Welcome to my website! I am currently Assistant Professor in Education Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. I am also a research affiliate to the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Named as a National Academy of Education Sciences/Spencer Dissertation Fellow, I earned my Ph.D. in Economics of Education from Stanford University in 2018. Before joining UMD, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute.
My research has mainly contributed to three strands of distinct yet related literatures: 1) innovative applications of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to measure and improve teaching practices that are consequential for student learning and equity; 2) identifying and unpacking multidimensional teacher effectiveness, especially how teachers affect student long-run success through their impact on student social and behavioral outcomes; and 3) the causes and consequences of student non-cognitive factors, including school absenteeism, behavioral infractions, and social-emotional skills. I pursue this research agenda by working closely with research-practice partnerships and ed-tech companies, and through interdisciplinary collaborations with computer scientists, linguists, sociologists, and psychologists.
My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Arnold Ventures, among other governmental and private funders. This research program has led to publications in leading peer-reviewed outlets across disciplines, including economics (e.g., Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Human Resources), public policy (e.g., Journal of Policy Analysis and Management), education (e.g., Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher), and computer science (e.g., American Computational Linguistics Conference Proceedings, American Computing Machinery Conference Proceedings). To reach a broader audience, I have also translated my research into accessible op-eds and blog posts published in outlets such as Education Week, Brookings Brown Center Chalkboard, and Inside Higher Ed.
My research has mainly contributed to three strands of distinct yet related literatures: 1) innovative applications of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to measure and improve teaching practices that are consequential for student learning and equity; 2) identifying and unpacking multidimensional teacher effectiveness, especially how teachers affect student long-run success through their impact on student social and behavioral outcomes; and 3) the causes and consequences of student non-cognitive factors, including school absenteeism, behavioral infractions, and social-emotional skills. I pursue this research agenda by working closely with research-practice partnerships and ed-tech companies, and through interdisciplinary collaborations with computer scientists, linguists, sociologists, and psychologists.
My research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Arnold Ventures, among other governmental and private funders. This research program has led to publications in leading peer-reviewed outlets across disciplines, including economics (e.g., Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Human Resources), public policy (e.g., Journal of Policy Analysis and Management), education (e.g., Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher), and computer science (e.g., American Computational Linguistics Conference Proceedings, American Computing Machinery Conference Proceedings). To reach a broader audience, I have also translated my research into accessible op-eds and blog posts published in outlets such as Education Week, Brookings Brown Center Chalkboard, and Inside Higher Ed.
💡
1/27/2024: I am excited to share a new working paper with David Blazar and Cameron Conrad: "Computer Science for All? The Impact of High School Computer Science Courses on College Majors and Earnings".
📢
11/17/2023: Emily Penner and I received a new grant from Arnold Ventures to plan for a randomized controlled trial that aims to reduce racial disciplinary disparities by targeting educators' use of office discipline referrals.
📚️
11/10/2023: My new paper with Megan Kuhfeld and Monica Lee, which is entitled Noncognitive Factors and Student Long-Run Success: Comparing the Predictive Validity of Observable Academic Behaviors and Social-Emotional Skills, is now published online by Educational Policy.
📚️
11/1/2023: Check out our newly released white paper: Empowering Educators through Language Technology.
Contact
Jing Liu
Assistant Professor in Education Policy, University of Maryland, College Park
Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership
2203 Benjamin Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740
