Lisa Sanbonmatsu is the Director of Research and Evaluation on Proving Ground. Her work focuses on chronic absenteeism. She works with a team to conduct analyses to better understand chronic absenteeism, identify students who are at-risk, and design and evaluate pilots of interventions. This work draws on data from partner districts and states to provide leaders with timely evidence for making decisions about how to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Prior to joining the Center for Education Policy Research, Lisa served as a research director on the Moving to Opportunity evaluation at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). At NBER, Lisa also served as a project manager for a large randomized study of the effect of financial aid application assistance on subsequent college enrollment.

Lisa received an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School and a PhD in public policy from Harvard University.

Related publications:

• The Role of Application Assistance and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment (https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjs017)

• Neighborhoods and Academic Achievement Results from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment (https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.XLI.4.649)