ABSTRACT This paper assesses the impact of a remedial education program on academic performance. The program utilizes a direct instruction method to review and reinforce the curriculum content over a school year. The program targeted 5th-grade students in Brazil in 2019. We used the synthetic control method to evaluate the program. In 2019, there was a positive impact of 0.44σ in mathematics and 0.30σ in language test scores. Positive impacts extended to both the low – and high-achievers. In 2021 the program was discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a reversion in student performance to pre-2019 levels in both subjects.

ABSTRACT While remedial education, conditional cash transfers, and supply-side inputs have been the focus of educational policies aimed at increasing school completion in developing countries, preschooling has received little attention. Applying entropy matching methods to Young Lives survey data, we estimate the effect of attending preschool in early childhood on school dropout rates in Andhra Pradesh, India. The richness and features of the data allow us to account for potential confounders. We find that preschool significantly reduces dropout rates by 7 percentage points – a 17% reduction relative to the mean – and that this is robust to alternative methods.

ABSTRACT Vietnam’s impressive performance on the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments has led to interest in explaining the strong academic performance of Vietnamese students. Using Young Lives data from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, this study investigates underlying factors. Child and household characteristics explain 36%–37% of the Vietnam-Ethiopia gap, with school variables contributing another 8%. For gaps between Vietnam and India/Peru, child/household characteristics explain little, but teacher pedagogical skills emerge as crucial, explaining %16% of the Vietnam-India gap and 64% of the Vietnam-Peru gap. This highlights teacher quality’s importance in explaining Vietnam’s educational success compared to other developing countries.

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a rapid acceleration of standardized-test-optional college admissions policies. Using an event study design, we compare admissions outcomes between American colleges ranked among the top 100 national universities that dropped testing requirements to those that maintained required testing. While the share of enrollees who were White did not change, increases of 1.1 percentage points each for enrolled Black and Hispanic students (95% CI: 0.003–0.019, p = 0.011; and 95% CI: −0.001–0.024, p = 0.08, respectively) and decreases of 1.5 percentage points for Asian students (95% CI: −0.029 to −0.0009, p = 0.04) were measured in the second year.

ABSTRACT Teachers are among the most influential school-level factors in student learning, motivating the use of incentive pay programs to enhance teacher quality and effectiveness. However, little research examines the consequences of discontinuing such programs. This study evaluates the effects of both implementing and terminating teacher incentive pay on student academic achievement. Fixed effects and difference-in-differences models show positive impacts on overall performance, particularly in mathematics, with larger gains for minority students. Importantly, discontinuing incentive pay did not negatively affect academic outcomes. These findings provide new insights into the full lifecycle of teacher incentive policies and their implications for educational equity.

ABSTRACT This research explores the impact of education on individuals' involvement with financial assets such as savings, annuities/IRAs, and stocks in the United States. Utilizing panel data and various identification strategies, the findings indicate that education is associated with greater investment in these assets, particularly among those with college and postgraduate degrees. The paper examines how higher incomes resulting from better education, improved financial behaviors, and an increased willingness to take risks contribute to these outcomes. This research provides insights into the relationship between education and financial management, highlighting potential avenues for enabling broader participation in asset accumulation.

ABSTRACT Do expanding teacher labor markets attract individuals of different quality to the teaching profession? I study this in the context of Germany's large secondary-school expansions since the 1970s, which created substantial swings in teacher hiring. Using rich survey data on stu-dents in 2010/11, I show that rapid expansion periods attracted teachers who negatively impact their students’ test scores. These teacher cohorts also had weaker academic records and different work motivations than teachers hired in more typical years. The findings add rare evidence on how education policies shape teacher quality.

ABSTRACT This study examines the effects of a non-traditional teacher preparation program, the Relay Graduate School of Education, on non-test outcomes for New York City public school students in Grades 3–8. By controlling for student and school fixed effects, I use plausibly random variation in Relay teacher assignments within students over time to identify causal Relay program effects. Results indicate that Relay-trained teachers are more effective at improving student attendance and marginally effective at reducing suspensions compared to non-Relay teachers. The program shows a particular impact on students of color, male students, and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

ABSTRACT This study examines whether the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated transition to remote instruction affected undergraduates' decisions to remain in or switch into STEM and biology-related majors. Using longitudinal data from a large U.S. public university (2013–2019) and a staggered difference-in-differences design, I find no meaningful changes in semester-level STEM enrollment or switching behavior. Robustness checks, including nearest-neighbor matching, yield similar null estimates. Overall, the evidence suggests that students' field-of-study choices were largely resilient to the abrupt shift in instructional format, at least in the short run.

ABSTRACT Aiming to reduce inequalities between low- and high-income students enrolling in college, Louisiana enacted legislation requiring high school students to file a FAFSA application, or opt-out, prior to graduation. FAFSA submissions increased in Louisiana following the policy change, suggesting there may have been some follow through into post-secondary institutions. I use a synthetic control approach to estimate impacts of Louisiana's FAFSA policy on enrollment and Pell Grant awards. I find positive, significant impacts on the enrollment rate for Black students at large, public four-year universities. I also find that the rate of Pell Grant recipients increased at public four-year universities.