Blake Heller
blakeheller.bsky.social
Blake Heller
@blakeheller.bsky.social
Assistant Professor
University of Houston, Hobby School
Education Policy, Applied Micro
Dad to 1👧🏻+ 1🐨🐶, Wolverine〽️
Go Blue!
Will Smith has a reading foundation and visits public schools. Just so you know the guy who hit that game winning homer has done good things for the LAUSD
Daughter comes out of school with a brand new Dodgers hat and I ask her where she got it.

"Oh this guy Will Smith from the Dodgers read us a story at school today"
November 2, 2025 at 5:59 AM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Will Smith has a reading foundation and visits public schools. Just so you know the guy who hit that game winning homer has done good things for the LAUSD
Daughter comes out of school with a brand new Dodgers hat and I ask her where she got it.

"Oh this guy Will Smith from the Dodgers read us a story at school today"
November 2, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Prospective PhD Students:

I am planning to accept a PhD student for AY 2026-27 in the economics and education program at Teachers College. Apply if you want to use the economics of education to study immigration or politics/political engagement and public schools. :-)
October 9, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Even taking the admin’s justifications @ face value & acknowledging that stronger K12 outcomes might ⬇️ long-run demand for services, millions of adults remain outside that system. Public adult education is central to maintaining a key virtue of US public education, that it is a second-chance system.
Blake Heller and I wrote an editorial about Trump’s proposals to end federal funding for adult education- whatever comes for FY 2026, it’s worth keeping an eye on this often overlooked part of our education sector @blakeheller.bsky.social
www.the74million.org/article/now-...
Now Is Not the Time to Zero Out Adult Education
Mumma and Heller: Adult education works, especially for English learners. Congress should reject Trump’s proposed cuts.
www.the74million.org
September 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Excited to see my work on high school equivalency credentials featured by @annenberginstitute.bsky.social. Today’s HSE grads are more likely than ever to use their credentials as an on-ramp back to formal schooling, and those who do earn post-secondary awards at higher rates than past cohorts. 1/N
📢 New from the #EdWorkingPapers Policy and Practice Series:

A summary of “High School Equivalency Credentialing and Post-Secondary Success: Pre-Registered Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the GED® Test” by @blakeheller.bsky.social!

📄 edworkingpapers.com/policy-pract...

#EdExchange
September 4, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Go Blue! 〽️〽️〽️ 💪 #NoKings
This is the most stereotypically economist protest sign ever and that's kind of beautiful
June 14, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Re-upping my advice about how to write a good title and abstract for an academic paper, appropriately called:

"How to Write a Title and Abstract"

Feel free to share this thread, which will focus on titles.

#EconSky #AcademicSky
June 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Beyond efficiency arguments for adult ESL (which are compelling), adult education is central to maintaining two of @lkatz42.bsky.social and Goldin’s virtues of U.S. public education: that it’s 1) a second-chance system 2) open to all learners. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Pleased to see my work with @blakeheller.bsky.social showing strong returns to investment in adult English language training featured in a post by New America- I am DEEPLY concerned by the proposed cuts to adult ed funding, which would decimate this sector.

www.newamerica.org/education-po...
Adult Education Pays for Itself. Why Does Trump Want to Gut it?
Congress should reject the Trump Administration’s attack on adult education and increase funding for this important program.
www.newamerica.org
May 12, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
The Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston invites applications for an Instructional Assistant Professor who will serve as Director of the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership.

www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?...

#PAJobMarket #PAsky #academicsky
Instructional Assistant Professor/ Director of Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center - HigherEdJobs
Jobs in higher education. Faculty and administrative positions at colleges and universities. Updated daily. Free to job seekers.
www.higheredjobs.com
March 11, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Awarding credit for prior learning can help make colleges more welcoming to students who arrive via alternative pathways, but institutions aren’t meeting college-ready GED®️ graduates halfway.

Check out my new op-ed on the GED®️ college readiness designations:

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
More awareness of GED as on-ramp to college needed (opinion)
Not enough, probably. Blake H. Heller argues that low awareness limits the potential of what should be a smoother pathway to and through college for high GED test scorers.
www.insidehighered.com
December 16, 2024 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Looks like a paper that will change our understanding of charter schools and where they are effective!
@cohodes.bsky.social ends the day of @NBER Ed by telling us about urban vs rural charter schools in MA
December 7, 2024 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Blake Heller
We're back to post-9/11 rates of anti-immigrant sentiment and the change has happened for all political parties

More fascinating stuff here:

news.gallup.com/poll/647123/...
November 24, 2024 at 10:35 PM
🚨New working paper🚨

“Integrating Open Science Principles into Quasi-Experimental Social Science Research” w/ @carlyrobinson.bsky.social

We discuss practical strategies to implement #openscience practices in QE research + how partners can support these efforts. 👇

edworkingpapers.com/ai24-1096
Integrating Open Science Principles into Quasi-Experimental Social Science Research
Quasi-experimental methods are a cornerstone of applied social science, providing critical answers to causal questions that inform policy and practice. Although open science principles have influenced...
edworkingpapers.com
November 21, 2024 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Good morning @appam.bsky.social! We are starting off strong in the Building Human Capital in Underserved Populations session! Thank you to @riacton.bsky.social, @loismiller.bsky.social, @blakeheller.bsky.social, and others for sharing their work! #2024APPAM #APPAM2024 #econsky 📈📉
November 21, 2024 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Kick off #2024APPAM (or is it #APPAM2024?) with us tomorrow morning! @bfelegi.bsky.social @blakeheller.bsky.social @brianholzman.bsky.social and more will be there too 😊
Thurs 8:30-10:00am (Chesapeake 6): My coauthor @riacton.bsky.social will present our work with Kalena Cortes and Camila Morales about how the impacts of college proximity on enrollment and degree completion differ by race/SES.
November 20, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Excited to see my recent work (w/@SaraRSands) covered in @meganmenchaca.bsky.social’s excellent piece on HISD’s failed $4.4b bond proposal.

The Miles admin has a lot of work ahead of them to earn voters’ trust. Our survey expt suggests that messaging student growth in NES schools is persuasive 👇
November 18, 2024 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Blake Heller
Here's my attempt to start gathering names of folks who write about education policy, including journalists, who are critical the ensuring research has a policy impact.

go.bsky.app/3XhYmo3
November 13, 2024 at 2:41 PM