The Annenberg Institute at Brown University is pleased to announce that faculty members Christopher Cleveland and Jesse Bruhn along with Institute Director John Papay have received prestigious research grants as part of the Student Upward Mobility Initiative. They will join 13 other research teams nationwide exploring how PK–12 education can enhance students' future economic mobility.
Christopher Cleveland is a co-investigator on a project titled "What Skills Help Students with Disabilities Thrive?" along with colleagues Jacob Hibel, Andrew Penner, and Andrew Saultz. This research will investigate how the services and supports provided to students with disabilities during their K–12 education relate to their academic and life outcomes in early adulthood, including postsecondary attainment, income, and more. Using linked data from Oregon and the U.S. Census Bureau, the study will evaluate how outcomes vary depending on the services students received and their duration.“Students with disabilities face challenges around key markers of being on a trajectory of adult flourishing,” Cleveland notes. “This research project will highlight promising policy and practice levers that have the potential to enhance the skills and competencies tied to later economic mobility among learners with diverse abilities.”
Jesse Bruhn will lead the project "Using Machine Learning to Uncover Which Skills Contribute to Students' Future Economic Mobility." The team will apply machine learning techniques to analyze test questions and capture specific skills that contribute to long-term outcomes such as wages and college attendance. Using math and reading test data from Texas public schools, this research aims to uncover critical skills that may be overlooked in current standardized tests but are vital for economic mobility. “Our goal with this project is simple,” Bruhn explains, “to improve standardized testing so that it provides teachers and families with more accurate insights into the skills and abilities that truly matter for long-term success and well-being.”
John Papay received a grant for his project titled "How Does Academic Success in High School Translate into Economic Mobility?" In this study, Papay and collaborators with Annenberg’s Educational Opportunity in Massachusetts project will examine how students' grades, test scores, and other academic success indicators in high school relate to postsecondary achievement and earnings. The research, growing out of a partnership with the Massachusetts Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education, will focus on how schools can improve K–12 outcomes and economic mobility for students from historically marginalized groups. “We are excited to be engaging in this work with educators in Massachusetts,” remarks Papay, “and to collaborate with other researchers in the SUMI community to understand educational opportunity and mobility across the country.”
These grants are made possible by the support of the Student Upward Mobility Initiative, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in partnership with the Urban Institute, with funding from the Walton Family Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Joyce Foundation.
The mission of the Student Upward Mobility Initiative is to support students’ economic mobility by establishing a set of skills and competencies in PK–12 education—across academic achievement, noncognitive factors, health and well-being, social capital, and career preparation—that educators and policymakers can use to shape practices, programs, interventions, and broader systems change.
To learn more about the initiative, visit student upward mobility.urban.org.