educational inequality, educational stratification, between-school segregation, school composition, peer effects in education, education policy, economics of education

Francisco is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Maryland College Park. His research focuses on issues of segregation and diversity in K-12 schools, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates the sociology and economics of education. Francisco employs quantitative methods, relying on policy interventions, economic shocks, and demographic changes to tease out the determinants and consequences of school segregation. He is affiliated with the Maryland Equity Project, the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, and the Maryland Population Research Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Maryland College Park,  an M.A. in Education from Harvard University, an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Prior to graduate school, he served as the Director of the Research Department at the Chilean Ministry of Education

2021 – 2022     Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, University of Maryland College Park ($15,000)
2021                   Roberta Ma Scholarship, University of Maryland College Park ($1,000)
2020                   Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship, University of Maryland College Park ($5,000)
2020                   David L. Clark Graduate Research Seminar Fellow, AERA & UCEA
2018 – 2021     Dean’s Fellowship, University of Maryland College Park
2015 – 2017     Presidential Scholar Fellowship, Harvard University

2021   Support Program for Advancing Research and Collaboration (SPARC), University of Maryland College Park
2019   The William C. and William J. Graham Endowed Scholarship in Education, University of Maryland College Park
2016    Becas Chile Scholarship, CONICYT, Ministry of Education, Chile
2013    Becas Chile Scholarship, CONICYT, Ministry of Education, Chile

Refereed Journal Articles 

  • Bathia, S., Fuller, B., Galindo, C., Lagos, F., & Rabe-Hesketh, S. (2023). Finding Integrated Schools? Latino Families Settle in Diverse Suburbs, 2000–2015. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 9(2), 104-131. Link
  • Fuller, B., Bathia, S., Bridges, M., Kim, Y., Galindo, C., & Lagos, F. (2022). Variation in the Local Segregation of Latino Children—Role of Place, Poverty, and Culture. American Journal of Education, 128(2), 245-280. Link
  • Barrera-Osorio, F., Gonzalez, K., Lagos, F., & Deming, D. J. (2020). Providing performance information in education: An experimental evaluation in Colombia. Journal of Public Economics, 186, 104185. Link
  • Rivero, R., Arancibia, V., Claro, S., Lagos, F., & Hurtado, C. (2019). How the practical component of initial primary education teacher training is organized in Chile’s universities: an exploratory study. Calidad en la educación, (50), 12-48. (In Spanish) Link

Book Chapters

  • Gallego, F., Bedregal, P., Ziliani, M. E., Stekel, Y., & Lagos, F. (2009). Learning outcomes in pre-school education: Definition, measurement, and institutions. In Universidad Católica de Chile (ed.), Camino al Bicentenario. Propuestas para Chile, 223-252. Santiago: Pontificia Universidad Católica. (In Spanish)
  • Gallego, F., Cortés, C., Lagos, F., & Stekel, Y. (2008). The role of information in school choice: A report card on school outcomes. In Universidad Católica de Chile (ed.), Camino al Bicentenario: Propuestas para Chile, 191-225. Santiago: Pontificia Universidad Católica. (In Spanish)

Working Papers & Under Review

  • Lagos, F. & Blazar, D. Professional Staff Diversity and Student Outcomes: Extending our Understanding of Race/Ethnicity-Matching Effects in Education. (R&R Educational Researcher)
  • Saltmarsh, J. & Lagos, F. The Equity Potential of Washington, D.C.’s Unified School Lottery: A Descriptive Analysis. (Under review Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis)
  • Galindo, C., Lagos, F., Kim, Y., Fuller, B., Bridges, M., & Bathia, S. Problematizing Assumptions about School Segregation: Latinx Students’ Learning Growth in the Elementary Grades. (Under review AERA Open)
  •  Lagos, F. Does Prohibiting Selective Admissions Mitigate the Segregative Effects of School Choice? Evidence from a Policy Change in Chile.
  • Lagos, F., Galindo, C., Fuller, B., & Kim, Y. Latinx Students and White School Composition: Are Resources Driving Variation in Learning Achievement Patterns?

Work in Progress

  • The Effect of Centralized-Admission School Lotteries on Between-School Segregation (with Jason Saltmarsh).
  • The Effect of Teacher-Student Race/Ethnicity Matching in High School on Academic Attainment and Career Path (with David Blazar, Seth Gershenson, & Ramon Goings).
  • Grow-Your-Own Teachers Starting from High School: Evidence from a Dual-Enrollment/CTE Program in MD (with David Blazar, Wenjing Gao, Seth Gershenson, & Ramon Goings).
  • School Diversity, Academic Outcomes, and the Operationalization of Race-Ethnicity Peer Effects in Education.
  • School Admission Systems, Algorithms, and its Effects on School Segregation (with Gabriel Gutierrez, Maria Isidora Palma, & Maria Fernanda Ramirez).

2023 – 2025    Spencer Foundation Small Grant, PI: Francisco Lagos ($49,424)
2021                   Suzanne M. Bianchi Summer Graduate Student Grant, MPRC, University of Maryland College Park ($4,000)
2019                   Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant, University of Maryland College Park
2015 – 2016     FONIDE Research Grant (Co-investigator), Ministry of Education, Chile

  • TLPL766/PLCY798G Impact Evaluation for Education and Public Policy
  • TLPL764 Data Management and Coding in Stata