Highlighted Publications




 

Bowden, Rodriguez, and Weingarten (2025) examine whether relaxing high-school grading standards reduces student effort and learning. They use statewide administrative data from North Carolina (2013–2019), linking exact birthdates, course grades, absences, and ACT scores. They find that the shift to a more lenient 10-point scale mechanically raised GPAs by about 0.13 points (roughly 4.8%) but caused meaningful declines in effort: absences rose 22% (about 1.3 days) and numeric

Crema (2025) investigates whether charter school openings increase racial segregation within traditional public school classrooms. She analyzes North Carolina administrative data covering 97 charter openings from 1997–2015, along with classroom-level records showing the racial composition of students in grades 1–5. She finds that segregation in nearby public schools rises as soon as a charter opening is announced, before any students transfer. Classroom segregation increases

The study asks whether providing free universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-old children in disadvantaged Arab communities in Israel improves long-term educational and social outcomes. Using administrative data that follow nearly 85,000 children from early childhood through young adulthood, the authors analyze test scores, high school completion, college enrollment, juvenile crime, and early marriage. They find substantial gains: high school graduation rises by 2.8 percentage

The study asks whether intensive college advising helps low-income students earn bachelor’s degrees and why it works. The authors use data from a multisite randomized controlled trial, baseline surveys, advisor–student interaction records, and National Student Clearinghouse enrollment data. They find that advising increases four-year college enrollment by about 9 percentage points and raises bachelor’s degree completion by 7.6 percentage points within five years—about a 16 pe