I'm not sure about how much causation is being captured here, but I don't doubt the effect directionally. Here's a paper that came to similar conclusions, which I think captures causality better
Basically it compares performance of students who transferred into schools upwind vs downwind of major highways. Unsurprisingly, those who ended up in downwind schools saw
> decreases in test scores, more behavioral incidents, and more absences
The article itself references many such studies correlating long term exposure to polluted environments with cognitive impairment.
This study however focuses on short term effects (within the same day).
https://www.nber.org/papers/w25489
Basically it compares performance of students who transferred into schools upwind vs downwind of major highways. Unsurprisingly, those who ended up in downwind schools saw
> decreases in test scores, more behavioral incidents, and more absences