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FACULTY PROFILE: Professor Scott-Clayton

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Professional Background

Asst Prof in Economics & Education and Senior Research Associate, Community College Research Center

Educational Background

Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Ph.D. in Public Policy (2009)
Wellesley College, B.A. in Sociology, summa cum laude (2000)

Scholarly Interests
My primary research fields are labor economics and higher education policy.  I am particularly interested in the role of financial aid policy in addressing inequalities in educational attainment, the consequences of rising term-time student employment, and the interactions between program/bureaucratic complexity, family background, and college success.  An ongoing project evaluates the effects of a large-scale merit-based scholarship program in West Virginia and has been cited in the New York Times Magazine.  Previous research with Professor Susan Dynarski (University of Michigan) into the consequences of complexity in federal student aid has been published in the National Tax Journal and Tax Policy and the Economy, and has contributed to current policy debates about financial aid simplification.  At Teachers College, I am also a Senior Research Associate at the Institute on Education and the Economy (IEE), which houses both the Community College Research Center (CCRC) and the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), where projects include studies of remedial college assessment and placement policy, and the role of community college program structure in student success. 

Selected Publications

 “Complexity and Targeting in Federal Student Aid: A Quantitative Analysis” (with Susan M. Dynarski).  Tax Policy and the Economy, vol. 22, edited by James Poterba.  Cambridge, MA: NBER (2008).

“The Feasibility of Streamlining Aid for College Using the Tax System” (with Susan M. Dynarski). National Tax Association Papers and Proceedings (2007).

“The Cost of Complexity in Federal Student Aid: Lessons from Optimal Tax Theory and Behavioral Economics” (with Susan M. Dynarski). National Tax Journal 59:2 (June 2006), pp. 319-356.  Also available as NBER Working Paper 12227: http://www.nber.org/papers/w12227.

“College Grants on a Postcard: A Proposal for Simple and Predictable Student Aid” (with Susan M. Dynarski). Hamilton Project Discussion Paper 2007-01. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution (February 2007).

“Simplify and Focus the Education Tax Incentives” (with Susan M. Dynarski). Tax Notes. 2006.

Career Academies: Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes and Educational Attainment (with James J. Kemple). New York: MDRC, 2004. (http://www.mdrc.org/publications/366/overview.html.)


Judith Scott-Clayton

Judith E. Scott-Clayton

Asst Prof in Economics & Education

Senior Research Associate, Community College Research Center

Phone: 212-678-3478
Email:

Office Hours: Fall 2009: By Appointment Only

Office Location: Thorndike 755D