research Policy Brief, 2(2), 2013.
• “School Board Politics, School District Size, and the Bargaining Power of Teachers’ Unions” (with Jon Sonstelie), Journal of Urban Economics, 2010, 67(3):438-450.
• “An Analysis of Professional Judgments” (with Jon Sonstelie), Education Finance and Policy, 2008, 3(2):151-164.
• “Do Test Score Gains Explain Labor Market Outcomes?” Economics of Education Review, August 2006, 25(4): 430-446.
• “The Effect of Affirmative Action Programs: Evidence from the University of California at San Diego,” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Fall 2005, 27(3): 263-289.
• “Has Curriculum Closed the Test Score Gap in Math?” Topics in Economic Analysis & Policy, May 2004, 4(1): Article 12.
• “The Effect of High School Courses on Earnings” (with Julian Betts), Review of Economics and Statistics, May 2004, 86(2): 497-513.

Note:  Access to journal links will depend on your institution’s agreements with journals.

Books/Reports

• California School District Revenue and Student Poverty: Moving Toward a Weighted Pupil Funding Formula (with Margaret Weston), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, February 2013.
• Financing California’s Public Schools: Toward a Weighted Student Formula,” in David Plank, ed., Getting Down to Facts: Five Years Later, Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford, California, May 2012.
• Funding Formulas for California Schools IV: An Analysis of Governor Brown’s Weighted Pupil Funding Formula, May Budget Revision (with Jon Sonstelie and Margaret Weston), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, May 2012.
• Funding Formulas for California Schools III: An Analysis of Governor Brown’s Weighted Pupil Funding Formula, (with Jon Sonstelie and Margaret Weston), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, May 2012.
• “A Portrait of Underrepresented Minorities at the University of California 1994-2008” (with Tongshan Chang), in Eric Grodsky and Michal Kurlaender, eds., Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: The Past and Future of California’s Proposition 209, Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2010.
• Pathways for School Finance in California, (with Jon Sonstelie and Margaret Weston), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, November 2010.
• California School Finance Revenue Manual, (with Margaret Weston and Jon Sonstelie), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, June 2009.
• Funding Formulas for California Schools II: An Analysis of a Proposal by the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence, (with Ria Sengupta, Jon Sonstelie, and Ray Reinhard), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, July 2008.
• Funding Formulas for California Schools: Simulations and Supporting Data, (with Ria Sengupta, Jon Sonstelie, and Ray Reinhard), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, January 2008.
• Teacher Compensation and Local Labor Market Conditions in California: Implications for School Funding, (with Ria Sengupta), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, March 2007.
• School Resources and Academic Standards in California: Lessons from the Schoolhouse, (with Jon Sonstelie and Ray Reinhard), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, January 2006.
• School Budgets and Student Achievement in California: The Principal’s Perspective, (with Jon Sonstelie and Peter Richardson), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, 2004.
• High Expectations, Modest Means: The Challenge Facing California’s Public Schools, (with Jon Sonstelie, Ray Reinhard, and Sharmaine Heng), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, 2003.
• Math Matters: The Links Between High School Curriculum, College Graduation, and Earnings, (with Julian Betts), Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, 2001.
• “The Concept of Adequacy and School Finance“, in Jon Sonstelie and Peter Richardson, eds, School Finance and California’s Master Plan for Education, Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, California, 2001.

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor, School of Education, University of California, Davis, 2011 – Present.
• Assistant Professor, School of Education, University of California, Davis, 2008 – 2011.
• Adjunct Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California, 2008 – Present.
• Research Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California, 2000 – 2007.

Courses Taught at UC Davis

• ARE 142:  Personal Finance (Undergraduate)
• EDU 204A: Quantitative Methods in Educational Research:  Analysis of Correlation and Regression
• EDU 229:  Education Finance Policy
• EDU 284B:  Formulating and Influencing Policy – CANDEL (Ed.D)
• EDU 285A:  Educational Finance, Human Resources, and Law: Human and Financial Assets: Allocations and Budgets
• EDU 292:  Advanced Quantitative Methods in Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis (Ph.D.