Jason Giersch

Dr. Giersch is an assistant professor who teaches courses on American politics, research methods, state and local politics, and education policy. His research focuses on education policy, specifically the areas of school choice, high-stakes testing, segregation, and teacher quality. Prior to joining the faculty at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Giersch taught in public, private, and charter high schools. He also taught at the college level in Pennsylvania and in Nairobi, Kenya. He currently serves as a board member of the North Carolina Association for Research in Education and the North Carolina Political Science Association.

Giersch CV January 2021

POLS Lab

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Giersch, Jason, Martha Kropf, and Elizabeth Stearns, “Unequal Returns to Education: How Women Teachers Narrow the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge among Students.” The Journal of Politics.

Stearns, Elizabeth, Martha Bottia, Jason Giersch, Roslyn Mickelson, Stephanie Moller, Nandan Jha, and Melissa Dancy, “Do Relative Advantages  in STEM Grades Explain the Gender Gap in Selection of a STEM Major in College? A Multimethod Answer.” American Educational Research Journal.

Giersch, Jason (2019). “‘Desperately Afraid of Losing White Parents’: Charter Schools and Segregation.” Race Ethnicity and Education.

Giersch, Jason, Martha Cecilia Bottia, Elizabeth Stearns, Roslyn Mickelson, and Stephanie Moller (2019). “The Predictive Role of School Performance Indicators on Students’ College Achievement,” Educational Policy.

Giersch, Jason & Christopher Dong (2018). “Principals’ preferences when hiring teachers: a conjoint experiment.” Journal of Educational Administration, 56(4), 429-444.

Giersch, Jason & Christopher Dong (2018). “Required Civics Courses, Civics Exams, and Voter Turnout,” Social Science Journal, 55(2), pp. 160-170.

Giersch, Jason (2018). “Academic Tracking, High-Stakes Tests, and Preparing Students for College: How Inequality Persists within Schools,” Educational Policy, 32(7), 907–935.

Bottia, Martha Cecilia, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Jason Giersch, Elizabeth Stearns, & Stephanie Moller (2018). “The Role of High School Racial Composition and Opportunities to Learn in Students’ STEM College Participation,” Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(3), 446—476.

Giersch, Jason (2016).  “A Test of Personal and Social Utility Values and the Appeal of a Career in Teaching,” Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 15(3), 163-173.

Giersch, Jason, Martha Cecilia Bottia, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, & Elizabeth Stearns (2016). “Exposure to School and Classroom Segregation in Charlotte-Mecklenburg High Schools and Students’ College Achievement,” Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24(32).

Bottia, Martha Cecilia, Jason Giersch, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Elizabeth Stearns, & Stephanie Moller (2016). “Distributive Justice Antecedents of Race and Gender Disparities in First-Year College Performance,” Social Justice Research, 29(1), 35-72.

Giersch, Jason (2015). “New Trends in Academic Achievement among Teachers,” Journal of Applied Educational and Policy Research, 1(1), 74-83.

Whitaker, Beth & Jason Giersch, (2015). “Political Competition and Attitudes toward Immigration: Evidence from Africa.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(10), 1536-1557.

Giersch, Jason (2014). “Effects of Vacation Properties on Local Education Budgets,” Cogent Economics and Finance, 2(1), 1-9.

Giersch, Jason (2014). “Vouchers for Religious Schools and the Development of Democratic Values,” The Educational Forum, 78(2), 142-149.

Mickelson, Roslyn, Jason Giersch, Elizabeth Stearns, & Stephanie Moller (2013). “How (and Why) NCLB Failed to Close the Achievement Gap: Evidence from North Carolina, 1998-2004,” ECI Interdisciplinary Journal for Legal and Social Policy, 3(1), 1-25.

Giersch, Jason (2012). “Aiming for Giants: Charter School Legislation and the Power of Teacher Unions,” Education and Urban Society, 46(6), 653-671.

Giersch, Jason (2009). “Lessons in Ethics in American High Schools: Getting out the Wrong Message,” Public Integrity, 11(3), 251-260.

Whitaker, Beth & Jason Giersch (2009). “Voting on (More than) a Constitution: Implications for Democracy in Kenya,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 27(1), 1-20.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Mickelson, Roslyn Arlin, Jason Giersch, Amy Hawn Nelson, and Martha Cecilia Bottia (2018). Do Charter Schools Undermine Efforts to Create Racially and Socioeconomically Diverse Public Schools? In Iris Rotberg and Joshua Glazerman (Eds.), Choosing Charters: Better Schools or More Segregation? New York: Teachers College Press.

BOOK REVIEWS

Giersch, Jason (2018, July 2) Review of the book Are Charters Different? Public Education, Teachers, and the Charter School Debate, by Zachary Oberfield. in Teachers College Press.