Research
Publication
The Impact of Granting Undocumented Immigrants Driver’s Licenses on Fatal Crashes
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Early View (2025).
Job Market Paper
How Does a Four-Day School Week Affect High School Students? Evidence from Colorado
(with Meng Song)
We examine the impact of the four-day school week on high school students’ outcomes using comprehensive administrative data from Colorado, the state with the highest prevalence of this schedule in the United States. The dataset spans nearly two decades of entry cohorts and more than one million unique student records, providing an exceptional opportunity to study the policy’s long-run effects. Leveraging quasi-random variation in adoption across districts within a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate how a shortened school week shapes students’ educational trajectories. In contrast to much of the existing literature, we find modest improvements in standardized test performance, lower dropout rates, and higher on-time and overall graduation. The duration of exposure plays a key role: students with longer and consistent exposure experience the largest improvements in persistence and attainment. At the same time, heterogeneous effects indicate that disadvantaged groups may benefit less, raising concerns about equity. Overall, the findings challenge the perception that a shorter school week harms student learning and suggest that, when designed and implemented carefully, it can enhance both performance and completion.
Working Papers
Faculty Gender Attitudes and Their Impact on College Students’ Academic Achievement
(with Ozkan Eren and Zhuoyu Qiu)
Higher Education in the Trump Era: Impacts on College Student Outcomes
(with Ozkan Eren and Zhuoyu Qiu)
Works in Progress
From Prison to Employment: The Effects of P2E Program on Recidivism and Labor Market Outcomes
(with Ozkan Eren)
Asylum-seeking Youth in U.S. Schools: Early Insights from the Buslift
(with Kevin Shih)