Office: Ponderosa Commons (PCN) 3069
Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M2IsHq4AAAAJ&hl=en
About
Research Interests
Research Supervision Interests
Economics of Education, Equity, Quantitative Analysis
Bio
Yilin Pan is an economist specializing in economic evaluation methods (i.e., cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and cost-utility analyses), impact evaluation and Bayesian statistics. Using these methodologies, Yilin has collaborated with a diverse range of stakeholders — from governments to educational institutions worldwide — to promote evidence-based, inclusive, systematic, and transparent decision-making in educational resource allocation.
She is currently an Assistant Professor in Economics of Educational Equity at the University of British Columbia. Previously, she served as an Educational Programme Specialist at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), an education economist at the World Bank, and a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University. Yilin earned her B.A. and M.A. from Tsinghua University and her Ph.D. in Economics and Education from Columbia University.
Research and Education
Awards
2010 Graduate of Honor, Institute of Education, Tsinghua University
2007 Graduate of Honor, Tsinghua University
Education
Ph.D. in Economics and Education
Columbia University, 2016
M.A. in Higher Education
Tsinghua University, 2010
B.A. in English Literature and Linguistics
Tsinghua University, 2007
Research Projects
2017 – 2019: Project Director for “A Cost-Utility Framework to Facilitate Evidence-Based Decision-Making” funded by William T. Grant Foundation (Grant ID #187095, US$839,616)
2018 – 2020: Co-PI for “Academic Returns on Investment” funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (Grant ID #R305H180003, US$205,902)
Selected Publications
Leach, S. M., Hollands, F. M, Stone, E., Shand, R., Head, L., Wang, Y., Yan, B., Dossett, D., Chang, F., Ginsberg, Y. C, & Pan, Y. (2023). Costs and effects of school-based licensed practical nurses on elementary student attendance and chronic absenteeism. Prevention Science, 24(1): 94-104.
Shand, R., Leach, S.M., Hollands, F. M., Chang, F., Pan, Y., Yan, B., Dossett, D., Nayyer-Qureshi, S., Wang, Y, and Head. L. (2022). Program value-added: A feasible method for providing evidence on the effectiveness of multiple programs implemented simultaneously in schools. American Journal of Evaluation, 43(4), 584-606.
Hollands, F., Shand, R., Yan, B., Leach, S.M., Dossett, D., Chang, F., and Pan, Y. (2022). A comparison of three methods for providing local evidence to inform school and district budget decisions. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 1-18.
Hollands, F., Leach, S. M., Shand, R., Head, L., Wang, Y., Dossett, D., Chang, F., Yan, B., Martin, M., Pan, Y., and Hensel, S. (2022). Restorative Practices: Using local evidence on costs and student outcomes to inform school district decisions about behavioral interventions. Journal of School Psychology, 92: 188-208.
Hollands, F.M, Pan, Y., Kieffer, M., Holmes, V., Wang, Y. Escueta, M., Head, L, and Muroga, A. (2021). Comparing evidence on the effectiveness of reading resources from expert ratings, practitioner judgements, and research repositories. Evidence & Policy, 18(3): 543–562.
Hollands, F. M., Pan, Y. and Escueta, M. (2019) What is the potential for applying cost-utility analysis to facilitate evidence-based decision-making in schools? Educational Researcher, 48(5), 287-295.
Hollands, F. M. and Pan, Y. (2018). Evaluating digital math tools in the field. Middle Grades Review, 4(1), 1-16.
Jacob, R., Armstrong, C., Bowden, A. B., Pan, Y. (2016). Leveraging volunteers: An experiment evaluation of a tutoring program for struggling readers. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 67-92.
Hollands, F. M., Kieffer, M., Shand, R., Pan, Y., Cheng, H., and Levin, H. M. (2016). Cost-effectiveness analysis of early reading programs: A demonstration with recommendations for future research. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(1), 30-53.
Hollands, F. M., Bowden, A. B., Belfield, C., Levin, H. M., Cheng, H., Shand, R., Pan, Y., and Hanisch-Cerda, B. (2014). Cost-effectiveness analysis in practice: Interventions to improve high school completion. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(3), 307-326.
Pan, Y., Zheng, P., & Xu, T. (2009). A predictive effectiveness evaluation of tuition-free normal education policy: With special reference to teacher supply in rural areas. Tsinghua Journal of Education, 6, 79-83.
Yuan, B., & Pan, Y. (2009). Internationalization and the construction of world class universities: A case study of Tsinghua University. Journal of Higher Education, 9, 23-28.
EDST Activity
Students Supervised
Courses taught
EDUC 500: Research Methodology in Education
EDST 555: Educational Finance
EDST 581: Leadership, Administration and the Aims of Education