EF&P Journal

Education Finance and Policy, the journal of the American Education Finance Association

AEFA members receive free online access to every published and soon to be published article appearing in EFP.  And, non-AEFA members can preview a sample volume.

AEFA-members can get free online access by logging in here.

Non-AEFA members wishing to preview EFP can do so at the MIT Press website here.

Message from the current editors:

The current editors wish to extend our thanks to David Figlio and  David Monk, the founding editors of EFP.  'The Davids' did an  incredible job establishing EF&P as a widely recognized outlet for  high-quality, policy-relevant education research.  We will endeavor to  maintain the high-standards that Davids have established and encourage  AEFA members to help us with this effort by serving on the editorial  board, refereeing submissions, and, most importantly, continuing to  consider EFP as an outlet for your work.

Vision of the new editors of Education Finance and Policy: Education Finance and Policy (EFP), the journal of the American Education Finance Association (AEFA), was created in 2005, with publication of the first issue in Winter 2006.  In that short time, the first editors of the journal, David Figlio and David Monk, molded the journal into a widely recognized outlet for high-quality, policy-relevant education research. The success of the journal is also attributable to the speed with which the editors have handled manuscripts, and the attention they have paid to making sure that the articles included in EFP are widely accessible.

Our goal as editors is to ensure that EFP continues to serve the membership of AEFA by working to maintains EFP’s reputation as a place where policy-relevant research can be made available to the policy community in a timely fashion.  In addition to insuring that submissions are handled promptly, we are working with our publisher, MIT Press, to reduce the lag between when a paper is accepted and when it becomes available online to AEFA members and subscribers to the journal.  In the near future, we expect to be able to provide early (pre-publication) access to all accepted papers.  And, to maintain the breadth of the journal, we will continue the outgoing editors’ efforts to reach out to researchers to ensure EFP includes research with a diversity of methodological approaches and of topical areas within education.

Special issues and policy briefs also represent essential elements of our strategy to ensure that EFP is policy relevant.  When EFP was created, special issues were seen as the natural replacement for the annual handbook.  The special issues have been that, and more.  As the recent Fall 2008 special issue makes clear, these focused volumes can provide a natural venue for work that has not typically appeared in the journal and that is timely and of particular relevance for policy makers.  The semi-regular policy briefs provide another mechanism for making the journal relevant for policy makers.  Because of their broad appeal to the membership of AEFA, we plan to make policy briefs a regular feature.

Thomas A. Downes Biography:

Dr. Thomas A. Downes is an Associate Professor of Economics at Tufts University.  His research focuses primarily on the evaluation and construction of policies to improve the delivery of publicly-provided goods and reduce inequities in these services, with particular attention paid to public education.  He has also pursued research on the roles of the public and private sectors in education provision.  Among his current projects are papers that document the implications for student outcomes, community composition, private school enrollment, and non-education spending of school finance reforms and property tax limitations that quantify the extent to which charter schools draw from private schools. 

Dr. Downes’ published papers have appeared in such journals as Public Finance Quarterly, the National Tax Journal, Public Choice, RAND Journal of Economics, Bulletin of Economic Research, Economics of Education Review, and Journal of Urban Economics.  He has served as a member of the Panel on Formula Allocations of the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies and was a participant in the symposia sponsored by the New York State Board of Regents that resulted in Educational Finance to Support High Learning Standards and Educational Finance and Organizational Structure in New York State Schools.

Professor Downes received his B.A. degree from Bowdoin College and his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from Stanford University.

Dan Goldhaber Biography:

Dr. Dan Goldhaber is a Professor in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, an Affiliated Scholar at the Urban Institute, and a Senior Non-resident Fellow at Education Sector. Dr. Goldhaber previously served as an elected member of the Alexandria City School Board from 1997-2002.

Dr. Goldhaber’s research has been regularly published in leading peer-reviewed economic and education journals such as The Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Urban Economics, Economics of Education Review, Education Finance and Policy, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and the findings from these articles have been covered in more widely accessible media outlets such as National Public Radio, Education Week, the Washington Post, and USA Today.

Dr. Goldhaber's current research addresses teacher labor markets and the role that teacher pay structure plays in teacher recruitment and retention; the relationship between teacher licensure test performance and student achievement; the stability of teacher effectiveness measures over time; the influence of human resource practices on teacher turnover and quality; and the role of community colleges in higher education.

Dr. Goldhaber received his B.A. degree from the University of Vermont, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University.