Thomas S. Dee

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.

Thanks. FYI, my study came out last week in @pnas.org and is open access: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Open access is available here: doi.org/10.1073/pnas....

The aggressive immigration raids we now see across the nation began 10 months ago in California's Central Valley. Their impact on children, families, and communities is an important & active area of research

I'm pleased my study of the initial raid's early impact on students is now out in @pnas.org

👍 but I think it's far less difficult (and constraining of discovery) than some people think. For example, it's simple enough to preregister a "decision tree" of research designs to be informed by robustness checks.

The key thing is to create transparency to support sense-making of study results

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...

Lecture photo, credit: Eric Patashnik

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.

High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? (Opinion) The connection between education research, policy, and practice is broken. Here’s what it would take to fix it.

Not sure but always happy to connect! I plan to stress some of the aligned ideas in this recent @edweek.org #K12BigIdeas essay👇 and your recent book! (www.amazon.com/rethinking-c...).

www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

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.

Teachers sue over Trump's immigration crackdown, saying students are staying home Labor unions representing educators and school employees are suing President Donald Trump’s administration over its immigration crackdown

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

High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? (Opinion) The connection between education research, policy, and practice is broken. Here’s what it would take to fix it.

"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...

High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? (Opinion) The connection between education research, policy, and practice is broken. Here’s what it would take to fix it.

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

High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? (Opinion) The connection between education research, policy, and practice is broken. Here’s what it would take to fix it.

"...embrace opportunities for quick and meaningful wins. These are the common-sense education initiatives that share three critical features: evidentiary support, low financial costs, and scalability." - @tomdee.bsky.social www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

High Quality Research Rarely Informs Classroom Practice. Why? (Opinion) The connection between education research, policy, and practice is broken. Here’s what it would take to fix it.

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...

Thanks for flagging that. There seems to be some agreement on the role of post Great Recession spending declines?

I'm curious how people view hypotheses about these achievement declines. I incline towards (1) the failure to refine & sustain school accountability & (2) the rise of smart phones & social media. But that's conjectural without better evidence.

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.

‘There was a lot of fear’: Central Valley immigration raids drive up absences in schools, study finds Immigration raids in January and February increased absences by 22% in five school districts, according to a newly released Stanford study.

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

Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools

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...

Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools

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...

The gift of time? School starting age and mental health Using linked Danish survey and register data, we estimate the causal effect of age at kindergarten entry on mental health. Danish children are supposed to enter kindergarten in the calendar year in w...

My research w/ @hhsievertsen.bsky.social indicates redshirting benefits kids lacking the self-regulation needed to thrive in more structured classrooms.

That argues for kindergarten-readiness assessments that inform targeted—not universal—responses. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Should Boys Start Kindergarten a Year Later Than Girls?

I spoke with the NYT for this article. I'm unconvinced that the universal kindergarten redshirting of boys is a good idea...

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/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.

Citizen Stewart Show - The Branch

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...