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Isaac M. Opper
A Global Regression Discontinuity Design: Theory and Application to Grade Retention Policies
Topics: MethodsWe use a marginal treatment effect (MTE) representation of a fuzzy regression discontinuity setting to propose a novel estimation approach. The estimator can be thought of as extrapolating a traditional fuzzy regression discontinuity estimate or as an observational study that adjusts for… more →
Leading Indicators of Long-Term Success in Community Schools: Evidence from New York City
Topics: Families and CommunitiesTags: Absenteeism, Student supportsCommunity schools offer supports such as health and social services, extended school days, and family education, to improve the performance of students whose learning may be disrupted by challenges related to poverty. In 2015, the New York City Community Schools Initiative was implemented in… more →
Loss of Schooling from Tropical Cyclones: Evidence from 13 Low- and Middle-income Countries
Renzhi Jing, Sam Heft-Neal, Zetianyu Wang, Jie Chen, Minghao Qiu, Isaac M. Opper, Zachary Wagner, Eran Bendavid.Topics: Student LearningIncreasing educational attainment is one of the most important and effective tools for health and economic improvements. The extent to which extreme climate events disrupt education, resulting in fewer years of schooling and reduced educational attainment, remains under-studied. Children in low… more →
Screening with Multitasking: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Teacher Tenure Reform
What happens when employers screen their employees but only observe a subset of output? We specify a model with heterogeneous employees and show that their response to the screening affects output in both the probationary period and the post-probationary period. The post-probationary impact is… more →
Measuring and Summarizing the Multiple Dimensions of Teacher Effectiveness
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: AssessmentThere is an emerging consensus that teachers impact multiple student outcomes, but it remains unclear how to measure and summarize the multiple dimensions of teacher effectiveness into simple metrics for research or personnel decisions. We present a multidimensional empirical Bayes framework and… more →
The Impact of Natural Disasters on Human Capital
Tags: Human capitalWe show that natural disasters affect a region’s aggregate human capital through at least four channels. In addition to causing out-migration, natural disasters reduce student achievement, lower high school graduation rates, and decrease post-secondary attendance. We estimate that disasters that… more →
Optimal Allocation of Seats in the Presence of Peer Effects: Evidence from a Job Training Program
We consider the case in which the number of seats in a program is limited, such as a job training program or a supplemental tutoring program, and explore the implications that peer effects have for which individuals should be assigned to the limited seats. In the frequently-studied case in which… more →
Improving Average Treatment Effect Estimates in Small-Scale Randomized Controlled Trials
Topics: MethodsTags: EfficacyResearchers often include covariates when they analyze the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), valuing the increased precision of the estimates over the potential of inducing small-sample bias when doing so. In this paper, we develop a sufficient condition which ensures that the… more →