

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
BY ROB OLSEN
External Validity Bias of Purposive and Random Site Selection When Sites Can Opt Out: Evidence from the Head Start Program. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2026.
Defining Target Populations for Impact Studies of Education Interventions: Balancing Generalizability and Feasibility in the Real World. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2026.
Using Quotas Constructed from Auxiliary Data to Guide the Recruitment of Sites for Randomized Controlled Trials. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2025.
Using a Multi-site RCT to Predict Impacts for a Single Site: Do Better Methods and Data Yield More Accurate Predictions? Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2024.
Enhancing the Generalizability of Impact Studies in Education. Report to the Institute of Education Sciences, 2022.
Selecting Districts and Schools for Impact Studies in Education: A Simulation Study of Different Strategies. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2022.
Using the Results from Rigorous Multisite Evaluations to Inform Local Policy Decisions. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2019.
Making Generalizations from Experimental Findings:
An Introduction to New Methods. Educational Researcher, 2018.
Using Preferred Applicant Random Assignment (PARA) to Reduce Randomization Bias in Randomized Trials of Discretionary Programs. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2017.
Characteristics of School Districts that Participate in Rigorous National Educational Evaluations. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2017.
On the “Where” of Social Experiments: Selecting More Representative Samples to Inform Policy. New Directions for Evaluation, 2016.
Estimates of External Validity Bias When Impact Evaluations Select Sites Non-randomly. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2016.
External Validity in Policy Evaluations that Choose Sites Purposively. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2013.
Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years. Report to the Institute of Education Sciences, 2019.
Upward Bound at 50: Reporting on Implementation Practices Today. Report to the Institute of Education Sciences, 2016.
Estimating the Impacts of Educational Interventions Using State Tests or Study-Administered Tests. Report to the Institute of Education Sciences, 2011.
What to Do When Data Are Missing in Group Randomized Controlled Trials, IES Technical Report. Report to the Institute of Education Sciences, 2009.