Zhu is an economist in MDRC’s K-12 Education Policy Area whose current work focuses on experimental and quasi-experimental impact analyses, evaluation design, and related methodological issues. She is leading the student achievement impact analysis for several projects, including the evaluation of academic language interventions, the evaluation of a school-wide system of support for behavior in elementary schools, the evaluation of the Response to Intervention program for struggling readers in early elementary grades, the evaluation of Power Teaching in middle schools, and the evaluation of the Success for All program for struggling readers in elementary schools. In addition, she has worked on evaluations of professional development programs for second-grade reading teachers and seventh-grade math teachers, the impact analysis of student outcomes in the National Reading First Impact Study, the evaluation of Ninth Grade Academies in Broward County Public Schools and the State of Florida, and the Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs for second- through fifth-graders. Her work at MDRC also includes several methodological studies on empirical issues related to impact variation, mediator analysis, quasi-experimental designs, group randomized experiments, and reliability of measurements for group settings. She received her PhD in economics from Princeton University.
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Other Publications
Reardon, Sean, Fatih Unlu, Pei Zhu, and Howard Bloom. 2014. “Bias and Bias Correction in Multisite Instrumental Variables Analysis of Heterogeneous Mediator Effects.” Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 39, 1: 53-86.
Zhu, Pei, Robin Jacob, Howard Bloom, and Zeyu Xu. 2012. “Designing and Analyzing Studies that Randomize Schools to Estimate Intervention Effects on Student Academic Outcomes Without Classroom-Level Information.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 34: 145-168.
Somers, Marie-Andrée, Pei Zhu, and Edmond Wong. 2011. “Whether and How to Use State Tests to Measure Student Achievement in a Multi-State Randomized Experiment: An Empirical Assessment Based on Four Recent Evaluations.” NCEE Reference Report 2012-4015. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Jacob, Robin, Pei Zhu, and Howard Bloom. 2010. “New Empirical Evidence for the Design of Group Randomized Trials in Education.” Journal for Research on Education Effectiveness 3, 2: 157-198.
Wayne, Andrew, Kwang Suk Yoon, Pei Zhu, Stephanie Cronen, and Michael Garet. 2008. “Experimenting with Teacher Professional Development: Motives and Methods.” Educational Researcher 37, 8: 469-479.
Krueger, Alan, and Pei Zhu. 2004. “Another Look at the New York City School Voucher Experiment.” American Behavioral Scientist 47, 5: 658-698.
