Air filters and student learning

Air pollution has been documented to have large detrimental effects on health, test scores, and productivity. Governments have long-term goals of reducing air pollution, but in the meantime, cost-effective policy alternatives are needed in the short term. Using a randomized control trial, the researchers test whether installing air filters improves student outcomes. Preliminary results show that installing air filters reduced the PM2.5 pollution inside the classroom by -.78 μg/m3 (p-value 0.08) during school hours.
Having air filters in the classrooms where they learn for 3–4 months before a high-stakes exam increases test scores .03σ (p-value 0.03). The team is expanding the scope of the RCT to study mechanisms and effects on different age groups.