Scholars@Duke
Clara G. Muschkin

Clara G. Muschkin

Associate Research Professor Emerita in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Sanford School of Public Policy
muschkin@duke.edu
Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708-2000
117 Sanford Building, Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Pre-K Enrollments and Teaching Environments in North Carolina Elementary Schools.

Journal Article Children and youth services review · September 2024 Prior research finds that some high-quality preschool programs are successful in generating significant initial academic gains and long-term benefits for students as they progress through school. This study examines one of the mechanisms through which Nort ... Full text Cite

Understanding Heterogeneity in the Impact of Public Preschool Programs.

Journal Article Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development · June 2023 We examine the North Carolina Pre-K (NC Pre-K) program to test the hypothesis that observed variation in effects resulting from exposure to the program can be attributed to interactions with other environmental factors that occur before, during, or after t ... Full text Open Access Cite

Long-term effects of early childhood programs through eighth grade: Do the effects fade out or grow?

Journal Article Children and youth services review · May 2020 Support for policies to improve early childhood educational development and reduce disparities grew rapidly this century but recently has wavered because of findings that program effects might fade out prematurely. Two programs implemented at scale in Nort ... Full text Open Access Cite

Gender Differences in the Impact of North Carolina’s Early Care and Education Initiatives on Student Outcomes in Elementary School

Journal Article Educational Policy · March 1, 2020 Based on growing evidence of the long-term benefits of enriched early childhood experiences, we evaluate the potential for addressing gender disparities in elementary school through early care and education programs. Specifically, we explore the community- ... Full text Open Access Cite

Impact of North Carolina’s Early Childhood Initiatives on Special Education Placements in Third Grade

Journal Article Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · December 1, 2015 This study examines the community-wide effects of investments in two early childhood initiatives in North Carolina (Smart Start and More at Four) on the likelihood of a student being placed into special education. We take advantage of variation across Nort ... Full text Cite

Developmental education in North Carolina community colleges

Journal Article Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · January 1, 2015 This article contributes to the empirical literature on remediation in community colleges by using policy variation across North Carolina’s community colleges to examine how remediation affects various outcomes for traditional-age college students. We find ... Full text Cite

From birth to school: Early childhood initiatives and third-grade outcomes in North Carolina

Journal Article Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · December 1, 2014 This study examines the community-wide effects of two statewide early childhood policy initiatives in North Carolina. One initiative provides funding to improve the quality of child care services at the county level for all children between the ages of 0 t ... Full text Cite

Peer contexts: Do old for grade and retained peers influence student behavior in middle school?

Journal Article Teachers College Record · January 1, 2014 Background: Many school systems have ended social promotion by implementing accountability systems where students who fail academic assessments are retained in grade. Additionally, some parents have delayed their children's entry into school, believing tha ... Cite

Success in Community College: Do Institutions Differ?

Journal Article Research in Higher Education · November 1, 2013 Community colleges are complex organizations and assessing their performance, though important, is difficult. Compared to 4-year colleges and universities, community colleges serve a more diverse population and provide a wider variety of educational progra ... Full text Cite

The enduring impact of race: Understanding disparities in student disciplinary infractions and achievement

Journal Article Sociological Perspectives · December 1, 2012 To what extent do persistent race gaps in educational outcomes stem from differences in the level of advantage that students bring to school or from differences in opportunities to succeed? In order to disentangle the component elements of race gaps in mid ... Full text Cite

The negative impacts of starting middle school in sixth grade

Journal Article Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · December 1, 2008 Using administrative data on public school students in North Carolina, we find that sixth grade students attending middle schools are much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remains after ... Full text Cite

Distinguishing spurious and real peer effects: Evidence from artificial societies, small-group experiments, and real schoolyards

Journal Article Review of Law and Economics · January 1, 2008 In a variety of important domains, there is considerable correlational evidence suggestive of what are variously referred to as social norm effects, contagion effects, information cascades, or peer effects. It is difficult to statistically identify whether ... Full text Cite

Multiple Teacher Ratings: An evaluation of measurement strategies.

Journal Article Educational research and evaluation : an international journal on theory and practice · February 2007 This study addresses the questions that arise when collecting, describing, and analyzing information from multiple informants regarding attributes of individual students. Using data from the Fast Track study, we evaluate alternative measurement strategies ... Full text Cite

Aging trends - Puerto Rico.

Journal Article Journal of cross-cultural gerontology · December 1997 Full text Cite

Migration of persons with AIDS--a search for support from elderly parents?

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · October 1996 In this paper we investigate the interstate migration of people with AIDS to Florida under the hypothesis that a significant proportion of these moves are made to access care and support from elderly parents. We present a variety of aggregate data to suppo ... Full text Cite

Disentangling the effects of disability status and gender on the labor supply of Anglo, black, and Latino older workers.

Journal Article The Gerontologist · June 1996 Utilizing data from the 1991 Health and Retirement Study Early Release File, this article examines the effects of disability status on labor force participation and earnings of preretirement workers aged 50 to 64. Results from our hierarchical regression m ... Full text Cite

Consequences of return migrant status for employment in Puerto Rico.

Journal Article The International migration review · January 1993 "At the aggregate level, return migrants in Puerto Rico in 1970 and 1980 faced greater employment-related difficulties, as compared with nonmigrants. This article explores the individual-level relationship of return migrant status to employment outcomes. ... Full text Cite

Migration and household/family structure: Puerto Ricans in the United States.

Journal Article International migration (Geneva, Switzerland) · December 1985 "The analyses in this research were intended to demonstrate the advantages of utilizing microdata from [U.S.] census sources for examining migration status and related household and family structures. By asking for the self-identification of ethnic origin ... Full text Cite

Demographic consequences of migration trends in Puerto Rico: 1950-1980.

Journal Article International migration (Geneva, Switzerland) · January 1984 "This paper examines the evolution and changes in migration patterns [in Puerto Rico] through the 1970's based on data from the 1980 census. The focus is on demographic consequences of migration, particularly with regard to population growth, redistributi ... Full text Cite