Research

PUBLICATIONS IN ECONOMICS JOURNALS

Heat and Learning (forthcoming)

• Academic version - AEJ: Economic Policy (with Jisung Park, Michael Hurwitz and Jonathan Smith)
• Summary version(s) - NBER Digest, The Hill
• Media highlights - New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, BBC World Service, WGBH (Boston)

Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps (forthcoming)

• Academic version - AEJ: Economic Policy (with Oded Gurantz and Jonathan Smith)
• Summary version(s) - VoxEU
• Media highlights - New York Times, Vox (The Weeds, 59:00), Forbes, Education Week, NACAC

The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory High School Math Coursework (forthcoming)

• Academic version - Journal of Labor Economics
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck
• Media highlights - The Atlantic, Marketwatch

Can Online Delivery Increase Access to Education? (2019)

• Academic version - Journal of Labor Economics, 37 (1): 1-34 (with Julia Melkers and Amanda Pallais)
• Summary version(s) - NBER Digest, Education Next
• Media highlights - New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, Marginal Revolution, PBS Newshour, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Access to Four-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion (2017)

• Academic version - Journal of Labor Economics, 35 (3): 829-867 (with Michael Hurwitz and Jonathan Smith)
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck
• Media highlights - New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic, Inside Higher Ed, Education Week

Intensive Math Instruction and Educational Attainment: Long-Run Impacts of Double-Dose Algebra (2015)

• Academic version - Journal of Human Resources 50 (1): 108-158 (with Kalena Cortes and Takako Nomi)
• Summary version(s) - Education Next
• Media highlights - Education Week

A Few Goodmen: Surname-Sharing Economist Coauthors (2015)

• Academic version - Economic Inquiry 53(2): 1392-1395 (with Allen Goodman, Lucas Goodman, and Sarena Goodman)
• Summary version(s) - No summary needed. The paper is barely 4 pages long. Just read it.
• Media highlights - AEA Humor Session (video), Vox, Marginal Revolution, NPR's Marketplace

Merit Aid, College Quality and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy (2014)

• Academic version - AEJ: Applied Economics 6 (4): 251-285 (with Sarah Cohodes)
• Summary version(s) - Two-page brief, slide deck
• Media highlights - New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Slate, White House Report, Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Wages of Sinistrality: Handedness, Brain Structure and Human Capital Accumulation (2014)

• Academic version - Journal of Economic Perspectives 28 (4): 193-212
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck
• Media highlights - Washington Post, Vox, The Atlantic, Boston Globe, Le Monde, Guardian, BBC NewsHour, NPR's Marketplace

Ability-Tracking, Instructional Time, and Better Pedagogy: The Effect of Double-Dose Algebra on Student Achievement (2014)

• Academic version - AER: Papers & Proceedings 104 (5): 400-405 (with Kalena Cortes)

Bankruptcy Law and The Cost of Credit: The Impact of Cramdown on Mortgage Interest Rates (2014)

• Academic version - Journal of Law and Economics 57 (1): 139-158 (with Adam Levitin)
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck

Who Merits Financial Aid?: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship (2008)

• Academic version - Journal of Public Economics 92 (10): 2121-2131
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck

PUBLICATIONS IN EDUCATION-FOCUSED JOURNALS

Intensive College Counseling and the Enrollment and Persistence of Low Income Students (2018)

• Academic version - Education Finance and Policy 13(1): 19-41 (with Benjamin Castleman)
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck
• Media highlights - Inside Higher Ed, Wall Street Journal

Can States Take Over and Turn Around School Districts? Evidence from Lawrence, Massachusetts (2017)

• Academic version - Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 39 (2): 311-332 (with Beth Schueler and David Deming)
• Summary version(s) - Policy brief, slide deck
• Media highlights - Education Week, WBUR, The Seventy Four, Harvard Gazette, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Objective Course Placement and College Readiness: Evidence from Targeted Middle School Math Acceleration (2017)

• Academic version - Economics of Education Review 58: 141-161 (with Shaun Dougherty, Darryl Hill, Erica Litke, and Lindsay Page)
• Summary version(s) - Slide deck
• Media highlights - Chalkbeat

Middle School Math Acceleration and Equitable Access to 8th Grade Algebra (2015)

• Academic version - Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37(1): 80S-101S (with Shaun Dougherty, Darryl Hill, Erica Litke, and Lindsay Page)
• Summary version(s) - Brookings (Brown Center Chalkboard)

The Relationship Between Siblings’ College Choices: Evidence from One Million SAT‐Taking Families (2015)

• Academic version - Economics of Education Review 48: 75-85 (with Michael Hurwitz, Jonathan Smith and Julia Fox)
• Media highlights - Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Chronicle of Higher Education

Skills, Schools, and Credit Constraints: Evidence from Massachusetts (2010)

• Academic version(s) - Education Finance and Policy, 5 (1): 36-53

WORKING PAPERS

Nudging at Scale: Experimental Evidence from FAFSA Completion Campaigns (2019)

• Academic version - NBER Working Paper 26158 (w/ Kelli Bird, Ben Castleman, Jeff Denning, Cait Lamberton, Kelly Ochs Rosinger)

Increasing Diversity in Boston's Exam Schools (2019)

• Academic version - Coming soon (with Melanie Rucinski)
• Summary version(s) - Policy brief
• Media highlights - Boston Globe, Boston Globe, Boston Globe, WBUR (Boston), WGBH (Boston), WGBH (Boston), BNN TV, Shah Foundation Podcast

Diversity in Massachusetts' Teacher Pipeline (2019)

• Academic version - Coming soon (with Melanie Rucinski)
• Summary version(s) - Policy brief

Flaking Out: Student Absences and Snow Days as Disruptions of Instructional Time (2015)

• Academic version - NBER Working Paper 20221
• Summary version(s) - Education Next
• Media highlights - Washington Post, CNN, BBC, Slate, The Atlantic, Vox, Weather Channel, WGBH, Brian Lehrer, WBUR, WNYC

Other Publications

The Challenges of Leveraging Online Education for Economically Vulnerable Mid-Career Americans (2019)

• Aspen Institute Policy Brief

The Effect of State Policy on College Choice and Match (2016)

• Matching Students to Opportunity, 161-178 (with Michael Hurwitz and Jonathan Smith)

Parental Socioeconomic Status, Child Health, and Human Capital (2010)

• International Encyclopedia of Education 3: 253-9 (with Janet Currie)

MISCELLANEOUS

• Phishing scams - Chronicle of Higher Education, Crimson
• Teaching evaluations - Chronicle of Higher Education, Enrollment Growth University