Umut Özek

Institution

RAND Corporation

Title

Senior Economist

Email

uozek@rand.org

Website

https://www.rand.org/about/people/o/ozek_umut.html

Umut Özek is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation who focuses on topics in economics of education. His recent research interests include immigrant students and English learners, implementation and consequences of educational accountability, K-12 remediation policies and their effects, and the design and effects of school choice programs. His previous research was funded by the Institutes of Education Sciences, National Science Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and Smith Richardson Foundation, and was published or is forthcoming in the Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Public Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Education Finance and Policy, and Economics of Education Review among others. Before joining RAND, he was a principal economist at the American Institutes for Research. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida.

EdWorkingPapers

Socioeconomic and Racial Discrepancies in Algebra Access, Teacher, and Learning Experiences: Findings from the American Mathematics Educator Study

Lauren Covelli, Julia Kaufman, Umut Özek. November 2024

Topics: Student Learning

Tags: Equity, Human capital, Mathematics education

In this study, we highlight the differences in classroom-, teacher-, and school-level factors in 8th and 9th grade algebra experiences along socioeconomic and racial/ethnic lines using nationally representative survey data from the American Mathematics Educator Study. Several takeaways emerge… more →
Download 11/2024
Does One Plus One Always Equal Two? Examining Complementarities in Educational Interventions

Umut Özek. March 2024

Topics: Methods

Tags: Assessment, Efficacy

Public policies targeting individuals based on need often impose disproportionate burden on communities that lack the resources to implement these policies effectively. In an elementary school setting, I examine whether community-level interventions focusing on similar needs and providing… more →
Download 03/2024
Educational Spillover Effects of New English Learners in a New Destination State

Sy Doan, Sam Morales, Umut Özek, Heather Schwartz. August 2023

Topics: Student Learning

Tags: Race, ethnicity, and education, Multilingual learners

The number of English learners enrolled in public schools has grown substantially in the United States over the past two decades. The growth is especially large in states in the South and Midwest that have not been traditional destinations for recent immigrants. In this study, we examine the… more →
Download 08/2023
The Effects of Middle School Remediation on Postsecondary Success: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Florida

Umut Özek. September 2021

Topics: Student Learning

Tags: College readiness, Efficacy, Middle schools

High school graduation rates in the United States are at an all-time high, yet many of these graduates are deemed not ready for postsecondary coursework when they enter college. This study examines the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of remedial courses in middle school using a regression… more →
Download 09/2021
Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students

David Figlio, Paola Giuliano, Riccardo Marchingiglio, Umut Özek, Paola Sapienza. March 2021

Topics: Student Learning

Tags: Immigrant origin students, Learning environments, Neighborhoods

We 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 →
Download 03/2021
Examining the Educational Spillover Effects of Severe Natural Disasters: The Case of Hurricane Maria

Umut Özek. December 2020

Topics: Student Well-Being and Mental Health

Tags: Learning environments, Student discipline, Student supports

This study examines the effects of internal migration driven by severe natural disasters on host communities, and the mechanisms behind these effects, using the large influx of migrants into Florida public schools after Hurricane Maria. I find adverse effects of the influx in the first year on… more →
Download 12/2020