Research collaborations
Policing Leadership Academy (PLA)
2023 - Present
Research Analyst, University of Chicago Crime Lab. With Prof. Max Kapustin and Dr. Kailey White.
Multi-site RCT evaluating commander-level leadership training in U.S. police departments, testing whether leadership training improves managerial practice.
- In the news
- Senate Passes Promoting Police Leadership Act Inspired by University of Chicago’s PLA University of Chicago Crime Lab, June 2026
Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI)
2023 - Present
Research Analyst, University of Chicago Education Lab. With Prof. Jens Ludwig and Dr. Fatemeh Momeni.
Large-scale multi-site RCTs evaluating high-dosage tutoring interventions in U.S. public schools.
- Report
- Scaling High Dosage Tutoring in Miami-Dade University of Chicago Education Lab, brief on the first year of implementation, March 2025
Publications
Do Digital Learning Platforms Close or Widen Learning Gaps? Evidence from Khan Academy in Lima’s Public Schools
In progress
Riega, S.
Studies whether educational technology substitutes for or complements students’ existing skills, using the staggered rollout of Khan Academy across public schools in Metropolitan Lima. The project asks whether learning gains concentrate among students who start closer to grade level, and whether the returns to the platform rise with a school’s capacity to implement it. Identification combines staggered difference-in-differences with the program’s eligibility thresholds.
Not One Less in the Labor Market: The Vulnerability of Women’s Employment in Urban Peru in 2019
2025
Riega, S. (2025). PUCP and Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (CIES-UNFPA). Published in Spanish as “Ni una menos en el mercado laboral”.
First Place, XXXI CIES-UNFPA Annual Research Competition (2025)
Abstract
This research identifies women in urban Peru who were at risk of losing their jobs in 2020 and characterizes them before they became unemployed. I use a penalized logit model, trained on the National Household Survey (ENAHO) panel from 2016 to 2019, to predict women's risk of job loss. The model's predictions are then validated against the 2020 data to check whether the predicted job losses actually occurred.
Contributions
Publications from projects I worked on, in which I am credited as a contributor.
Remote Tutoring for Learning Recovery: Experimental Evidence from a Low-Tech Intervention in Peru
2026
Leon, J., Endo, J., Zoido, P. & Suarez, S. (2026). International Journal of Educational Development, 125, 103654.
Contributor
Personalized Learning Initiative Interim Report: Findings from 2023-24
2025
University of Chicago Education Lab (2025).
Contributor
Articles
When Migrating Is Not Enough: A Comparison of Migrant and Non-Migrant Job Quality in Urban Peru between 2019 and 2020
2021
Delgado, D. & Riega, S. (2021). Cuando migrar no es suficiente: una comparación de la calidad del empleo de los migrantes y no migrantes en el Perú urbano en el 2019 y 2020. Económica, (13), 101-121.
Abstract
This research seeks to analyse the job quality of interdepartmental migrants in urban areas during 2019 and 2020. Job quality, under the decent work approach, encompasses dimensions of workers' well-being. After constructing an index and finding that job quality deteriorated, we find, using a generalised ordinal logit, that there is no relation between being a migrant and job quality. Nonetheless, there are other sociodemographic characteristics that migrants usually share which are linked to the lowest job quality.
The Education Crisis and the Poverty of Learning in Peru
2020
Cóndor, P. & Riega, S. (2020). La crisis de la educación y la pobreza del aprendizaje en el Perú. Economica - Boletín de Investigación N° 7.
Abstract
This article focuses on the quality of education received by primary school students in terms of reading skills. It introduces the concept of learning poverty and estimates two indicators using the FGT method to understand the educational crisis. The results show a high incidence of learning poverty among fourth-grade students in 2016 and 2018, especially in rural and state areas. Two additional measures, the gap and severity of learning poverty, reveal an increase in both between 2016 and 2018.