Judith Scott-Clayton is an Associate Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, in the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis, where she directs the Economics & Education Program and teaches courses on the economics of education, labor economics and causal inference. She is also a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Senior Research Associate at the Community College Research Center. Dr. Scott-Clayton holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Dr. Scott-Clayton’s research lies at the intersection of labor economics and higher education policy, with a particular focus on financial aid, community colleges, and the outcomes of students after college.  Her work on racial disparities in student loan debt and default garnered national media and policy attention, as has her work documenting the inaccuracy of college remedial placement exams, which divert millions of college entrants into non-credit-bearing remedial coursework.

Dr. Scott-Clayton's research (with Susan Dynarski) examining the consequences of unnecessary complexity in student financial aid and proposing a model for simplification became the basis of proposed legislation announced by a bipartisan team of U.S. senators in June 2014. Scott-Clayton’s work crosses disciplinary boundaries and has been published in economics, education, and policy journals. She has also written for the Brookings Institution's Evidence Speaks series and the New York Times’ Economix and Upshot blogs, has testified three times to the U.S. Senate as an expert on financial aid research, and tweets frequently.

Reach out to Dr. Scott-Clayton on Twitter to say THANK YOU for the education research work that she does! Be sure to use the hashtag #ThankAScientist.

 
@jscottclayton