HERA Lab members will present accepted research at the 2026 Association for Education Finance and Policy Annual Conference in Chicago from March 19–21. The conference brings together research on education policy, finance, and evidence-based practice.
Thursday, March 19 Optimizing Corequisite Support Design Instructional and implementation features predicting success in gateway English and math
Hongjiao Li, XunFei Li, Jinwon Kim, and Di Xu · University of California, Irvine
Poster · 11:45 AM–1:15 PM · Zurich D
Do Study-Together Groups Improve Academic Achievement? Evidence from online community college courses
Jenny Lee, Michael Cooper, Qiujie Li, Di Xu, and Waverly Tseng · University of California, Irvine and Nanyang Technological University
Paper panel · 1:30–3:00 PM · Zurich E
Professional Development with Purpose Effects of online professional development on student outcomes
Michael S. Hill, Gala Merari Ledezma, Di Xu, Cassandra M. D. Hart, and Rachel B. Baker
Paper panel · 1:30–3:00 PM · Zurich E
The Effects of Online Course Quality Improvement on Student Outcomes Di Xu, Michael S. Hill, Cassandra Hart, Emily Alonso, and Rachel Baker
Paper panel · 1:30–3:00 PM · Zurich E
Reducing the Barriers to Support Services A randomized evaluation of EOPS outreach for disadvantaged community college students
Michael Cooper, Di Xu, and Kevin Hsu
Paper · 1:30–3:00 PM · Zurich C
Friday, March 20 How AB 705 Reshaped College-Level Course Enrollment and Completion Academic progression in California following developmental education reform
Yumeng Zhang, XunFei Li, Di Xu, and Loris Fagioli · University of California, Irvine and The RP Group
Paper · 8:15–9:45 AM · Zurich C
Can Developmental Education Reform Improve College Completion and Labor-Market Outcomes? Evidence from Virginia's Direct Enrollment reform
Hongjiao Li, XunFei Li, and Florence X. Ran · University of California, Irvine and University of Delaware
Paper · 8:15–9:45 AM · Zurich C
Wagering the Price of Learning Evaluating the impact of California's Zero Textbook Cost Degree Program on students' academic outcomes
Sabrina Solanki, Winnie Yee, Di Xu, and Richard Arum · University of California, Irvine
Paper · 1:00–2:30 PM · Zurich C
Saturday, March 21 Credit or Noncredit? A comparison of workforce training outcomes in Virginia's community colleges
Michael Cooper and Kelli Bird · University of Virginia and University of California, Irvine
Paper · 10:00–11:30 AM · Vevey 4