education policy, educator diversity, teacher effectiveness, teaching, professional development, economics of education, causal inference

David Blazar is an Associate Professor at the 四色AV of Maryland College Park in the Education Policy program, as well as the faculty director of the Maryland Equity Project and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy. With training in the economics of education and education policy, Blazar's research examines the efficient, effective, and equitable allocation of educational resources, focusing in particular on resources related to teachers. His research portfolio examines: (1) characteristics of effective teachers (e.g., training, demographics) and effective teaching (e.g., classroom practice) that improve student outcomes; (2) whether and how varied instructional resources (e.g., professional development, curricula, evaluation) improve teacher practice and student outcomes; and (3) labor market policies and practices that successfully recruit and retain teachers in the profession. His research has been published in Nature Communication, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Educational Researcher, Review of Educational Research, among others. Education Week named Blazar one of the most influential education scholars in the United States. He received the Excellence in Scholarship (Pre-Tenure) award from the 四色AV of Maryland College of Education, and the Jean Flanigan Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy. He received his doctorate and master's degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and his bachelor's degree in history and literature from Harvard College. Prior to graduate school, he taught high-school English Language Arts in New York City.

Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, Top 200, Education Week

2025

Reviewer of the Year, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness

2025

Outstanding Reviewer, American Educational Research Journal

2022

Excellence in Scholarship, Pre-Tenure Faculty, College of Education, 四色AV

2021

Outstanding Reviewer, AERA Open

2019, 2020, 2021

Outstanding Reviewer, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

2019, 2024

Outstanding Reviewer, Educational Researcher

2017, 2021, 2024, 2025

Jean Flanigan Dissertation Award, Association for Education Finance and Policy

2017

Emerging Education Policy Scholar, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

2015

Dissertation Fellowship, Mathematica Policy Research

2015

  • Blazar, D., Boudreaux, M., Klees, S., Rice,  J.K., Titus, M., & Zhao, J. (2026). Disparities in investments in children and youth in the U.S. Nature Communications, 17, 1-19.

  • Blazar, D., Anthenelli, M., Gao, W.*, Goings, R., & Gershenson, S. (Online 2026). Disparate pathways: Understanding racial disparities in teaching. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

  • Lagos, F., and Blazar, D. (Online 2026). Professional staff diversity and student outcomes: Extending our understanding of race/ethnicity-matching effects in education. Educational Researcher. Link

  • Blazar, D., Gao, W., Lagos, F.*, Goings, R., & Gershenson, S. (2026). Localized teacher recruitment through 鈥済row-your-own鈥: Impacts of the high school Teacher Academy of Maryland program. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 42(2), e70084.

  • Blazar, D., Adnot, M., Anthenelli, M. & Zhong, X. (2025). Differential responses to teacher evaluation incentives: Expectancy, race, experience, and task. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 47(4), 1314-1340. Link

  • Blazar, D., Song, D., Goings, R., Plasman, J., & Gottfried, M. (2025). Pathways into the CTE teaching profession: A descriptive analysis of degrees, licenses, and race in Maryland. AERA Open.

  • Blazar, D. (2024). Why Black teachers matter. Educational Researcher, 53(8), 450-463. Link

  • Blazar, D., McNamara, D., & Blue, G. (2024). Instructional coaching personnel and program scalability. Education Finance and Policy, 19(3), 492-523. Link

  • Blazar, D., & Schueler, B. (2024). Effective school district policies and practices: Synthesizing theoretical frameworks and empirical findings across disciplines. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 17(4), 647-686. Link

  • Blazar, D., & Pollard, C. (2023). Challenges and tradeoffs of 鈥済ood鈥 teaching: The pursuit of multiple educational outcomes. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(3) 229-244. Link

  • Gottfried, M., Plasman, J., & Blazar, D. (2022). Exclusive versus mixed, general versus CTE: Building a new taxonomy of STEMM high school teachers. Journal of Education Human Resources. Link

  • Blazar, D. & Archer, C. (2020). Teaching to support students with diverse academic needs. Educational Researcher, 49(5), 297-311.

  • Blazar, D., Heller, B., Kane, T. J., Polikoff, M., & Staiger, D. O, with Carrell, S., Goldhaber, D., Harris, D., Hitch, R., Holden, K. L., & Kurlaender, M. (2020). Curriculum reform and the Common Core: Evaluating elementary math textbooks across six U.S. states. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 39(4), 966-1019.

  • Blazar, D, & Archer, C. (2020). Teaching to support students with diverse academic needs. Educational Researcher, 49(5), 297-311.

  • Kane, T. J., Blazar, D., Gehlbach, H., Greenberg, M., Quinn, D., & Thal, D. (Online 2019). Substituting teacher-collected video for formal classroom observations: An experimental evaluation. Education Finance and Policy.

  • Blazar, D., & Kraft, M. A. (2019). Balancing rigor, replication, and relevance: A case for multiple-cohort, longitudinal experiments. AERA Open, 5(3). 1-18. 

  • Blazar, D. (2018). Validating teacher effects on students鈥 attitudes and behaviors: Evidence from random assignment of teachers to students. Education Finance and Policy, 13(3), 281-309. Link

  • Blazar, D., Gilbert, B., Herlihy, C., Gogolen, C. (2018). Exploring the potential for video-based classroom observations. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 6(2), 122-135. 

  • Kraft, M. A., Blazar, D., & Hogan, D. (2018). The effect of teacher coaching on instruction and achievement: A meta-analysis of the causal evidence. Review of Educational Research. Link

  • Blazar, D. & Pollard, C. (2017). Does test preparation mean low-quality instruction? Educational Researcher, 46(8), 420-433. Link

  • Blazar, D., Braslow, D., Charalambous, C. Y., & Hill, H. C. (2017). Attending to general and mathematics-specific dimensions of teaching: Exploring factors across two observation instruments. Educational Assessment, 22(2), 71-94. Link

  • Blazar, D. & Kraft, M. A. (2017). Teacher and teaching effects on students鈥 attitudes and behaviors. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 39(1), 146-170. Link

  • Kraft, M. A., & Blazar, D. (2017). Improving teachers鈥 practice across grades and subjects: Experimental evidence on individualized teacher coaching. Educational Policy, 31(7), 1033 - 1068. Link

  • Lynch, K., Chin, M., & Blazar, D. (2017). Relationship between observations of elementary teacher mathematics instruction and student achievement: Exploring variability across districts. American Journal of Education, 123(4), 615-646. Link

  • Blazar, D., Litke, E., & Barmore, J. (2016). What does it mean to be ranked a 鈥渉igh鈥 or 鈥渓ow鈥 value-added teacher? Observing differences in instructional quality across districts. American Educational Research Journal, 53(2), 324-359. Link

  • Blazar, D. (2015). Effective teaching in elementary mathematics: Identifying classroom practices that support student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 48, 16-29. Link

  • Blazar, D. (2015). Grade assignments and the teacher pipeline: A low-cost lever to improve student achievement? Educational Researcher, 44(4), 213-227. Link

  • Blazar, D., & Kraft, M. A. (2015). Exploring mechanisms of effective teacher coaching: A tale of two cohorts from a randomized experiment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(4), 542-566. Link

  • Hill, H. C., Blazar, D., & Lynch, K. (2015). Resources for teaching: Examining personal and institutional predictors of high-quality instruction. AERA Open, 1(4), 1-23. 

  • Hill, H. C., Charalambous, C. Y., Blazar, D., McGinn, D., Beisiegel, M., Humez, A., Kraft, M., Litke, E., & Lynch, K. (2012). Validating arguments for observational instruments: Attending to multiple sources of variation. Educational Assessment, 17(2-3), 88-106. Link

  • Blazar, D. (2011). Using theatre to engage cultural identity: Implications for students and teachers. English Education, 43(3), 294-304.

  • Blazar, D. (2009). Self-discovery through character connections: Opening up to gayness in Angels in America. English Journal, 98(4), 77-84.

  • TLPL 670: Economics of Education
  • TLPL 766: Impact Evaluation for Education and Public Policy
  • TLPL 788D: Data Management for Social Science Research
  • TLPL 788I: Research Apprenticeship in the Maryland Longitudinal Data System
  • TLPL 788Z: Education Policy Research, Writing, and Presentation Seminar