Research Professor, School of Education and Research Professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Biography
Robin Tepper Jacob is a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research’s Survey Research Center and the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She has a decade and a half of experience conducting rigorous evaluations of educational interventions, with a special interest in how policies and programs can affect the life trajectories of low-income youth. She has expertise in survey design and implementation, the design and implementation of randomized trials and quasi-experimental methods for program evaluation. Her work in low-income schools has focused on interventions that were designed to target a wide range of outcomes including: school readiness, early literacy skills, mathematics achievement, executive functioning, social-emotional skills and health related outcomes. Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, she worked for Abt Associate Inc. in Cambridge, MA where she served as the Deputy Project Director for the Reading First Impact Study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Jacob earned her Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Chicago.
Projects
Youth Policy LabFunded Research
- An Evaluation of Michigan’s Maternal Infant Health Program
- Evaluating the Impact of TRAILS on Academic and Behavioral Health Outcomes in Detroit Public School Students
- Evaluation of TRAILS Tier 1 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Programming
- FY24-Project AA (HMHBP-UM): Healthy Moms Healthy Babies Pilot Project Evaluation
- FY24-Project BO (MIPS-UM): Strong Beginnings
- Innovation and Scaling of a National Literacy Tutoring Program
- MDE Project Aware
- Michigan Data Policy Fellowship: MEHF/MDHHS
- Next Generation Community Schools
- RCT of Accelerate’s Call To Effective Action
- Reading Partners Expanded Evaluation
- TRAILS Supplemental Analysis
- Youth Policy Lab Michigan Data & Policy Fellowship
Publications
- Shira Mattera, Marie-Andree Somers, Robin Tepper Jacob, Pamela Morris-Perez. 2023. The Design of Making Pre-K count and High Fives: Two-Stage, Multiyear Random Assignment at Different Levels. Evaluation Review 47(4):701-726.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Megan Foster Friedman. 2023. The Impact of Modest Cash Incentives on Home Visiting Enrollment and Participation. American Journal of Health Economics
- Katja Robinson, Deb Hubbard, Robin Tepper Jacob, Anna Erickson, Mimi Engel. 2023. Variation in Mathematics Content Coverage, Instructional Grouping, and Representational Strategies. The Elementary School Journal 124(2)
- Meghan P. McCormick, Shira K. Mattera, Michelle F. Maier, Samantha Xia, Robin Tepper Jacob, Pamela A. Morris. 2022. Different settings, different patterns of impacts: Effects of a Pre-K math intervention in a mixed-delivery system. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 58:136-154.
- Elizabeth Koschmann, Robin Tepper Jacob, Katja Robinson, Megan Foster Friedman, Anna Foster, Natalie Rodriguez-Quintana, Jennifer Vichich, Maureen Smith, Hersheena Rajaram. 2022. Mental health needs in a large urban school district: Findings from a web-based survey. Health Services Research 57(4):830-841.
- Mimi Engel, Robin Tepper Jacob, Amy Claessens, Anna Erickson. 2021. Kindergarten in a Large Urban District. Educational Researcher 50(6):401-415.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Anna Erickson, Shira Mattera. 2020. Evaluating the Impact of Small Group Supplemental Math Enrichment in Kindergarten. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 13(3):381-407.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Doolittle, Fred , Kemple, James , Somers, Marie-Andrée . 2019. A Framework for Learning From Null Results. Educational Researcher 48(9):580-589.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Anna Hart Erickson, Mattera, Shira . 2019. Evaluating the Impact of Small Group Supplemental Math Enrichment in Kindergarten. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Hill, Heather C, Corey, Douglas Lyman. 2018. Dividing by Zero: Exploring Null Results in a Mathematics Professional Development Program. Teacher's College Record 120(6)
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Hill, Heather , Corey, Doug . 2017. The Impact of a Professional Development Program on Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Instruction, and Student Achievement. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 10(2):379-407.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Mattera, Shira K, Morris, Pamela A, Maier, Michelle , Rojas, Natalia . 2017. Designing Studies to Test Causal Questions About Early Math: The Development of Making Pre-K Count. Advances in Child Development and Behavior 53:227-253.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Heather Hill, Doug Corey. 2017. The Impact of a Professional Development Program on Teachersâ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Instruction, and Student Achievement. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 10(2):379-407.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Armstrong, Catherine , Bowden, A B, Pan, Yilin . 2016. Leveraging Volunteers: An Experimental Evaluation of a Tutoring Program for Struggling Readers. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 9:67-92.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Somers, Marie-Andree , Zhu, Pei , Bloom, Howard . 2016. The Validity of the Comparative Interrupted Time Series Design for Evaluating the Effect of School-Level Interventions. Evaluation review 40(3):167-198.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Miller, Robert James, Goddard, Roger D, Kim, Minjung , Goddard, Yvonne , Schroeder, Patricia . 2016. Can Professional Development Improve School Leadership? Results From a Randomized Control Trial Assessing the Impact of McREL's Balanced Leadership Program on Principals in Rural Michigan Schools. Educational Administration Quarterly 52(4):531-566.
- Robert James Miller, Roger D. Goddard, Minjung Kim, Robin Tepper Jacob, Yvonne Goddard, Patricia Schroeder. 2016. Can Professional Development Improve School Leadership? Results From a Randomized Control Trial Assessing the Impact of McRELâs Balanced Leadership Program on Principals in Rural Michigan Schools. Educational Administration Quarterly 52(4):531-566.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Goddard, Roger , Kim, Minjung , Miller, Robert , Goddard, Yvonne . 2015. Exploring the Causal Impact of the McREL Balanced Leadership Program on Leadership, Principal Efficacy, Instructional Climate, Educator Turnover, and Student Achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37(3):314-332.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Parkinson, Julia . 2015. The Potential for School-Based Interventions That Target Executive Function to Improve Academic Achievement: A Review. Review of Educational Research 85(4):512-552.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Goddard, Roger D, Kim, Eun Sook. 2014. Assessing the Use of Aggregate Data in the Evaluation of School-Based Interventions: Implications for Evaluation Research and State Policy Regarding Public-Use Data. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 36(1):44-66.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Jones, Stephanie M, Bailey, Rebecca . 2014. Social-emotional learning is essential to classroom management. Phi Delta Kappan 96(2):19-24.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Hill, Heather C, Beisiegel, Mary . 2013. Professional Development Research: Consensus, Crossroads, and Challenges. Educational Researcher 42(9):476-487.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Zhu, Pei , Bloom, Howard , Xu, Zeyu . 2012. Designing and Analyzing Studies That Randomize Schools to Estimate Intervention Effects on Student Academic Outcomes Without Classroom-Level Information. Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis 34(1):45-68.
- Robin Tepper Jacob. 2011. An Experiment to Test the Feasibility and Quality of a Web-Based Questionnaire of Teachers. Evaluation review 35(1):40-70.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Zhu, P , Bloom, H . 2010. New empirical evidence for the design of group randomized trials in education. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 3(2):157-198.
- Brian P Rowan, Robin Tepper Jacob, Corentti, R . 2009. Using instructional logs to identify quality in educational settings. Defining and measuring quality in youth programs and classrooms :13.
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Duncan, Greg J, Kalil, Ariel , Mayer, S E, Payne, M R. 2005. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Unequal chances : family background and economic success
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Stone, Susan . 2005. Teachers and Students Speak. Education Next 5(1):49-53.
- Robin Tepper Jacob. 2001. Parental regulation and adolescent discretionary time-use decisions : findings from the NLSY97. Social awakening : adolescent behavior as adulthood aproaches
- Robin Tepper Jacob, Foubert, J D, Morrison, D R. 1997. Predictors of student satisfaction in university residence halls. Journal of College and University Student Housing 27(1)