Tolani Britton uses quasi-experimental methods to explore the impact of policies on students’ transition from secondary school to higher education, as well as access and retention in higher education. Recent work explores whether the disproportionate increase in incarceration of Black males for drug possessions and manufacture increased gaps in college enrollment rates by race and gender over two time periods- after the passage of the Anti-Drug Act from 1986 - 1993 and after the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act from 1995 - 2000.
Prior to earning her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education, Professor Britton worked as a high school math teacher and college counselor in New York City public schools and as a policy analyst for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. Her scholastic credentials include a Master of Arts in Economics from Tufts University, a Master of Arts in French Cultural Studies from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in both Economics and French Literature from Tufts University.
Professor Britton received a 2023 - 2028 NSF CAREER award, a 2023 Association for Education Finance and Policy Early Career Award, an AERA Division L (Educational Policy and Politics) Early Career Award and a CIES Ernest D. Morell African Diaspora Emerging Scholar Award in 2022. She is a 2021 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. She also received a Russell Sage Foundation Pipeline Grant for Emerging Scholars in 2020 and was a 2016 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow.
Liu, L.*, Wang, S.*, Britton, T., & Abebe, R. (2023). “Intended and unintended impacts of machine learning for education.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204781120(link is external)
Shirrell, M., Bristol, T., & Britton, T. (2023). “The effects of student-teacher ethnoracial matching on exclusionary discipline for Asian, Black, and Latinx students: Evidence from New York City.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231175461(link is external)
Baker, D. & Britton, T. (2023). “Hate crimes and Black college student enrollment.” Education Finance and Policy. (Equal authors). https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00400(link is external)
Britton, T. (2022). “College or bust … or both. The effects of the Great Recession on college enrollment for Black and Latinx young adults.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2022.2054885(link is external)
White, T., Bristol, T., & Britton, T. (2022). “Teacher perceptions of efficacy in Social and Emotional Development: Teacher preparation, school working conditions, and professional learning communities.” Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221114875(link is external)
Britton, T., Rall, R., & Commodore, F. (2022). “Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams: An investigation of the institutional factors relating to the survival of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Journal of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2022.2082786(link is external)
Hernandez, J.*, Murillo, D.*, & Britton, T. (2022). “From surviving to thriving: How Latinx students with conviction histories use their hustle to navigate college.” American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211054827(link is external)
Britton, T. (2021). “Educational opportunity and the carceral system: Sentencing policies and Black men’s college enrollment.” Review of Black Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.1177/00346446211036763(link is external)
Britton, T., Commodore, F., & Rall, R. (In press). “And still I rise: A theory of institutional resilience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Journal of Negro Education.
Britton, T. & Moreno Luna, A*. (2021). “The impact of state drug laws on high school completion and college enrollment for Latino young men.” American Behavioral Scientist.https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211054825(link is external)
Britton, T. (2021). “Does locked up mean locked out: The effects of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act on college enrollment.” Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41996-020-00073-y(link is external)
Huerta, A. & Britton, T. (In press). “The nexus of carcerality and access and success in postsecondary education.” American Behavioral Scientist. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211054820(link is external)
Britton, T. & Spencer, G. (2020). “Individualized learning plans: Do students who fail to plan, plan to fail.” Teachers College Record, 122(5): 1 - 36. (Equal authors). https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812012200509(link is external)
Britton, T., Symns, M., Paul, V. (2020). “Early birds: An exploration of Early College Initiative High Schools in NYC and college persistence.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025120924782(link is external)
Britton, T. (2019). “The Best Laid Plans: Post-secondary Educational Expectations and College Enrollment in Massachusetts.” Journal of Higher Education, 90(6): 940 - 964. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1590294(link is external)
Mabel, Z. & Britton, T. (2018). “Leaving late: Understanding the extent and predictors of college late departure.” Social Science Research, 69: 34-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.10.001(link is external)
Reports and Editorials
Britton, T. (June 2022). Dual enrollment: Increasing college access and success through opportunities to earn college credits in high school. MDRC.
Britton, T. (January 31, 2022). The canary in the coal mine for college enrollment. Barron’s.
Britton, T. (December 22, 2021). Black and brown kids belong in school: Stop suspending some kids unfairly. New York Daily News.
Bristol, T., Shirrell, M., & Britton, T. (October 11, 2021). How does student-teacher affect suspensions for students of color. Brookings Brown Center Chalkboard.
Britton, T., Friedmann, B., Adan, S. (2021). Higher Learning Inside: The Demographic Makeup of Incarcerated Persons Taking Postsecondary Courses in California. Report prepared for UC Davis Wheelhouse Center for Community College Leadership and Research.
