About

Brian A. Jacob is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy and a professor of economics at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is also the co-director of the Youth Policy Lab and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His primary fields of interest include labor economics, program evaluation, and the economics of education. Jacob's current research focuses on urban school reform, with particular emphasis on standards and accountability initiatives. He teaches courses such as 'Economics of Education' and classes focused on education policy. Prior to his current position, he came from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and has experience as a policy analyst in the NYC Mayor's Office and as a middle school teacher in East Harlem. Jacob has received notable recognition, including the David N. Kershaw Prize in 2008 for his contributions to public policy before the age of 40.

Research topics

• Economics
• Economic growth
• Business
• Finance
• Demographic economics
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Econometrics
• Macroeconomics
• Nursing
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Gerontology
• Geography
• Actuarial science
• Public economics
• Market economy

Selected publications

• Impacts of Michigan Transitional Kindergarten through third grade

  Child Development · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen access

  Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively new and under-researched model of early childhood education. Using data from Michigan TK, this study examines impacts for children (50% female, 78% White, 9% Black, 7% Hispanic) who enrolled at age 4 in 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 using a regression discontinuity design. Michigan TK improved kindergarten readiness (0.9 SD, N = 1,943) and third-grade math scores (0.2-0.3 SD, N = 15,680). It had no impact on ever being placed in special education from kindergarten through second grade, but it did cause earlier entry into special education in kindergarten (N = 15,704). Our findings add to the larger evidence base on early education programs and contribute substantially to the evidence base on TK specifically.

  PublisherDOI

• Replication Code for: Impacts of Michigan Transitional Kindergarten Through Third Grade

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-29

  datasetOpen access

  Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively new and under-researched model of early childhood education. Using data from Michigan TK, this study examines impacts for children (50% female, 78% White, 9% Black, 7% Hispanic) who enrolled at age four in 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 using a regression discontinuity design. Michigan TK improved kindergarten readiness (0.9 SD, N=1,943) and third-grade math scores (0.2-0.3 SD, N=15,680). It had no impact on ever being placed in special education from kindergarten through second grade, but it did cause earlier entry into special education in kindergarten (N=15,704). Our findings add to the larger evidence base on early education programs and contribute substantially to the evidence base on TK specifically.

  PublisherDOI

• Implementation and Impact of School Cellphone Policy on School and Community Violence in Michigan

  Open Science Framework · 2026-01-01

  otherOpen access

  Interactions between young people today increasingly occur in digital spaces. Over half of adolescents in 2023 reported using social media (SM) for at least four hours per day, and apps like Snapchat are widely and frequently used by teens. There is substantial evidence that frequent use of digital technology, and SM in particular, can lead to poor mental health. Adolescent social media use is associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression, sleep issues and even negative neurological effects. Frequent social media use is also associated with disengagement from school and poor academic performance. Moreover, technology mediated interactions between youth have both direct and indirect implications for interpersonal and community violence. Up to 16% of youth report experiencing cyberbullying in the past year, with higher rates among LGBTQ+ adolescents (25%) and female (21%). Escalation in digital spaces contributes to violent incidents within schools, but can also extend into neighborhood spaces as youth seek interactions not monitored by adults. Additionally, youth utilize digital apps on cellphones in schools to coordinate and record fights, which are shared across platforms. Indirectly, increased smartphone/SM use is associated with poorer mental health and academic outcomes (e.g., disengagement), which are in turn associated with increased risk for both violence perpetration and victimization. Following two advisories from the U.S. Surgeon General on youth mental health and social media use, a number of school districts across the country implemented some type of ban or restriction on cellphone use in schools. Eight states have passed state-wide policies relating to cellphone use in schools, and many other districts and states are considering such policies. While cellphone restrictions in schools are not new, prior policies were often vague and loosely enforced. The growing concern about youth mental health and academic engagement has led to a push for more stringent and rigorously enforced bans. Yet little is known about how effective such policies will be in reducing school- and community-based violence. Even if cellphone restrictions may be an effective method to reduce violence, they may have unintended consequences such as limiting the ability of students to report concerns about oneself or others via school- or community-based reporting systems, creating barriers to legitimate academic or health use, and impeding communication between young people and their caregivers. It is also unclear whether sub-populations of students are disproportionately affected by the implementation and enforcement of cellphone policies. We propose a mixed-methods examination of school cellphone policies and their immediate and medium-term effect on school and community violence. Using a combination of interview, survey, and administrative data sources, we will describe state-level variability in district student cellphone policies, understand implementation factors related to cellphone policies, including barriers and facilitators, and assess their impact on indicators of community violence, including fights in school, school discipline, and police incidents. We will also study how the cellphone policies impact mental health and academic outcomes and examine whether these effects mediate impacts on violence. Finally, we will examine how implementation fidelity and district demographics differentially affect policy efficacy. The proposed project falls under CDC Research Objective #1 (effectiveness research to evaluate innovative approaches for reducing community violence) and has direct policy implications for districts in Michigan and across the country seeking to make decisions about related policies. The specific aims of this project are to: -Aim 1: Describe variation in district-level cellphone policies as well as facilitators and barriers to implementation of policies that districts use to regulate student cellphone use. -Aim 2: Examine which student- and district-level factors predict whether districts adopt cellphone policies as well as the implementation fidelity of the policies. -Aim 3A: Estimate the impact of school cellphone policies on school and community violence, including variation in effects by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status -Aim 3B: Test whether student mental health and academic outcomes mediate the effect of cellphone policies on school and community violence. -Aim 3C: Test whether implementation fidelity moderates the effect of cellphone policies on school and community violence.

  PublisherDOI

• Replication Code for: Impacts of Michigan Transitional Kindergarten Through Third Grade

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-29

  datasetOpen access

  Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively new and under-researched model of early childhood education. Using data from Michigan TK, this study examines impacts for children (50% female, 78% White, 9% Black, 7% Hispanic) who enrolled at age four in 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 using a regression discontinuity design. Michigan TK improved kindergarten readiness (0.9 SD, N=1,943) and third-grade math scores (0.2-0.3 SD, N=15,680). It had no impact on ever being placed in special education from kindergarten through second grade, but it did cause earlier entry into special education in kindergarten (N=15,704). Our findings add to the larger evidence base on early education programs and contribute substantially to the evidence base on TK specifically.

  PublisherDOI

• We collected data on how 779 Michigan school districts are regulating student cellphones − here are the trends

  2026-04-09

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Implementation and Impact of School Cellphone Policy on School and Community Violence in Michigan

  Open MIND · 2026-01-01

  otherOpen access

  Interactions between young people today increasingly occur in digital spaces. Over half of adolescents in 2023 reported using social media (SM) for at least four hours per day, and apps like Snapchat are widely and frequently used by teens. There is substantial evidence that frequent use of digital technology, and SM in particular, can lead to poor mental health. Adolescent social media use is associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression, sleep issues and even negative neurological effects. Frequent social media use is also associated with disengagement from school and poor academic performance. Moreover, technology mediated interactions between youth have both direct and indirect implications for interpersonal and community violence. Up to 16% of youth report experiencing cyberbullying in the past year, with higher rates among LGBTQ+ adolescents (25%) and female (21%). Escalation in digital spaces contributes to violent incidents within schools, but can also extend into neighborhood spaces as youth seek interactions not monitored by adults. Additionally, youth utilize digital apps on cellphones in schools to coordinate and record fights, which are shared across platforms. Indirectly, increased smartphone/SM use is associated with poorer mental health and academic outcomes (e.g., disengagement), which are in turn associated with increased risk for both violence perpetration and victimization. Following two advisories from the U.S. Surgeon General on youth mental health and social media use, a number of school districts across the country implemented some type of ban or restriction on cellphone use in schools. Eight states have passed state-wide policies relating to cellphone use in schools, and many other districts and states are considering such policies. While cellphone restrictions in schools are not new, prior policies were often vague and loosely enforced. The growing concern about youth mental health and academic engagement has led to a push for more stringent and rigorously enforced bans. Yet little is known about how effective such policies will be in reducing school- and community-based violence. Even if cellphone restrictions may be an effective method to reduce violence, they may have unintended consequences such as limiting the ability of students to report concerns about oneself or others via school- or community-based reporting systems, creating barriers to legitimate academic or health use, and impeding communication between young people and their caregivers. It is also unclear whether sub-populations of students are disproportionately affected by the implementation and enforcement of cellphone policies. We propose a mixed-methods examination of school cellphone policies and their immediate and medium-term effect on school and community violence. Using a combination of interview, survey, and administrative data sources, we will describe state-level variability in district student cellphone policies, understand implementation factors related to cellphone policies, including barriers and facilitators, and assess their impact on indicators of community violence, including fights in school, school discipline, and police incidents. We will also study how the cellphone policies impact mental health and academic outcomes and examine whether these effects mediate impacts on violence. Finally, we will examine how implementation fidelity and district demographics differentially affect policy efficacy. The proposed project falls under CDC Research Objective #1 (effectiveness research to evaluate innovative approaches for reducing community violence) and has direct policy implications for districts in Michigan and across the country seeking to make decisions about related policies. The specific aims of this project are to: -Aim 1: Describe variation in district-level cellphone policies as well as facilitators and barriers to implementation of policies that districts use to regulate student cellphone use. -Aim 2: Examine which student- and district-level factors predict whether districts adopt cellphone policies as well as the implementation fidelity of the policies. -Aim 3A: Estimate the impact of school cellphone policies on school and community violence, including variation in effects by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status -Aim 3B: Test whether student mental health and academic outcomes mediate the effect of cellphone policies on school and community violence. -Aim 3C: Test whether implementation fidelity moderates the effect of cellphone policies on school and community violence.

  Publisher

• Understanding Michigan’s Reconnect Program Applicants

  Upjohn Research (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) · 2025-10-31

  article
  Publisher

• Loopholes and the Incidence of Public Services: Evidence From Funding Career and Technical Education

  Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · 2025-11-08

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT In 2015, Michigan increased its Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding and changed its funding formula to reimburse programs based on student progression through program curricula. Although this change nearly doubled program completion rates, student enrollment and persistence were unaffected; instead, administrators accelerated student progress by reorganizing course curricula around notches in the new funding formula. As a result of response heterogeneity, 30% of the funding increase was transferred away from high‐poverty districts to more affluent ones, underscoring how supply‐side responses to loopholes shape the incidence of public services.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impacts of Grade Retention Policy with Minimal Retention

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing the impact of grade retention: A cautionary tale of exclusion restriction violations

  Journal of Public Economics · 2025-12-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jonah Rockoff

  Columbia University

  103 shared

• Lars Lefgren

  Brigham Young University

  89 shared

• Jens Ludwig

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  64 shared

• Thomas J. Kane

  Center For Policy Research

  55 shared

• Douglas O. Staiger

  Dartmouth College

  55 shared

• Eric Taylor

  United States Fish and Wildlife Service

  52 shared

• Rachel Rosen

  Pfizer (United States)

  52 shared

• Benjamin Lindy

  Teach For America

  51 shared

Labs

• Youth Policy LabPI

Awards & honors

• David N. Kershaw Prize (2008)