Matthew A Kraft
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matthewakraft.com
Matthew A Kraft
@matthewakraft.com

Professor of Education and Economics. Former high school humanities teacher. Proud papa & volunteer soccer coach. Reading as much as I can about climate change. www.matthewakraft.com

Matthew A. Kraft is an American economist of education, educator, and researcher. He is currently a Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Fellow with IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. His primary work focuses on efforts to improve educator and organizational effectiveness in U.S. public schools. Kraft also is also the Founder and Faculty Director of SustainableED, an initiative at Brown University focused on advancing research at the intersection of education systems and climate change. From July 2024 to July 2025, he was appointed by the Biden administration to serve as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. .. more

Education 82%
Business 6%

I'm excited to kick-off our SustainableEd virtual seminar series with Jorge Cuartas this Monday! @edsustainable.bsky.social

It is open to the public and free - join us!
Join our #SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series with @jorgecuartas.bsky.social, Assistant Professor at NYU and director of the CARE Lab, whose work explores how climate change shapes child development and family well-being.

🗓️ 12/1 | 🕐 1:00-1:45 EST
🔗 Register here: brown.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

Join our #SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series with @jorgecuartas.bsky.social, Assistant Professor at NYU and director of the CARE Lab, whose work explores how climate change shapes child development and family well-being.

🗓️ 12/1 | 🕐 1:00-1:45 EST
🔗 Register here: brown.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

🌍How does climate change impact our youngest learners?

In our new #SustainableED Speaker Series, @jorgecuartas.bsky.social will explore emerging evidence connecting climate change and child development.

🗓️: 12/1 | 🕐 1:00-1:45 EST

Register here: buff.ly/BD7cCv5

Conference topics will include:

Creating more resilient & sustainable schools

How climate change impacts sch infrastructure & operations, students, & teachers

Climate literacy & environmental education

Career & Tech Ed for green jobs

Schools as hubs for climate solutions
@edsustainable.bsky.social is hosting our first annual interdisciplinary conference!

Research at the intersection of education and the environment. 🎓🌎

May 1st, 2026

Providence, RI

Easy one paragraph abstract submission ⬇️
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Please share w/ your networks!
📢 New postdoc opportunity at Annenberg!

The Annenberg Institute is seeking a postdoctoral research associate for a 2‐year appointment to join a diverse community of scholars committed to educational equity and improvement!

More info here: annenberg.brown.edu/opportunitie...

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

H/t to @shermandorn.com for reminding me about this important article by @matthewakraft.com on how typical interpretations of Cohen's d (.20 = small, etc.) are oversimplified. Decision-makers often want... (1/2) #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky
Interpreting Effect Sizes of Education Interventions - Matthew A. Kraft, 2020
Researchers commonly interpret effect sizes by applying benchmarks proposed by Jacob Cohen over a half century ago. However, effects that are small by Cohen’s s...
journals.sagepub.com
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

📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!

We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:

12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social

Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!

We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:

12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social

Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable

That is a key question from a cost-benefit perspective. We cannot fully nail it down b/c we lack a pure control group, but we estimate that 3:1 tutoring would need to raise student achievement by at least 0.07 SD to be more cost-effective than 1:1. This is far from guaranteed based on literature.

Check out the full paper - it is a short and sweet 7 pages.

Many thanks to the good folks at Littera Education for their partnership and my amazing coauthor Ginny Lovison!

And finally, survey responses indicated that 1:1 tutoring online allowed tutors to:

4) create a space where a “kid feels special, valued, and safe to be themselves” and students “weren’t afraid to ask questions” and “weren’t afraid of being wrong.”

Tutors reported 1:1 tutoring online was more successful because they could:

2) “build a better relationship with students”

3) “move at a faster pace” because there were “less distractions” and students were not “working at different paces”

4️⃣ primary advantages of 1:1 tutoring online emerged from tutors’ open-ended responses.

Tutors commonly reported that individual tutoring allowed them to:

1) “personalize the lesson” and “customize the learning experience” so that each student “learned at his/her own pace”

My hot take - extrapolating from this study & other evidence:

Tutoring in small groups is harder in an online setting than in person.

If online tutoring is the best fit for your context, I would prioritize one-on-one.

If you want small groups, prioritize tutoring in person.

Reposted by Aaron Sojourner

What are the tradeoffs of one-on-one vs. small group (3:1) tutoring in an online setting?

We ran an RCT and surveyed tutors working in both conditions to find out.

Now out in EEPA
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...

@annenberginstitute.bsky.social working paper
edworkingpapers.com/ai24-976

🧵

The public education system has engaged in a profoundly unique experiment to take tutoring to scale as part of pandemic recovery efforts.

I had the pleasure of speaking w/ @lizcohen12.bsky.social about what we've learned & where we go from here.

thefutureoftutoring.substack.com/p/q-and-a-ma...

Another job opportunity for scholars studying sustainability and education!

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

New 🌍 + 🎓 job opportunity: Teachers College at Columbia University is hiring an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Sustainability & Education! Be a part of their new Sustainability & Ed MA program. More info in the posting -->

employment.tc.columbia.edu/cw/en-us/job...
Assistant Professor of Teaching in Sustainability & Education
The newly established Master of Arts in Sustainability & Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University invites applications for a full-time Assistant Professor of Teaching position, begin...
employment.tc.columbia.edu

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

Tomorrow (!) at SREE: Sohil Malik will be presenting *new* research from our team, "Pollution and Environmental Contamination Sites Near US Schools: A National Analysis"

Symposium #543 in Salon 7, 9:00am on Friday
Hope to see you there!

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

At SREE 2025 this week: Grace Falken will be presenting findings from our recent working paper, "Education Systems and Climate Change: Synthesizing the Evidence to Guide Future Research"

Symposium #543 in Salon 7, 9:00am on Friday
Hope to see you there!

Reposted by Matthew A. Kraft

A study in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis found that 1:1 tutoring is more effective than 3:1 tutoring in an online setting. @matthewakraft.com
journals.sagepub.com/stoken/defau...
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