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We combine phone-survey data from 2,200 students collected in July–August of 2020 with student-level administrative data from 54 schools in four northwestern provinces of Cambodia to investigate the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for grade 9 students. These students were particularly vulnerable to dropping out of school prematurely due to the crisis. We find that most students kept studying during the crisis, returned to school to participate in the lower-secondary graduation exam after schools reopened, and transitioned to high school thereafter. However, we also find that students' exposure to the economic downturn had substantial implications: The likelihood that the father experienced income losses due to the crisis is negatively associated with a student's propensity to study during school closure, participation and performance in the final exam, and with the likelihood to transition to high school. In contrast, the likelihood that the mother experienced income losses is positively associated with student studying during the crisis, with participation in the final exam, and with transition to high school—potentially because mothers used the time at home to encourage their children to study.

We analyze whether an interest exploration tool, combined with information about potential careers, paths to higher education and ?financing options can provide guidance to students in rural Cambodia, help them develop long-term career goals and thereby motivate them to continue with school. We target the intervention to adolescents in grade 9, who are about to decide whether to enroll in high school. The intervention was conducted just before schools were closedfor a period of six months due to COVID-19. We use survey data, as well as individual-level administrative data obtained from treatment and control schools to track educational decisions during and after school closure. Our fi?ndings suggest that the intervention if at all reduced educational investments. We fi?nd these effects are driven by low-performing students. Students that ranked in the lower half of their class prior to the intervention are less likely to study during school closure, perform worse in the ?final exam and are less likely to transition to high school. Studying potential underlying mechanisms, our analyses suggest that our intervention made low-performing students aware of alternative career paths and more realistic in their expectations.

We examine how shocks to migration affect schooling in origin communities. We focus on the migration between Mexico and the United States, and explore how the expansion of the Secure Communities program in the US -- a federal data sharing program that substantially increased the risk of detainment and deportation for illegal migrants -- affected attendance, enrollment,and grades in Mexico. Our results suggest that the Secure Communities program increased attendance and enrollment in municipalities that had stronger migration ties with counties in the US that adopted the program early-on, which is consistent with the interpretation that the Secure Communities program implicitly raised returns to education. We find no effect on grades (within the ?first year of Secure Communities exposure).

Between 2019 and 2021, we collected detailed administrative data of grade 9 students from 54 lower-secondary schools in rural Cambodia. We also collected phone-survey data from these students in July and August 2020, to understand the implications of the nation-wide lockdown, that was implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020. The administrative data contain information on students’ grades, school characteristics and teacher characteristics from the school year 2019–2020, as well as information about the students’ enrollment in high school after the end of the school year (January 2021). This information is available for 3258 students. The phone-survey data contains information on students’ socio-economic background, parental education and occupation, as well as students’ study behavior, time use, educational aspirations and expectations, and perceptions of the COVID-19 crisis. This information is available for 2197 students.