Matthew A Kraft

Matthew A Kraft

@matthewakraft.com

Professor of Education and Economics. Former high school humanities teacher. Proud papa & volunteer soccer coach. Reading as much as I can about climate change. www.matthewakraft.com

3.9K followers580 following179 posts

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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

The #SustainableED team's first publication is out in @pnas.org. We document the scale of potential pollutant & carcinogen exposure across US K12 schools. 8% of all schools are within a few blocks of EPA registered hazard sites. Exposure risk is highly inequitable. 🧵

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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Many American teachers see the importance of teaching students about sustainability, but feel they do not have the training, support or time to do so. 9/

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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Growth in solar energy use across K-12 schools is concentrated in a minority of states, despite the potential it offers to lower energy costs and emissions. 7/

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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Schools are also a major sector contributing to energy consumption in the US. The type of energy sources we use to power schools and the amount of energy schools consume have important consequences for our environment. 6/

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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Our newest @sustainable-edhq.bsky.social paper identifies five broad domains in which education and the environment intersect, all of which are areas that present promising opportunities for conducting new research that informs policy and practice. Let's make these central to ed research! 2/

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Annenberg Institute
@annenberginstitute.bsky.social

Students show greater understanding and engagement when learning connects to their own lives and communities. Our new #EdResearch4Action brief w/@edsustainable.bsky.social shares research on teaching Planetary Health, with ideas like using local data and community partners. 🔗 buff.ly/T1L2QTB

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Joshua Goodman
@joshua-goodman.com

What a blast to talk to an audience interested in the intersection between education policy and environmental issues. Really appreciated the challenge from Matt to weave together a narrative beyond a single paper, to spur a bigger picture conversation. See for yourself whether I succeeded!

Matthew A Kraft@matthewakraft.com

This was a killer talk - short, policy relevant, and highly accessible. Check it out.

Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

This was a killer talk - short, policy relevant, and highly accessible. Check it out.

SustainableED@sustainable-edhq.bsky.social

Yesterday we kicked of our SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series with @joshua-goodman.com! He provided a fantastic overview of rigorous research on the impacts of heat and pollution on student learning. Catch the full recording on YouTube: youtu.be/OkRAtMKa_a8

youtu.beSustainableED Virtual Seminar Series: Joshua GoodmanYouTube video by SustainableED

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Tes magazine
@tesmagazine.bsky.social

Building evidence on the effectiveness of different education interventions is great, but what about the question of how easy they will be to implement? @matthewakraft.com warns of a trap that education reform often falls into

tes.comWhy education needs to avoid the implementation feasibility trapThe New York Times surveyed researchers to evaluate 30 education interventions on cost and effectiveness. Matthew Kraft explains the bigger lesson from this analysis
Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

New @nytimes.com piece ranks 30 education interventions on both effectiveness & costs. For me, the key takeaway is NOT about what academics (including myself) rated as most effective or least costly. It is about the decision making process districts use. 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

nytimes.com30 Ideas for Fixing U.S. Schools, Ranked by ExpertsMath and reading scores are in a decade-long slump. We asked three dozen experts: What could turn things around?
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Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Districts would be well served to make decisions based on all 3 of these dimensions: 1️⃣ Effectiveness 2️⃣ Costs 3️⃣ Implementation Feasibility We're often seeking the BIG fix, when we need a collection of high-value ROIs where successful implementation is within reach. END

Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

New @nytimes.com piece ranks 30 education interventions on both effectiveness & costs. For me, the key takeaway is NOT about what academics (including myself) rated as most effective or least costly. It is about the decision making process districts use. 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

nytimes.com30 Ideas for Fixing U.S. Schools, Ranked by ExpertsMath and reading scores are in a decade-long slump. We asked three dozen experts: What could turn things around?
Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

First, it combines effectiveness with costs to illustrate that sometimes smaller reforms with modest payoffs may be really attractive because they have a high return on investment (e.g. leveraging detailed student attendance data to reduce absenteeism). /2

Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Second, and most importantly, the article highlights that there is a third critical dimension in this decision making matrix: *Feasibility of Implementation* If you can't replicate it or scale it without a reasonable degree of success then the ROI doesn't tell us much. /3

Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

🔥 We've got a banger of a lineup for this year's #SustainableED virtual seminar series. Free & open to the public. Join us and spread the word! Past seminars are available on our YouTube channel. Great teaching resources: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

SustainableED@sustainable-edhq.bsky.social

📢 Announcing the 26-27 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series! We're hosting 4 seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of education and climate change: 10/5 @joshua-goodman.com 11/16 Cassandra R. Davis 2/1 Patricia Fabian 3/8 Oren Pizmony-Levy Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Danielle Edwards
@drdsedwards.bsky.social

Nice write-up from @edweek.org's Sarah Sparks on @matthewakraft.com & my paper on HS education courses in TX www.edweek.org/leadership/h... "lack of higher education support after high school may prevent these prospective teachers of color from ever making it to a classroom of their own"

edweek.orgHigh School Teacher Academies Work. But There's a Break in the PipelineAspiring teachers of color often hit a wall before making it to the classroom, a new study finds.
Danielle Edwards@drdsedwards.bsky.social

🚨New NBER Working Paper w/ @matthewakraft.com! 🚨 Can Early Exposure to the Teaching Profession Increase Teacher Supply & Diversity? New Evidence on the Teacher Pipeline www.nber.org/papers/w35776 We examine whether HS ed courses can expand new teacher supply in TX. We find:

nber.orgCan Early Exposure to the Teaching Profession Increase Teacher Supply and Diversity? New Evidence on the Teacher PipelineFounded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Danielle Edwards
@drdsedwards.bsky.social

🚨New NBER Working Paper w/ @matthewakraft.com! 🚨 Can Early Exposure to the Teaching Profession Increase Teacher Supply & Diversity? New Evidence on the Teacher Pipeline www.nber.org/papers/w35776 We examine whether HS ed courses can expand new teacher supply in TX. We find:

nber.orgCan Early Exposure to the Teaching Profession Increase Teacher Supply and Diversity? New Evidence on the Teacher PipelineFounded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Jen Jennings
@jenjennings.bsky.social

I’m excited to share that The Scarcity Loop: How School Choice Reshapes the Rationing of Public Education is officially out in the world. It seemed important to find a slice.

Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

New article in NY Times Magazine highlights the challenges district leaders & communities face in the aftermath of extreme weather. This is increasingly our new reality. We need to be prepared. *Bonus mention of findings from the #SustainableED team! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/m...

nytimes.comAfter a Tornado, He Rebuilt Schools at Lightning Speed. Then Came the Hard Work. (Gift Article)One superintendent is trying to apply what he’s learned to other shattered districts — and reckoning with the toll of the disaster on his own life.
Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

I was talking with my 12-year-old yesterday about the growing concerns that AI will undercut students' critical thinking skills. His response . . . "It seems unfair for adults to be criticizing kids for using AI. Kids didn't build it - adults did." Certainly made me think.

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Brown University Department of Education
@brownedudept.bsky.social

Please join us in celebrating Dr. Lindsay Page as she steps into her new role as Chair of Brown's Department of Education. 👏 education.brown.edu/news/2026-09...

education.brown.eduLeading Brown’s Department of Education: A Conversation with New Chair Lindsay PageDr. Page discusses her new role as Department Chair, the colleagues who shaped her first five years at Brown, and the impact of generative AI on teaching and learning.

Matthew A Kraft reposted

Institute at Brown for Environment & Society (IBES)
@brown-ibes.bsky.social

IBES affiliate, @edsustainable.bsky.social director & @brownedudept.bsky.social prof @matthewakraft.com discussed the impact of natural disasters on school attendance. Read @anya1anya.bsky.social's full article:

The Hechinger Report@hechingerreport.org

Providers like Project:Camp offer emergency education and care to families as climate change brings more destructive weather.

hechingerreport.orgWhen natural disasters strike, these camps give kids a safe place to recoverSPOKANE, Wash. — One week after evacuating from the wildfires that devastated parts of this eastern Washington city, Mareesha Backman handed over her youngest son to a stranger and took her first deep breath of relief. Spokane Public Schools was hosting what has become a growing part of disaster response: a day camp for children of survivors. Backman showed up that first day feeling “stunned,” she said: hot, poorly showered and underslept. Thanks to the camp’s volunteers, she was able to go to a doctor’s appointment, run errands and simply sit in the air-conditioned quiet of a friend’s home.