Youth Policy Lab

Our Impact

Research, learning, and impactThe Ford School is home to or co-sponsor of a growing number of active, multi-disciplinary research centers and initiatives leveraging the knowledge and expertise across the University of Michigan. They serve as a resour...

State & Hill

Cell phones away. Then what?

Oct 7, 2026

As tablets and laptops have become common classroom tools, schools continue to wrestle with another device: the cell phone.

A student holds a smartphone beneath a classroom desk while other people appear blurred in the background.

State & Hill

Alumni impact: The people behind the numbers

Oct 7, 2026

Samuel Owusu helps Michigan strengthen early childhood data systems so leaders can see if public investments are reaching the children and families they are designed to serve.

A person wearing a suit and identification badge talks on a phone outside a large government building.

Policy Matters

At Ford School, public policy connects evidence to action

Sep 30, 2026

Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes shares why public policy research matters

Woman smiling in white blazer with off-white background

In the Media

YPL research offers Michigan schools options for enforcing new state cell phone ban

Aug 25, 2026 The 74

Youth Policy Lab research provides guidance on the trade-offs of different approaches as the state cell phone ban s law goes into place, according to Ford School professor Brian Jacob.

News

“Talk data to me”: ASPIRE fellows explore youth mental health, school trust, and pathways into policy research

Aug 11, 2026

The 2026 Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience brought students from Spelman College and Morehouse College to the University of Michigan for hands-on training in applied social policy research.

The 2026 ASPIRE cohort and their mentors.

Publication

Lockable phone pouches in schools improve student well-being over time, not test scores or bullying

May 8, 2026

A popular device for restricting cell phone use in middle and high schools is effective at achieving that aim, leading to short-term disruption but ultimately positive effects on student well-being, new research finds.

News

Youth Policy Lab welcomes Morehouse and Spelman students to 2026 ASPIRE summer program

Apr 27, 2026

Spelman students Toni Flemming, Joasia Jacobs, Olivia Liddie, and Morehouse students Donovan Correll, Chavous Langhorn, and Vincent Patterson will spend the summer advancing quantitative social science research skills, learning about careers that inv...

Donovan Correll, Toni Flemming, Joasia Jacobs, Chavous Langhorn, Olivia Liddie, Vincent Patterson

News

What happens when schools restrict phones? U-M Youth Policy Lab convenes national conference as new studies get underway

Apr 16, 2026

On April 10, the University of Michigan's Youth Policy Lab (YPL) convened a National School Cell Phone Policy Conference, inviting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from Michigan and beyond to compare notes on a rapidly changing school pol...

News

First-of-its-kind national educator survey reveals both promise and peril in school cell phone policies

Feb 27, 2026

New findings from the first national study of school cell phone policies finds that as bell-to-bell phone bans expand across the country, many educators report noticeable changes in how students interact with one another and decreased phone usage in ...

News

Michigan governor signs classroom cell phone ban: U-M experts available to comment

Feb 11, 2026

Expert advisory: Brian Jacob is available to discuss a new policy that will ban cell phone use in Michigan's K-12 classrooms.

Publication

Jacob and Weiland raise concerns about potential bias in traditional retention studies

Jan 30, 2026

In a recent article published in the Journal of Public Economics, University of Michigan professors Brian Jacob, Christina Weiland, and Jordan Berne (who earned his doctorate in economics from U-M), along with Katharine Strunk, dean of the University...

Headshots of Brian Jacob and Christina Weiland

In the Media

Jacob comments on competing screen policies for students

Jan 28, 2026 EdSurge

Competing initiatives to promote AI literacy, at the same time as efforts to limit student screen time, can co-exist, according to Brian Jacob.

News

Ford School faculty among the nation's top education scholars

Jan 8, 2026

Cohodes, Jacob, and Weiland made the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.

Headshots of Brian A. Jacob, Christina J. Weiland, and Sarah Cohodes

In the Media

Jacob comments on fall in public school enrollment in wealthy districts

Jan 8, 2026 The 74

Brian Jacob found that white families removed their children from public schools at much higher rates in districts that were slow to reopen for in-person instruction and that he was "not surprised" to see that parents who had found private alternativ...

Publication

Youth Policy Lab evaluates Michigan youth mental health initiative, provides blueprint to further develop mental health services for youth

Nov 13, 2025

The Youth Policy Lab evaluated the effectiveness of Michigan's Project AWARE in improving mental health infrastructure in public schools, especially in rural communities

The cover photo of the project aware grant report: the image of the middle part of the body of two people sitting close to each other during a conversation.

News

U-M experts to examine cell phone policies in Michigan schools, effects on student well-being

Oct 2, 2025

RESEARCH TO WATCH WHAT’S THE STUDY: A multidisciplinary team of University of Michigan researchers has received a grant from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct interviews and surveys to understand how school cell phone policies acr...

News

Youth Policy Lab annual report highlights year of pivotal research and growing training programs

Sep 12, 2025

The Youth Policy Lab (YPL) at the University of Michigan marks another year of growth, rigorous research, and deepening partnerships, as documented in its newly released annual report.

News

Ford School team receives Accelerate grant from U-M Bold Challenges Initiative to advance early intervention for children with disabilities

Sep 4, 2025

A team led by Christina Weiland, Karl and Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy and co-director of the Education Policy Initiative, and Catherine Asher, assistant research scientist at the Youth Policy Lab, has been selected for the University of Mi...

Group of toddlers playing with toys sitting on floor at kindergarten

News

Analyzing the numbers: 5 ASPIRE students reflect on a summer of policy research and personal growth

Aug 11, 2025

Rising Morehouse College senior Tyler Mathieu had one goal in mind when he arrived in Ann Arbor for the Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE): stay open-minded. “When I applied, it was a shot in the dark,” he said. “Now I ...

News

Brian Jacob: Michigan's education system needs structural reform now

Aug 4, 2025

In guest commentary for Bridge Michigan, Brian Jacob highlights findings from his recently released a rigorous, independent study commissioned by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).

News

Youth Policy Lab welcomes Morehouse and Spelman students to 2025 ASPIRE summer program

Jun 2, 2025

The Youth Policy Lab (YPL) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Institute for Social Research is proud to announce the 2025 Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE) cohort. This summer, Spelman students Ke'Zh...

L-R Ke'Zhiah Chapman, Chloe Fite, Angelica Pierce, Brooklynn Vesey,Tyler Mathieu

News

Career and tech education is booming, Brian Jacob says research can make it more effective

May 27, 2025

As popularity for career and technical education (CTE) programs increases, education economist Brian Jacob and YPL Project Manager Lynn Meissner make a case for robust data collection and research to understand their long-term impact on students. The...

News

Federal funding supports critical education research at the University of Michigan

Mar 21, 2025

A new brief from the Ford School's Education Policy Initiative and Youth Policy Lab shows the impact of federally funded education research. The policy-relevant research is developed in partnership with local and state agencies, practitioners, and po...

Photo of young children and their teachers in a classroom. By Yan Krukov

News

Weiland and Jacob: Lessons from Michigan for Washington’s early childhood programs

Mar 21, 2025

Research shows that high-quality preschool education has the power to positively impact a child’s growth and development, even far into adulthood. However, as costs increase and high demand creates long wait times, many children across the country ar...

In the Media

Jacob questions efficiency in the use of tech in classrooms

Jan 22, 2025 The Wall Street Journal

The Ford School's Brian Jacob recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal regarding his 2023 research survey on the use of technology in classrooms. Jacob's survey was conducted among 1,000 educators and showed technology is used for completing class...

News

Cohodes, Jacob, and Weiland make Education Week’s 2025 public influence rankings

Jan 9, 2025

Education Week has announced the annual 2025 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, which highlights scholars who made significant contributions to educational practice and policy in the past year. Three Ford School faculty members have been ran...

News

State program significantly reduces homelessness, utility insecurity, U-M report reveals

Dec 3, 2024 https://news.umich.edu/state-program-significantly-reduces-homelessness-utility…

The pilot of a Michigan program created to help improve health outcomes for pregnant parents and their children shows positive impacts on families, including food and financial security and housing stability, according to a new report from the Univer...

Family holds infant while being interviewed by the research team

Publication

Beating the odds: Students at Detroit public schools are less depressed, anxious

Nov 11, 2024

The share of 8th-12th grade students reporting depression and anxiety symptoms fell below pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23 in the Detroit Public School Community District—which is the opposite of national trends. The most substantial improvements were ...

Photo of two students comparing notes, smiling.

Youth Policy Lab

Education policy

Research centers

Cell phones away. Then what?

Alumni impact: The people behind the numbers

At Ford School, public policy connects evidence to action

YPL research offers Michigan schools options for enforcing new state cell phone ban

“Talk data to me”: ASPIRE fellows explore youth mental health, school trust, and pathways into policy research

Lockable phone pouches in schools improve student well-being over time, not test scores or bullying

Youth Policy Lab welcomes Morehouse and Spelman students to 2026 ASPIRE summer program

What happens when schools restrict phones? U-M Youth Policy Lab convenes national conference as new studies get underway

First-of-its-kind national educator survey reveals both promise and peril in school cell phone policies

Michigan governor signs classroom cell phone ban: U-M experts available to comment

Jacob and Weiland raise concerns about potential bias in traditional retention studies

Jacob comments on competing screen policies for students

Ford School faculty among the nation's top education scholars

Jacob comments on fall in public school enrollment in wealthy districts

Youth Policy Lab evaluates Michigan youth mental health initiative, provides blueprint to further develop mental health services for youth

U-M experts to examine cell phone policies in Michigan schools, effects on student well-being

Youth Policy Lab annual report highlights year of pivotal research and growing training programs

Ford School team receives Accelerate grant from U-M Bold Challenges Initiative to advance early intervention for children with disabilities

Analyzing the numbers: 5 ASPIRE students reflect on a summer of policy research and personal growth

Brian Jacob: Michigan's education system needs structural reform now

Youth Policy Lab welcomes Morehouse and Spelman students to 2025 ASPIRE summer program

Career and tech education is booming, Brian Jacob says research can make it more effective

Federal funding supports critical education research at the University of Michigan

Weiland and Jacob: Lessons from Michigan for Washington’s early childhood programs

Jacob questions efficiency in the use of tech in classrooms

Cohodes, Jacob, and Weiland make Education Week’s 2025 public influence rankings

State program significantly reduces homelessness, utility insecurity, U-M report reveals

Beating the odds: Students at Detroit public schools are less depressed, anxious