About

Sarah Cohodes is an associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her expertise involves using quantitative causal inference methods to evaluate education policies and programs. She is known for her influential research on charter schools, school choice, programs for high-achieving students, and settings that support access to high-quality education. Cohodes holds a PhD in Public Policy and an EdM in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University. She is affiliated with several research organizations, including the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), CESifo, and Blueprint Labs. Her work focuses on education, poverty, and social policy, and she has contributed to understanding the impact of charter schools, teacher performance pay, STEM summer programs, and the relationship between education and voting behavior.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Political science
• Mathematics education
• Demographic economics
• Computer science

Selected publications

• The long run effects of a teacher-focused school reform on student outcomes

  Journal of Public Economics · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen access1st author

  This paper examines the effects of a teacher-focused school reform program — combining performance pay with teacher observation and feedback — implemented in high-need schools on students’ longer-run educational, criminal justice, and economic self-sufficiency outcomes. Using linked administrative data from a Southern state, we leverage the quasi-randomness of the timing of program adoption across schools to show that the school reform improved educational attainment and reduced both felony criminal activity before age 19 and dependence on government assistance in early adulthood (ages 18–22). We find little scope for student sorting or changes in the composition of teacher workforce to explain the findings, and instead find changes in school climate consistent with improved school environments and increased teacher efficiency. Program benefits far exceeded its costs. A comparison with a similar educator-focused reform suggests that the individual incentive component of the program is necessary but not sufficient to improve student outcomes. • Teacher-focused reform combining performance pay with teacher observation, and feedback improved student outcomes. • Reform increased educational attainment, reduced felony crime activity, and lowered welfare reliance in early adulthood. • Gains were driven by improved school climate and teacher efficiency, not sorting. • Benefits exceeded costs.

  PublisherDOI

• Why Does Education Increase Voting? Evidence from Boston’s Charter Schools

  The Review of Economics and Statistics · 2025-10-29

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Americans with more education vote more, but we know little about whether this effect on civic participation arises from educational quality or quantity. Using admissions lotteries at Boston charter schools, we find that charter attendance boosts voter participation, substantially increasing voting in the first presidential election after a student turns 18 by six percentage points from a baseline of 35 percent. This effect operates through increased turnout, as there is no increase in registration. Rich data enable us to explore multiple potential channels of this voting impact. Our evidence suggests that charters increase voting by increasing noncognitive skills.

  PublisherDOI

• The Long Run Effects of a Teacher-Focused School Reform on Student Outcomes

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Residential versus Online? Experimental Evidence on Diversifying the STEM Pipeline

  AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2024-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Prior research has shown that most educational interventions boost student outcomes to a greater extent when delivered in person as opposed to online. However, we know little about whether this is true for enrichment programs targeted to highly motivated populations. By using a randomized controlled trial to study a suite of such programs intended to increase diversity in the STEM pipeline, we reveal that all experiences increase college six-year graduation, especially from competitive universities, but increases in STEM degree production come only from in-person experiences.

  PublisherDOI

• Thirty Years of Charter Schools: What Does Lottery-Based Research Tell Us?

  Journal of School Choice · 2024-08-08 · 7 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Charter schools can serve as "laboratories of innovation," generating evidence about effective educational practices via their random admissions lotteries. This paper synthesizes findings from charter school lottery-based studies and identifies future research priorities. Evidence shows charter schools can boost academic achievement and long-term outcomes, especially for lower-performing, nonwhite, low-income students and those with disabilities. However, these findings are limited to oversubscribed schools in urban areas. Future research should expand geographic coverage, update K-12 academic outcomes, and explore non-test-score outcomes, college, and earnings. Addressing these areas would strengthen evidence and inform education policymaking in the charter sector and beyond.

  PublisherDOI

• Different Paths to College Success: The Impact of Massachusetts’ Charter Schools on College Trajectories

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-07-01 · 2 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Diverse Paths to College Success: The Impact of Massachusetts' Urban and Nonurban Charter Schools on College Trajectories

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Long Run Effects of a Comprehensive Teacher Performance Pay Program on Student Outcomes

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• When Do Informational Interventions Work? Experimental Evidence From New York City High School Choice

  Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · 2023-11-06 · 11 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Despite evidence that informational interventions can influence K–12 school choices, we know little about the mechanisms through which they work and the factors that produce heterogeneity in student responses. Through a school-level randomized controlled trial conducted in 473 New York City middle schools serving 115,000 eighth graders, we evaluated three counselor-delivered informational interventions that were designed to help students avoid low-graduation high schools, but differed in their level of individual customization and mode of delivery (paper or online). Every intervention reduced likelihood of application to and enrollment in low-graduation-rate schools (those below the city median of 75%). Simplified paper interventions had the largest impacts and produced lower heterogeneity in effects across subgroups than customizable digital formats. A key mechanism by which interventions worked was through new information replacing students’ default first-choice schools that had low graduation rates and guaranteed admission. We conclude that informational interventions to support school choice can be effectively implemented at scale via school counselors, but that intervention design can lead to differences in who engages, with consequences for inequality.

  PublisherDOI

• The Long Run Effects of a Comprehensive Teacher Performance Pay Program on Student Outcomes

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2023-03-01 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This paper examines the effects of a comprehensive performance pay program for teachers implemented in high-need schools on students' longer-run educational, criminal justice, and economic self-sufficiency outcomes.Using linked administrative data from a Southern state, we leverage the quasi-randomness of the timing of program adoption across schools to identify causal effects of the school reform.The program improved educational attainment and reduced both criminal activity and dependence on government assistance in early adulthood.We find little scope for student sorting or changes in the composition of teacher workforce, and that program benefits far exceeded its costs.We propose mechanisms for observed long-run effects and provide evidence consistent with these explanations.Several robustness checks and placebo tests support our findings.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Michael Lovenheim

  40 shared

• Samuel Kleiner

  Federal Trade Commission

  39 shared

• Daniel Grossman

  37 shared

• Jennifer L. Jennings

  19 shared

• Sean P. Corcoran

  King's College - Pennsylvania

  16 shared

• Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj

  16 shared

• Joshua D. Angrist

  8 shared

• Parag A. Pathak

  7 shared

Labs

• Sarah Cohodes LabPI

Awards & honors

• Faculty influence rankings (2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Inf…
• Faculty influence rankings (2025 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Inf…