Economist Tim Sass Ranks Among Nation’s Top 200 Education Researchers

ATLANTA – Georgia State Distinguished University Professor Tim Sass, an economist at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYS) and faculty director of the Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education (MAPLE), was recently named as a top-200 education influencer in the U.S.

“Tim is a leader in conducting data-informed research that moves the policy needle in K-12 education,” said Dean Sally Wallace. “His work is providing policymakers the research they need to make the right decisions regarding teacher training and school choice, among other things.”

The 2020 “Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings” was recently released by American Enterprise Institute director of education policy studies and Education Week blogger Frederick M. Hess. Using nine metrics, Hess spotlights 200 education scholars with the most influence on educational practice and policy, moving ideas from academic journals into the national conversation. Sass ranked No. 166.

“More than 20,000 university-based faculty in the U.S. are researching education, so making it onto the Edu-Scholar list is an accomplishment in its own right,” said Hess.

Sass’s research focuses on the economics of education, with particular focus on teacher labor supply, measurement of teacher quality and school choice. His work has been published in academic journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Public Economics and Journal of Labor Economics. He is a senior researcher at the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Human Resources and has been a consultant to numerous city and state school systems.

“Tim’s use of lots of data and merging-matching techniques offer a clear example of work we do in the digital world,” said Wallace.

By Alison Tyrer

Featured Researcher