Matthew G. Springer

Research Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education

Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 2006

Joined faculty in 2006

Matthew G. Springer is director of the federally-funded National Center on Performance Incentives and research assistant professor of public policy and education. Professor Springer's research focuses on education policy, with a particular focus on the impact of policy innovations on resource allocation decisions and student outcomes. His current research includes studies of the impact of teacher pay for performance on student achievement and teacher turnover, mobility, and quality; the strategic resource allocation decision-making of schools in response to No Child Left Behind; the impact of school finance litigation on resource distribution; and the role of school choice in contemporary education policy.

Springer's research is funded by the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, Smith Richardson Foundation, and Texas Education Agency. He recently served on the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education's roundtable on teacher and principal performance pay programs. He has also worked on several advisory committees charged with designing performance-based compensation systems for teachers and/or principals at the state and district level, and conducted analyses of school finance systems in Alaska, Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina.

Professor Springer's work has appeared in Economics of Education Review, Education Economics, Education Next, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Regional Economic Development, Journal of Education Finance, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Peabody Journal of Education. He is co-author of a leading education finance textbook, Modern Education Finance and Policy (with J.W. Guthrie, E.A. Houck, and A.R. Rolle; Allyn & Bacon), and editor or co-editor of four more books including the forthcoming, Performance Incentives: Their Growing Impact on American K-12 Education (Brookings Institution Press) and Handbook of Research on School Choice (with M. Berends, D. Ballou, and H Walberg; Taylor and Francis).

Prior to joining the faculty at Vanderbilt University, Professor Springer was a teacher and administrator at a boarding school in upstate New York. He holds a B.A. in education and psychology from Denison University and a Ph.D. in education finance and policy from Vanderbilt University.

Learn More about Matthew G. Springer:

Projects | Selected Publications
Awards | CV | Media Mentions

Selected Publications

Books

Guthrie, J.W., Springer, M.G., Rolle, A.R., & Houck, E.A (2006). Modern Education Finance and Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.

Edited Books

Springer, M.G. (Ed., forthcoming). Performance Incentives: Their Growing Impact on American K-12 Public Education. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Berends, M., Springer, M.G., Ballou, D., and Walberg, H.W. (Eds., 2009). Handbook of Research on School Choice. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis Group.

Berends, M., Springer, M.G., and Walberg, H. (Eds., 2007). Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Berends, M., Langevin, W.E., and Springer, M.G. (Eds., 2007). Policy, Politics, and Organization of School Choice. New York, New York: Taylor & Francis Group. Special Issue of the Peabody Journal of Education.

Journal Articles

Springer, M.G., Liu, K., and Guthrie, J.W. (forthcoming). "The Impact of School Finance Litigation on Resource Distribution: A Comparison of Court-Mandated Equity and Adequacy Reforms." Education Economics.

Springer, M.G. (2008). "The Influence of an NCLB Accountability Plan on the Distribution of Student Test Score Gains." Economics of Education Review.

Springer, M.G. (2007). "Accountability Incentives: Do Failing Schools Practice Educational Triage?" Education Next, 8(1), 74-79.

Podgursky, M. and Springer, M.G. (2007). "Teacher Performance Pay: A Review." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26(4).

Guthrie, J.W. and Springer, M.G. (2007). "Courtroom Alchemy: Advocates Turn Guesstimates into Gold." Education Next, 7(1), 20 - 27.

Springer, M.G., Houck, E., Hange, J. and Ceperley, P. (2007). "Revenue Generation and Resource Allocation and Deployment Practices in Smaller Learning Communities: Lessons from Three High Schools." Journal of Education Finance, 32(4), 462 - 488.

Select Book Chapters, Technical Reports, and Other Journal Publications

Podgursky, M. Smith, J.R., and Springer, M.G. (2008). "A New Defendant at the Table: An Overview of Missouri School Finance and Recent Litigation." Peabody Journal of Education, 83, 174 – 197.

Springer, M.G., Podgursky, M., Lewis, J.L., Ehlert, M.W., Gosh-Dastidar, B., Gronberg, T.J., Hamilton, L.S., Jansen, D., Lopez, O., Patterson, C.H., Stecher, B.M., and Taylor, L.L. (2008). Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) Program: Year One Evaluation Report.

Springer, M.G., Podgursky, M., Lewis, J.L., Ehlert, M.W., Gardner, C.G., Gosh-Dastidar, B., Lopez, O., Patterson, C.H., and Taylor, L.L. (2008). Governor Educator Excellence Grant (GEEG) Program: Year One Evaluation Report.

Springer, M.G., Houck, E.A., and Guthrie, J.W. (2007). History and Scholarship of United States Education Finance and Policy. In H. Ladd and T. Fiske (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Education Finance and Policy. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2 – 23.

Springer, M.G., and Guthrie, J.W. (2006). Adequacy’s Politicization of the School Finance Legal Process. In M. West and P. Peterson (Eds.), School Money Trials: The Legal Pursuit of Educational Adequacy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 102 – 130.

Podgursky, M. and Springer, M.G. (2006). "K-12 Public School Finance in Missouri: An Overview." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Regional Economic Development, 2(1), 31 – 50.

Guthrie, J.W. and Springer, M.G. (2005). "A Nation at Risk Revisited: 'Wrong' Reasoning Sometimes Result in 'Right' Rules?" Peabody Journal of Education. 79(1), 7 – 35.

Working Papers

Springer, M.G. and Winter, M.A. (2009). New York City's School-Wide Bonus Pay Program: Early Evidence from a Randomized Trial. National Center on Performance Incentives Working Paper #2009-2. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Springer, M.G., Pepper, M.J., Ghosh-Dastidar, B. (2009). Supplemental Educational Services and Student Test Score Gains: Evidence from a Large, Urban School District. Working Paper. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Springer, M.G., Ballou, D., and Peng, A. (2008). "Impact of the Teacher Advancement Program on Student Test Score Gains: Findings from an Independent Appraisal." National Center on Performance Incentives Working Paper #2008-19. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Ballou, D. and Springer, M.G. (2008). “Achievement Tradeoffs and No Child Left Behind.” Working Paper. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Lewis, J.L. and Springer, M.G. (2008). "Performance Incentives in Texas: Why Schools Chose Not to Participate." National Center on Performance Incentives Working Paper #2008-18. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Jacob, B. and Springer, M.G. (2007). "Teacher Attitudes on Pay for Performance: A Pilot Study." National Center on Performance Incentives Working Paper #2007-06. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

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