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Immigrant origin students
Does in-service training in special education increase the effectiveness of general classroom teachers? Evidence from the large-scale “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” program in Sweden
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentThis study evaluates the impact of a large-scale professional development program for general classroom teachers in Sweden, the “Special Education Pedagogy for Learning” (SFL) program. Linking program administrative data to national full population register data, we apply a dynamic difference-in… more →
Immigration Enforcement Actions and Empty Desks: Persistent and Acute Attendance Effects
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceHow do immigration enforcement actions (IEAs) affect student attendance, and through what channels? We use student-by-day administrative records from a mid-size school district to estimate the causal effect of heightened federal immigration enforcement following the January 2025 presidential… more →
The legacy of Plyler v. Doe: A critical window of inclusion
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceThis study examines whether the 1982 Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision increased school participation among Latino K–12 students likely to be undocumented in Texas. The analysis asks whether removing tuition and enrollment barriers changed participation patterns relative to comparable states… more →
The Effects of Immigration Enforcement on Student Outcomes in a New Era of Immigration Policy in the United States
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceThis study presents the first evidence, to our knowledge, of the effects of the surge in interior immigration apprehensions in 2025 in the United States on student academic performance using detailed student-level administrative records from Florida. We find evidence that immigration enforcement… more →
Absent and Afraid? Immigration Enforcement and Student Attendance in the Second Trump Administration
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceIntensified immigration enforcement activity under the second Trump administration has increased anxiety for immigrants in the United States, including many families with school-age children. This study provides early evidence on the effects of the second Trump presidency on the attendance of… more →
What happened to adult education in the United States?
In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these… more →
Closing gaps for racial minorities and immigrants through school-to-work linkages and occupational match
This study investigates the role of college major choices in labor market outcomes, with a focus on racial minorities and immigrants. Drawing upon research on school-to-work linkages, we examine two measures, linkage – the connection between college majors and specific occupations in the labor… more →
The extent and consequences of teacher biases against immigrants
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentWe study the extent and consequences of biases against immigrants exhibited by high school teachers in Finland. Compared to native students, immigrant students receive 0.06 standard deviation units lower scores from teachers than from blind graders. This effect is almost entirely driven by… more →
Native Flight Responses to Immigration: Evidence from K-12 School Enrollments
Topics: Families and CommunitiesOver the past few decades, the U.S. has received a consistent and increasing influx of immigrants into the nation. Immigration poses challenges relating to diversity, inclusion and cohesion in education systems, including K-12 education. In the context of immigration, the theory of native flight… more →
Documenting Their Decisions: How Undocumented Students Enroll and Persist in College
Tags: Immigrant origin students, EquityThe absence of federal support leaves undocumented students reliant on state policies to financially support their postsecondary education. We descriptively examine the postsecondary trajectories of tens of thousands of undocumented students newly eligible for California’s state aid program,… more →
Understanding Newcomer English Learner Students’ English Language Development: Comparisons and Predictors
Topics: Student LearningAn important subgroup of English learner-classified (EL) students immigrate to the U.S., entering U.S. schools upon their arrival. Using growth models and statewide data, this study asks first, how newcomers’ English proficiency status and growth compare to those of non-newcomer EL students; and… more →
Do Refugee Students Affect the Academic Achievement of Peers? Evidence from a Large Urban School District
Topics: Student LearningPolicy debate on refugee resettlement focuses on perceived adverse effects on local communities, with sparse credible evidence to ascertain its impact. This paper examines whether attending school with refugees affects the academic outcomes of non-refugee students. Leveraging variation in the… more →
Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students
Topics: Student LearningWe study the effect of exposure to immigrants on the educational outcomes of US-born students, using a unique dataset combining population-level birth and school records from Florida. This research question is complicated by substantial school selection of US-born students, especially among… more →
The Effect of Immigration Enforcement on School Engagement: Evidence from 287(g) Programs in North Carolina
Topics: Families and CommunitiesDuring the past fifteen years, immigration enforcement increased dramatically in the U.S. interior. There is a growing recognition that immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior has spillover effects onto U.S. citizens. I examine the impacts of a type of partnership between Immigration and… more →
Does Peer Motivation Impact Educational Investments? Evidence From DACA
Topics: Student LearningDespite the significant influence that peer motivation is likely to have on educational investments during high school, it is difficult to test empirically since exogenous changes in peer motivation are rarely observed. In this paper, I focus on the 2012 introduction of Deferred Action for… more →
Immigrant Integration in the United States: The Role of Adult English Language Training
While current debates center on whether and how to admit immigrants to the United States, little attention has been paid to interventions designed to help immigrants integrate after they arrive. Public adult education programs are the primary policy lever for building the language skills of the… more →
Best and Brightest? The Impact of Student Visa Restrictiveness on Who Attends College in the US
Recent immigration policies have created massive uncertainty for international students to obtain F-1 visas. Yet, before the COVID-19 pandemic, student visa applicants already faced an approximately 27 percent refusal rate that varies by time and region. Using data on the universe of SAT takers… more →
The Educational Gradient in Health among Children in Immigrant Families
Topics: Families and CommunitiesTags: Immigrant origin students, EquityEducational inequality in the health of U.S.