Rigorous research

EPI faculty and predoctoral students will present their research at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management's Annual Conference.  A list of our presenters and papers presented can be found here.  

EPI researchers are actively engaged in a variety of research projects, including evaluations of early literacy interventions, COVID-19 impacts on K-12, college readiness and success initiatives, and other education policies aimed at improving outcomes for children into adulthood.

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Leveraging knowledge

Research partnerships

We have established formal research collaborations with a number of state and local education agencies—including in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, and Boston. We engage in partnerships with researchers at other leading universities as well.
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Impacts of the Boston Pre-K Program Through Early Adulthood Study

The Boston Early Adulthood study is the second phase of an ongoing study, which follows 12,740 children who applied to the Boston Pre-K program between 2007 and 2011. The Boston Pre-K program is somewhat unique in the national landscape as it uses evidence- and play-based language, literacy, and math-focused curriculum, pays teachers on the same scale as their K-12 peers, provides coaching supports to teachers, and is open to children in Boston, regardless of family characteristics. The first students to experience the program are just reaching early adulthood, allowing our team to estimate the impacts of Boston Pre-K on students’ school progress, school engagement, academic achievement, educational trajectory, and educational attainment through age 20. The study also aims to describe students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore whether the timing of the crisis held different implications for students in later high school grades versus middle school/early high school.
Boston Pre-K through Early Adulthood Study
Powerful data resources

Michigan Education Data Center (MEDC)

Operated by EPI, MEDC is a secure data clearinghouse that helps researchers use Michigan’s education data to uncover critical insights about children, schools, and educational interventions, ultimately improving outcomes for students. MEDC is part of the Michigan Education Research Institute (MERI), a groundbreaking partnership launched in 2018 between U-M, MSU, the Michigan Department of Education, and the Center for Educational Performance and Information.
Learn more
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