Bogyung Kim

Draft and abstract available upon request due to data usage agreement.

Draft and abstract available upon request due to data usage agreement.

In-school gun violence disrupts the broader learning environment, potentially undermining schools’ ability to retain teachers. How do school shootings affect teacher retention and mobility? Using longitudinal teacher employment records from North Carolina and school-shooting data from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, I employ a difference-in-differences and event-study design comparing shooting-exposed schools with matched non-exposed schools. Teacher retention declines by 4 percentage points following a shooting, with teacher mobility increasing two years afterward and remaining elevated for up to seven years. These effects are concentrated in shootings involving deaths or injuries. The findings highlight the persistent costs of school shootings for the teacher workforce and suggest that school safety is an important component of policies addressing teacher shortages.

This study examines the effect of state-mandated full-day kindergarten (FDK) expansion on child maltreatment using the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect child file, State Inpatient Databases hospital discharge data, and National Vital Statistics System mortality records. Leveraging the staggered rollout of FDK adoption across states with difference-in-differences methods, we find that FDK led to an increase of 3.5 physical abuse reports per 1,000 children, approximately 36% relative to the baseline mean. The absence of an effect on the share of substantiated physical abuse and fatalities suggests that FDK primarily improves maltreatment detection rather than increasing its underlying incidence. Supporting this interpretation, educator-filed physical abuse reports rise by approximately 30%, reflecting enhanced detection capacity among teachers and school staff, and potentially replacing reports from other professions. Furthermore, the observed increases in reports from parents and neighbors suggest that FDK may foster stronger community awareness and social support networks. Overall, this research provides new evidence on the broader benefits of early childhood education, particularly its role in strengthening child safety environments.

This study examines the impacts of non-structural student mobility on academic outcomes in Georgia public schools. Using longitudinal administrative data covering three 9th-grade cohorts from kindergarten through high school, we analyze midyear and nonstructural summer school moves, distinguishing by timing, type, and student socioeconomic background.