About

Jonathan Guryan is a Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, where he also serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research. He holds courtesy appointments in the Economics Department and the Kellogg School of Business. Additionally, he is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a co-founder and co-director of the Education Lab within the Urban Labs at the University of Chicago. His research primarily focuses on understanding the sources and consequences of racial inequality and exploring the economics of education. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, and the Review of Economics. Guryan's contributions are centered on analyzing critical issues related to social and economic disparities, with an emphasis on educational and racial inequality.

Research topics

• Economics
• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Medical education
• Mathematics education
• Economic growth
• Geography
• Finance
• Developmental psychology
• Gerontology
• Social psychology
• Demography

Selected publications

• Supporting Student Engagement During Remote Learning: Three Randomized Controlled Trials in Chicago Public Schools

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Supporting Student Engagement During Remote Learning: Three Randomized Controlled Trials in Chicago Public Schools

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2026-03-01

  reportOpen access

  This paper presents the results of three field experiments testing interventions designed to increase engagement and improve learning during remote schooling.Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of remote learning when schooling is interrupted has become more common, prompting educators to ask: How can we better engage students during remote instruction?This is especially salient because much of what we know about student engagement is based on in-person schooling, not virtual instruction.In the first experiment, we find that personalized phone calls increased families' likelihood of registering for a virtual summer schooling program in Chicago Public Schools, the pre-specified primary outcome.In the second experiment, we find sending weekly text messages had no effect on students' summer days absent and usage of Khan Academy, the primary outcomes; in analyses of secondary outcomes, we find that the weekly text messages increased students' likelihood of passing their summer math course.In the third experiment, we find adding an instructional aide to supplement classroom teachers had no effect on the primary outcomes of summer days absent and usage of Khan Academy; in analyses of secondary outcomes, we find beneficial impacts in the following school year on students' math grades and passing rates.

  PublisherDOI

• Consumer Sentiment Towards Asians in the Early Days of the Covid-19 Pandemic

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Consumer sentiment towards Asians in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic

  Journal of Public Economics · 2025-05-13 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Consumer Sentiment Towards Asians in the Early Days of the Covid-19 Pandemic

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2025-05-01 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access

  We revisit the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic to examine whether restaurant foot traffic reveals changes in sentiment towards ethnic groups.Our findings show reduced demand for dining at Asian restaurants located inside Asian enclaves, while outside enclaves, the decline in visits to Asian restaurants was comparable to non-Asian restaurants.In contrast, Italian restaurant enclaves did not experience similar declines in foot traffic after news of the outbreak in Italy and the first U.S. case linked to travel to Italy.We also find suggestive evidence that the shift in consumption was associated with elevated negative sentiment towards Asians rather than efforts to avoid exposure to international travelers.

  PublisherDOI

• Corrigendum to “Consumer sentiment towards Asians in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic”. [J. Public Econom. 247 (2025) 105396]

  Journal of Public Economics · 2025-09-16

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Can Technology Facilitate Scale? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of High Dosage Tutoring

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Can Technology Facilitate Scale? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of High Dosage Tutoring

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2024-05-01 · 13 citations

  reportOpen access

  High-dosage tutoring is an effective way to improve student learning (Nickow et al., 2024; Guryan et al., 2023). Finding ways to deliver high-dosage tutoring at large scale remains a challenge. Two primary challenges to scaling are cost and staffing. One possible solution is to reduce costs by substituting some tutor time with computer-assisted learning (CAL) technology. The question is: Does doing so compromise effectiveness? This paper provides evidence from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of approximately 4, 000 students in two large school districts in 2018- 19 and 2019-20. The RCT tested the effectiveness of an in-school math tutoring program where students worked in groups of four, with two students working with an in-person tutor while the other two worked on CAL, alternating every other day. The tutoring model had per-pupil costs approximately 30 percent lower than the 2- to-1 tutoring model studied in Guryan et al. (2023). We find gains in students’ math standardized test scores of 0.23 standard deviations for participating students, which are almost as large as the effect sizes of the 2-to-1 tutoring model reported in Guryan et al. (2023). These findings suggest strategic use of technology may be a way to increase the scalability of HDT.

  PublisherDOI

• Randomized evaluation of a school-based, trauma-informed group intervention for young women in Chicago

  Science Advances · 2023-06-07 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study explores whether a school-based group counseling program for adolescent girls, implemented at scale, can mitigate trauma-related mental health harms. In a randomized trial involving 3749 Chicago public high school girls, we find that participating in the program for 4 months induces a 22% reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and find significant decreases in anxiety and depression. Results surpass widely accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds, with estimated cost-utility well below $150,000 per quality adjusted life year. We find suggestive evidence that effects persist and may even increase over time. Our results provide the first efficacy trial of such a program specifically designed for girls, conducted in America's third largest city. These findings suggest the promise of school-based programs to mitigate trauma-related harms.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes among Adolescents

  American Economic Review · 2023 · 67 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Mathematics education
  • Psychology

  Improving academic outcomes for economically disadvantaged students has proven challenging, particularly for children at older ages. We present two large-scale randomized controlled trials of a high-dosage tutoring program delivered to secondary school students in Chicago. One innovation is to use paraprofessional tutors to hold down cost, thereby increasing scalability. Participating in math tutoring increases math test scores by 0.18 to 0.40 standard deviations, and increases math and nonmath course grades. These effects persist into future years. The data are consistent with increased personalization of instruction as a mechanism. The benefit-cost ratio is comparable to many successful early childhood programs. (JEL H75, I21, I24, I26, I32, J13, J15)

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant P01HD076816

  NIH · $11.8M · 2021

Frequent coauthors

• Kerwin Kofi Charles

  104 shared

• Jessica Pan

  84 shared

• Melissa S. Kearney

  46 shared

• James S. Kim

  28 shared

• Jens Ludwig

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  26 shared

• Kyung Park

  16 shared

• Austan Goolsbee

  University of Chicago

  14 shared

• David Figlio

  University of Rochester

  12 shared

Labs

• Education Lab at Northwestern UniversityPI

Education

• Ph.D., Economics

  University of Chicago

  2003

• M.A., Economics

  University of Chicago

  1999

• B.A., Economics

  University of California, Berkeley

  1995