David Figlio
Gordon Fyfe Professor of Economics and Education University of Rochester
- Rochester NY
Figlio is an expert on educational, public, and social policy, including the link between health and education.
Areas of Expertise
Media
Biography
Figlio has published his work in numerous leading journals, including the American Economic Review, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, JAMA Pediatrics, Review of Economics and Statistics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and Journal of Human Resources. Organizations supporting his research include the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Annie E. Casey, Doris Duke Charitable Trust, Gates, Laura and John Arnold, MacArthur, Smith Richardson, and Spencer foundations, among others.
At the University of Rochester, Figlio holds a primary appointment in the Department of Economics and a joint professorship at the Warner School of Education.
Education
George Washington University
BS
Business
University of Wisconsin-Madison
PhD
Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
MS
Economics
Selected Media Appearances
Long the Star Pupils, Girls Are Losing Ground to Boys Girls have suffered greater test-score declines than boys
Wall Street Journal print
2025-01-06
Girls have lost ground in reading, math and science at a troubling rate, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of student test scores across the country.
The findings suggest that pandemic learning loss hit girls particularly hard in ways that haven’t been addressed by schools. The most recent test scores show that girls haven’t yet recovered. This comes following longstanding gains for girls and women in educational attainment.
Shutting down schools might have hurt girls more because they tend to do better in school generally, said David Figlio, a professor of economics and education at the University of Rochester who has studied gender gaps in education. “Girls have a comparative advantage in school and you take schools away, they’ll suffer more,” he added.
New Research: Immigrant Students Boost English Learners’ Academic Performance
LA School Report print
2024-12-23
“What are the effects of immigrants on communities?” asked David Figlio, professor of economics and education at the University of Rochester, in a recent interview with The 74. “Especially those that are ‘new immigrant destinations’ that have not historically had large numbers of foreign-born residents? This paper directly addresses one of the most important potential mechanisms through which immigrant students might affect incumbent students — the consequences of increased linguistic diversity in the classroom.”
Do Immigrant Students Help the Academic Outcomes of U.S.-Born Peers? One Study Says Yes
Education Week print
2024-02-01
In a study published in the Review of Economic Studies last year, David Figlio, provost and professor of economics and education at the University of Rochester, and his co-authors—Paola Giuliano with the University of California, Los Angeles, Riccardo Marchingiglio with the Analysis Group consulting firm, Umut Ozek with the RAND Corporation, Paola Sapienza with Northwestern University—analyzed population-level school records and birth records from Florida—a state with one of the largest immigrant student populations in the country across many schools.
They found that, in most cases, greater exposure to immigrant peers correlated with better math and reading scores among U.S.-born students.
“Our study puts the lie to the narrative that immigrant kids bring your classroom down,” Figlio said. “We looked at all sorts of different subgroups. We never found any evidence of a negative. The worst-case scenario we found for native-born students was a zero effect, that more immigrant kids in the classroom didn’t hurt or help. But the prevailing evidence we found was that immigrant students help.”
The Sibling Effect: How Retaining Struggling Readers Impacts Brothers and Sisters
Education Week print
2023-08-09
An economist by training, David Figlio often conducts research on the cost effectiveness of education legislation and its impact on the students targeted by the new laws.
But, after studying a Florida reading retention policy, Figlio, an economics and education professor and provost at the University of Rochester, and his research team found that policies meant to target individual students can also have unexpected benefits for those students’ younger siblings.
University of Rochester Education School Cluster Hires Three Faculty Focused on Diversity Research
Diverse Issues in Higher Education print
2022-08-22
“Diversity of thought, diversity of knowledge, and diversity of lived experiences only serve to enhance our research and the educational experiences of our students,” said Dr. David Figlio, provost at the University of Rochester. “It’s more than meeting baseline standards for equity and inclusion. It’s about recognizing that truly preparing our graduates for the world and solving some of our society’s most pressing problems can only be done when there is a range of perspectives and a wealth of ideas.”
Teaching: The Potential -- and Possible Pitfalls -- of Teaching Tracks
Chronicle of Higher Education online
2022-07-28
"It's tempting for institutions to quickly diversify the professoriate through the instructional ranks," David N. Figlio said.
Can a Teaching Track Improve Undergraduate Education? Only if it’s built to empower instructors.
Chronicle of Higher Education online
2022-07-19
The study has sometimes been misinterpreted to show that tenure-track professors are worse teachers, says David N. Figlio, one of its authors. That’s not correct, he says — professors in the top three-quarters of each group have similar student outcomes. But the results do show that hiring and retaining professors for their teaching brings benefits.
The Ripple Effect How private-school choice programs boost competition and benefit public-school students
Education Next print
2021-10-21
Advocates for taxpayer-funded school-choice programs cite the potential of market competition to spur educational improvement and promote equity for low-income students. When public schools don’t have to compete for students, the reasoning goes, they have less of an incentive to enhance their performance. Students whose communities don’t guarantee access to a high-performing public school are unfairly shortchanged if their families can’t afford to pay for a better alternative. Meanwhile, school-choice critics lament the exodus of talent and resources from public schools, which they argue such programs necessarily cause.
Don’t Be Too Quick to Retain English-Language Learners
Education Week print
2019-02-28
Authors of a splashy ELL retention study urge “great caution”
Did tenure reform in Florida affect student test scores?
Brookings online
2018-05-17
We examine the elimination of teacher tenure in Florida to better understand how job protections for teachers affect students. We focus on identifying the effect if removing tenure as part of Florida’s 2011 Student Success Act on student outcomes, and in particular the effect if this legislation on student achievement.
School Choice and Accountability
C-SPAN tv
2013-01-17
David Figlio, a Northwestern University professor of education and social policy and of economics, spoke about trends in U.S. education policy, the changing education landscape, and evaluating school choice and accountability. He talked about the pros and cons of charter schools and whether vouchers make a difference in school quality.
