ERIC Number: ED672620
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
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Abstractor: As Provided
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Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Effects of Daily Air Pollution on Students and Teachers. Working Paper 33549
Sarah Chung; Claudia Persico; Jing Liu
National Bureau of Economic Research
Recent empirical research shows that air pollution harms student test scores and attendance and increases office discipline referrals. However, the mechanism by which air pollution operates within schools to negatively affect student and teacher outcomes remains largely opaque. The existing literature has primarily focused on the effects of prolonged exposure to pollution on end-of-year test scores or total absence counts. We examine how ambient air pollution influences student-by-day and teacher-by-day outcomes, including absences and office discipline referrals, using daily administrative data from a large urban school district in California between 2003 and 2020. Using wind direction as an instrument for daily pollution exposure, we find that a 10 µg/m3 increase in daily PM2.5 causes a 5.7% increase in full-day student absences and a 28% increase in office referrals in a three-day window. Importantly, the effects are driven by low-income, Black, Hispanic, and younger students. In addition, over three days, a 10 µg/m3 increase in daily PM2.5 causes a 13.1% increase in teacher absences due to illness. Our research indicates that decreasing air pollution in urban areas could enhance both student and teacher attendance, and minimize disruptive behavior in educational settings.
Descriptors: Pollution, Educational Environment, Attendance, Student Behavior, Discipline, Urban Schools, Racial Differences, Ethnicity, Gender Differences, Teacher Attendance, Behavior Problems
National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
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Language: English
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Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Identifiers - Location: California
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