Thomas S. Dee

Though it seems to have fallen from the headlines, the available data indicate that ICE enforcement activity is more aggressive than ever. And we are only beginning to understand its implications for children, families, schools, and communities. www.the74million.org/article/the-...

The new academic year is finally underway at Stanford. Here's a real-time photo of me as I discuss the need for—and feasibility of—preregistering quasi-experimental studies. More here: tom-dee.github.io/files/QED_Pr...

Thank you to all who joined the EdWorkingPapers webinar with @tomdee.bsky.social and featuring @andrewmcamp.com, Jeremy Singer, and their co-authors. Join our email list to make sure you hear when the next webinar is announced: mailchi.mp/annenbergins...

My expectations for tomorrow's Congressional hearing with district superintendents are not high: “Some members of Congress, especially in an election year, would rather talk about anything other than their unrelenting support for an unpopular president and an unpopular war and economic precarity."

Register now for the June 17 EdWorkingPapers webinar facilitated by tomdee.bsky.social and featuring @andrewmcamp.com, Jeremy Singer, and their co-authors. edworkingpapers.com/webinar-series

I‘m really excited to talk about our research on attendance with @andrewmcamp.com, @tomdee.bsky.social, and our colleagues!

Looking forward to sharing some of my recent work + learn from some fantastic researchers in just 2 weeks! Check it out, sign up, and join us ⬇️

📵 This just in: results of the first large study of cell phone bans in U.S. schools, from SIEPR's Hunt Allcott, @tomdee.bsky.social and Matthew Gentzkow. Key findings + links to @nytimes.com exclusive + study ⬇️ #EducationPolicy

Quantitative research in education is scandalously bad

I'm pleased to be in DC today to speak at a congressional briefing on safe and supportive school environments and particularly to underscore the research on how recent immigration raids are influencing students and schools.

The steep ⬇️ in U.S. public school enrollment during the pandemic has not reversed, SIEPR's @tomdee.bsky.social tells @theguardian.com in a fascinating story about the difficult. choices cash-strapped schools now face. "There are no free lunches," Dee says. Link 👇 #PublicEducation #EduSky

I spoke with The Minnesota Star Tribune about the research evidence, mine and others, which indicates the many ways in which aggressive immigration enforcement harms children, schools, and communities. www.startribune.com/coronavirus-...

Glad to see @tomdee.bsky.social and Elizabeth Huffaker's work on accelerating opportunity in Algebra I out of the working papers and into @aeraedresearch.bsky.social! doi.org/10.3102/0002...

📢 Call for papers: CESifo Area Conference on Economics of Education co-organized w/ Eric Hanushek (Stanford) 🏛️ 11-12 Sept 2026, Munich 🧑‍🏫 Keynote: John List (Chicago) @johnlist.bsky.social 👉 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev... ⏰ Deadline: 11 May 2026 🖼️ Past programs: sites.google.com/view/woessma...

For context, this drop in attendance rates related to the measles outbreak (about 93% to 90%) is almost as large as the initial drop in TX attendance rates from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic (95% in 2018-19 to 91% in 2021-22). (TX attendance trends over time here: www.aei.org/research-pro...)

In 2000, measles was declared eradicated in the U.S. Today, declining child-vaccination rates are driving the largest measles resurgence we've seen in 3+ decades. How do these outbreaks impact schooling? @tomdee.bsky.social and I examine this question in West Texas, the country's largest outbreak.

Our preregistered study of mental-health co-responders—now out in Nature Human Behaviour (doi.org/10.1038/s415...) —finds positive benefits in terms of significant reductions in psychiatric detentions and future mental-health crises relative to police-only responses.

Empirical evidence and conceptual reasoning suggest quasi-experimental studies—the most common form of studies making causal claims—have a "p-hacking" problem. My essay on this and the case for adapting & adopting QED preregistration is now published in Evaluation Review. doi.org/10.1177/0193...

Such a warm, engaging, and informative visit! My thanks to the @annenberginstitute.bsky.social at Brown University for inviting me to give the Annenberg 2025 Distinguished Lecture.

I'm honored to give the Annenberg 2025 Distinguished Lecture next week and looking forward to being in conversation with this outstanding community.

Know any aspiring PhD students interested in quant studies in education? Please direct them to our programs in ed policy, econ of ed, or ed data science! I hope to welcome an energetic & ambitious student to join me in our new building 🌴☀️ Applications due November 17 ed.stanford.edu/admissions/a...

🚨Do you know a school, system, or network doing amazing work in support of student success in high school, particularly through a continuous-improvement approach? Let's recognize them! Encourage them to apply for the Carnegie Award for Impact (cfdn.at/4o4gp58). Applications due on November 10.

I have watched states delay releasing test scores for months as they work to message results and hope no one is paying attention.

It's gratifying to see my recent immigration-raid research actually being used. wapo.st/42mWdTn

"Educators should also understand the limitations of research evidence. Rigorous impact evaluations...can only tell us what has worked someplace at some time—not what will work universally for educators facing specific challenges." - @tomdee.bsky.social www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

Why aren't practices based on research implemented in schools? @tomdee.bsky.social has insights, and ideas for change. www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

Just out in @edweek.org's #K12BigIdeas, I criticize the quality & connectedness of education research, policy, & practice and discuss what it would take to do better. www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

Have we given too much "credit" to the pandemic for learning losses? Almost 50% of the post-pandemic decline in achievement on 8th grade NAEP was to be expected (without the pandemic!), simply using the same rate of declining achievement that began unfolding starting in 2013!

The @nytimes.com spotlighted a new study from #EdWorkingPapers that examines the profound impact of immigration raids on attendance in California's Central Valley. Read the NYT article below.

Immigration raids in January and February increased absences by 22% in five school districts, according to a newly released Stanford study.

🚨New research from SIEPR Senior Fellow @tomdee.bsky.social finds that student absences rose amid intensified immigration enforcement, indicating lost learning opportunities. 👇 bit.ly/3I1vGDJ

I appreciate the work of @wtgrantfdn.bsky.social grantee @tomdee.bsky.social showing student attendance, already in crisis after COVID, is further disrupted by immigration raids www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

The current wave of federal immigration raids began in January with a “rogue” operation in California’s Central Valley. My new study finds these raids increased school absences by 22%—a leading indicator of the resulting family stress & lost learning opportunities👇 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

Seen on the streets of Paris today. #EdPolicy is everywhere.

This provocative, data-infused essay by James Wyckoff — edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1197 — serves as a reminder that fully understanding the declines in student achievement requires us to look well before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wow the latest episode of the @citizenstewart.bsky.social show nails it when it comes to the evidence on merit pay. It's hard to get it right (implementation details, supports, etc.), but it can move the needle on student achievement. But 👇 www.thebranchmedia.org/show/citizen...

I was so pleased to cross the Bay today and speak at the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (www.bitss.org) about the need for (and feasibility of) adopting preregistration of studies making causal claims with observational data. #OpenScience

"With Silicon Valley in full AI hype mode, we need independent studies of AI in education that we can trust to fairly evaluate this technology’s impact, positive or negative. We’re not getting that right now and it’s a problem." open.substack.com/pub/buildcog...