The effects of environmental risks on children

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Environmental risks, such as extreme weather events or air pollution, can harm the cognitive development of children (e.g., Roche et al. 2024). Understanding the causes and consequences of these environmental risks is critical as they are expected to increase in frequence and intensity with climate change. For example, some parts of California are expected to experience heat waves 4 to 10 times more frequently (California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment 2026). Recent wildfires near or in the most populated U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, further highlight the need to understand these environmental hazards. Yet many places, especially low-income areas, remain underprepared or unprepared for the challenges these environmental hazards currently or will pose. In 2025, schools in Portland, Oregon closed early and canceled after-school programs due to extreme heat, despite the school trying to bring temperatures in the building down the day before (Oregon Public Broadcasting 2025). Interventions to make homes and schools, where children spend most of their time, more resilient to climate change can also be very costly. This could significantly harm children and worsen learning outcomes, disproportionately affecting more vulnerable or marginalized populations. Using strong causal evidence to understand the consequences of these environmental risks on learning outcomes for children is critical for policymakers.

This panel explores how environmental risks influence different, but related educational outcomes for children in the U.S. using causal evidence. The first paper examines extreme weather and student aggression using millions of office discipline referrals across California, Oregon and Washington states between 2012 and 2024. The second paper investigates how heat mitigation strategies, policies, and communications are being used across schools in California. It also addresses concerns around inequities in funding and resource allocation for making schools more climate-resistant. The third paper examines how ambient air pollution affects student-by-day and teacher-by-day outcomes, specifically absences and disciplinary referrals, in a large urban school district in California between 2003 and 2020. It also explores differential effects based on race and age. The fourth paper examines the causal impact of air pollution from wildfire smoke on student learning using PSAT data from over 16 million U.S. high school students between 2007 and 2016.

Policy Area

• Natural Resource, Energy, and Environmental Policy

Chair

• Ali Khaleghinia, University of Kansas

Discussants

• Jordy David Coutin, University of Oregon

• Samantha Kane, Brown University

Organizer

• Nicole S Ngo, University of Oregon

Individual Presentations

• Extreme weather and Student Aggression: Large-Scale Causal Evidence on Climate-Driven School Discipline Disparities - Presenting Author: Nicole S Ngo, University of Oregon

• Koi and Concrete: Heat Mitigation Communication in California Schools. - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Andrew Penner, University of California, Irvine; Presenting Author: Olivia Woolsey, University of California, Irvine

• The Effects of Daily Air Pollution on Students, Teachers and School Violence - Presenting Author: Claudia L Persico, American University

• Air Pollution and Learning - Presenting Author: Joshua Goodman, Boston University