Grades
Exposure to Classroom Poverty and Test Score Achievement: Contextual Effects or Selection?
Douglas Lee Lauen & Michael Gaddis
American Journal of Sociology, January 2013, Pages 943-979
Abstract:
It is widely believed that impoverished contexts harm children. Disentangling the effects of family background from the effects of other social contexts, however, is complex, making causal claims difficult to verify. This study examines the effect of exposure to classroom poverty on student test achievement using data on a cohort of children followed from third through eighth grade. Cross-sectional methods reveal a substantial negative association between exposure to high-poverty classrooms and test scores; this association grows with grade level, becoming especially large for middle school students. Growth models, however, produce much smaller effects of classroom poverty exposure on academic achievement. Even smaller effects emerge from student fixed-effects models that control for time-invariant unobservables and from marginal structural models that adjust for observable time-dependent confounding. These findings suggest that causal claims about the effects of classroom poverty exposure on achievement may be unwarranted.
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State Teacher Union Strength and Student Achievement
Johnathan Lott & Lawrence Kenny
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
A new and very small literature has provided evidence that students have lower test scores in larger school districts and in districts in which the district's teachers union has negotiated a contract that is more favorable to the district's teachers. The teachers' unions at the state and national levels contribute a great deal of money to candidates for state and federal offices. This gives the unions some influence in passing (defeating) bills that would help (harm) the state's teachers. We introduce two novel measures of the strength of the state-wide teachers union: union dues per teacher and union expenditures per student. These reflect the key role of political influence for state-wide unions. We provide remarkably strong evidence that students in states with strong teachers unions have lower proficiency rates than students in states with weak state-wide teacher unions.
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Deven Carlson, Joshua Cowen & David Fleming
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2013, Pages 179-199
Abstract:
Few school choice evaluations consider students who leave such programs, and fewer still consider the effects of leaving these programs as policy-relevant outcomes. Using a representative sample of students from the citywide voucher program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we analyze more than 1,000 students who leave the program during a 4-year period. We show that low-performing voucher students tend to move from the voucher sector into lower performing and less effective public schools than the typical public school student attends, whereas high-performing students transfer to better public schools. In general, transferring students realize substantial achievement gains after moving to the public sector; these results are robust to multiple analytical approaches. This evidence has important implications for school choice policy and research.
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The surprising effect of larger class sizes: Evidence using two identification strategies
Kevin Denny & Veruska Oppedisano
Labour Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper estimates the marginal effect of class size on educational attainment of high school students. We control for the potential endogeneity of class size in two ways using a conventional instrumental variable approach, based on changes in cohort size, and an alternative method where identification is based on restrictions on higher moments. The data is drawn from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) collected in 2003 for the United States and the United Kingdom. Using either method or the two in conjunction leads to the conclusion that increases in class size lead to improvements in student's mathematics scores. Only the results for the United Kingdom are statistically significant.
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Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Home Computers on Academic Achievement among Schoolchildren
Robert Fairlie & Jonathan Robinson
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Computers are an important part of modern education, yet many schoolchildren lack access to a computer at home. We test whether this impedes educational achievement by conducting the largest-ever field experiment that randomly provides free home computers to students. Although computer ownership and use increased substantially, we find no effects on any educational outcomes, including grades, test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions. Our estimates are precise enough to rule out even modestly-sized positive or negative impacts. The estimated null effect is consistent with survey evidence showing no change in homework time or other "intermediate" inputs in education.
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Reward or Punishment? Class Size and Teacher Quality
Nathan Barrett & Eugenia Toma
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
The high stakes testing and school accountability components of our K-12 education system create an incentive for principals to behave strategically to maximize school performance. One possible approach is the adjustment of class sizes based on observed teacher effectiveness. Conceptually, this relationship may be positive or negative. On one hand, performance-maximizing principals may place more students in the classrooms of more effective teachers. But because administrators may have compensation constraints, it is also plausible that they may reward more effective teachers with fewer students in the classroom. This paper examines whether principals reward effective teachers by decreasing their class size or whether they increase the size of classes of more effective teachers as a means of enhancing the school outcome. Results overall indicate that more effective teachers do have larger classes. This result holds implications for prior policy studies of class size as well as for education policy more generally.
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"Academic Redshirting" in Kindergarten: Prevalence, Patterns, and Implications
Daphna Bassok & Sean Reardon
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use two nationally representative data sets to estimate the prevalence of kindergarten "redshirting" - the decision to delay a child's school entry. We find that between 4% and 5.5% of children delay kindergarten, a lower number than typically reported in popular and academic accounts. Male, White, and high-SES children are most likely to delay kindergarten, and schools serving larger proportions of White and high-income children have far higher rates of delayed entry. We find no evidence that children with lower cognitive or social abilities at age 4 are more likely to redshirt, suggesting parents' decisions to delay entry may be driven by concerns about children's relative position within a kindergarten cohort. Implications for policy are discussed.
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Do Small Schools Improve Performance in Large, Urban Districts? Causal Evidence from New York City
Amy Ellen Schwartz, Leanna Stiefel & Matthew Wiswall
Journal of Urban Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We evaluate the effectiveness of small high school reform in the country's largest school district, New York City. Using a rich administrative dataset for multiple cohorts of students and distance between student residence and school to instrument for endogenous school selection, we find substantial heterogeneity in school effects: newly created small schools have positive effects on graduation and some other education outcomes while older small schools do not. Importantly, we show that ignoring this source of treatment effect heterogeneity by assuming a common small school effect yields a misleading zero effect of small school attendance.
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Sarah Butler Jessen
Educational Policy, May 2013, Pages 427-466
Abstract:
This article begins to unpack the complex effects of the policies of both the small schools and choice on students with special needs. Drawing on qualitative data collected throughout the 2008-2009 academic year and a range of quantitative data from New York City's public high schools, the author shows that while small schools and choice are intended to expand schooling options for all, students with special needs often find that when entering the public high school choice process, their selection set is narrowed. For families of students with special needs, the lack of adequate special needs resources can preclude schools from being considered as viable options. In addition, schools of choice engage in practices to deter higher need students from applying. The combined influences of parent decision and school choice processes result in between-school sorting, with larger institutions receiving the bulk of the higher need population of students, which is reflected in the city's enrollment data. The findings raise questions about not only the effects of the small school reforms, but also about the role of choice policies in the public educational system.
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The Dynamic Advertising Effect of Collegiate Athletics
Doug Chung
Harvard Working Paper, January 2013
Abstract:
I measure the spillover effect of intercollegiate athletics on the quantity and quality of applicants to institutions of higher education in the United States, popularly known as the "Flutie Effect." I treat athletic success as a stock of goodwill that decays over time, similar to that of advertising. A major challenge is that privacy laws prevent us from observing information about the applicant pool. I overcome this challenge by using order statistic distribution to infer applicant quality from information on enrolled students. Using a flexible random coefficients aggregate discrete choice model - which accommodates heterogeneity in preferences for school quality and athletic success - and an extensive set of school fixed effects to control for unobserved quality in athletics and academics, I estimate the impact of athletic success on applicant quality and quantity. Overall, athletic success has a significant long-term goodwill effect on future applications and quality. However, students with lower than average SAT scores tend to have a stronger preference for athletic success, while students with higher SAT scores have a greater preference for academic quality. Furthermore, the decay rate of athletics goodwill is significant only for students with lower SAT scores, suggesting that the goodwill created by intercollegiate athletics resides more extensively with low-ability students than with their high-ability counterparts. But, surprisingly, athletic success impacts applications even among academically stronger students.
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Systematic Sorting: Teacher Characteristics and Class Assignments
Demetra Kalogrides, Susanna Loeb & Tara Béteille
Sociology of Education, April 2013, Pages 103-123
Abstract:
Although prior research has documented differences in the distribution of teacher characteristics across schools serving different student populations, few studies have examined the extent to which teacher sorting occurs within schools. This study uses data from one large urban school district and compares the class assignments of teachers who teach in the same grade and in the same school in a given year. The authors find that less experienced, minority, and female teachers are assigned classes with lower achieving students than are their more experienced, white, and male colleagues. Teachers who have held leadership positions and those who attended more competitive undergraduate institutions are also assigned higher achieving students. These patterns are found at both the elementary and middle/high school levels. The authors explore explanations for these patterns and discuss their implications for achievement gaps, teacher turnover, and the estimation of teacher value-added.
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The Spillover Effects of Grade-Retained Classmates: Evidence from Urban Elementary Schools
Michael Gottfried
American Journal of Education, May 2013, Pages 405-444
Abstract:
Numerous studies have examined how grade retention can impede the academic success of those retained students. One uncharted line of research is the spillover effect that retained students may exert on their classmates. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this relationship for students in urban elementary school classrooms. To do so, this study analyzes a longitudinal data set comprising entire populations of five elementary school cohorts within the School District of Philadelphia. Because individual student records can be linked to teacher and classroom data as well as to school, grade, and year identifiers, this study employs a series of multilevel fixed-effects models to address estimation issues regarding omitted variable bias. All results indicate that the effects of having a greater number of grade-retained peers are detrimental to the standardized achievement outcomes of nonretained classmates. Data-driven policy implications are discussed.
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The Effects of NCLB on School Resources and Practices
Thomas Dee, Brian Jacob & Nathaniel Schwartz
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2013, Pages 252-279
Abstract:
A number of studies have examined the impact of school accountability policies, including No Child Left Behind (NCLB), on student achievement. However, there is relatively little evidence on how school accountability reforms and NCLB, in particular, have influenced education policies and practices. This study examines the effects of NCLB on multiple district, school, and teacher traits using district-year financial data and pooled cross sections of teacher and principal surveys. Our results indicate that NCLB increased per-pupil spending by nearly $600, which was funded primarily through increased state and local revenue. We find that NCLB increased teacher compensation and the share of elementary school teachers with advanced degrees but had no effects on class size. We also find that NCLB did not influence overall instructional time in core academic subjects but did lead schools to reallocate time away from science and social studies and toward the tested subject of reading.
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Nicole Forry, Elizabeth Davis & Kate Welti
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research has found disparities in young children's development across income groups. A positive association between high-quality early care and education and the school readiness of children in low-income families has also been demonstrated. This study uses linked administrative data from Maryland to examine the variations in school readiness associated with different types of subsidized child care, and with dual enrollment in subsidized child care and state pre-kindergarten or Head Start. Using multivariate methods, we analyze linked subsidy administrative data and portfolio-based kindergarten school readiness assessment data to estimate the probability of children's school readiness in three domains: personal and social development, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking. Compared to children in subsidized family child care or informal care, those in subsidized center care are more likely to be rated as fully ready to learn on the two pre-academic domains. Regardless of type of subsidized care used, enrollment in pre-kindergarten, but not Head Start, during the year prior to kindergarten is strongly associated with being academically ready for kindergarten. No statistically significant associations are found between type of subsidized care, pre-kindergarten enrollment, or Head Start and assessments of children's personal/social development.
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Test-Mex: Estimating the Effects of School Year Length on Student Performance in Mexico
Jorge Agüero & Trinidad Beleche
Journal of Development Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Estimating the impact of changing school inputs on student performance is often difficult because these inputs are endogenously determined. We investigate a quasi-experiment that altered the number of instructional days prior to a nationwide test in Mexico. Our exogenous source of variation comes from across states and over time changes in the date when the school year started and the date when the test was administered. We find that having more days of instruction prior to examination slightly improves student performance but exhibits diminishing marginal returns. The effects vary along the distribution of resources as determined by a poverty index, with lower improvements in poorer schools. These findings imply a weaker net benefit of policies expanding the length of the school year as they could widen the achievement gap by socioeconomic status.
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Interpolated memory tests reduce mind wandering and improve learning of online lectures
Karl Szpunar, Novall Khan & Daniel Schacter
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 April 2013, Pages 6313-6317
Abstract:
The recent emergence and popularity of online educational resources brings with it challenges for educators to optimize the dissemination of online content. Here we provide evidence that points toward a solution for the difficulty that students frequently report in sustaining attention to online lectures over extended periods. In two experiments, we demonstrate that the simple act of interpolating online lectures with memory tests can help students sustain attention to lecture content in a manner that discourages task-irrelevant mind wandering activities, encourages task-relevant note-taking activities, and improves learning. Importantly, frequent testing was associated with reduced anxiety toward a final cumulative test and also with reductions in subjective estimates of cognitive demand. Our findings suggest a potentially key role for interpolated testing in the development and dissemination of online educational content.
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Steve Bradley, Giuseppe Migali & Jim Taylor
Journal of Human Capital, Spring 2013, Pages 76-106
Abstract:
We evaluate the causal association between the specialist schools policy, a UK reform that has increased funding and encouraged secondary school specialization in particular subjects, and pupils' test score outcomes. Using the National Pupil Database, we estimate difference-in-difference matching models. We find a small, positive, and statistically significant causal effect on test scores at age 16. Pupils from poorer social backgrounds benefited more than pupils from richer backgrounds; pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds benefited less. We disentangle the funding effect from a specialization effect, which yields a relatively large proportionate improvement in test scores in particular subjects.
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Dana Dunleavy et al.
Academic Medicine, May 2013, Pages 666-671
Purpose: Most research examining the predictive validity of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) has focused on the relationship between MCAT scores and scores on the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step exams. This study examined whether MCAT scores predict students' unimpeded progress toward graduation (UP), which the authors defined as not withdrawing or being dismissed for academic reasons, graduating within five years of matriculation, and passing the Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, and Step 2 Clinical Skills exams on the first attempt.
Method: Students who matriculated during 2001-2004 at 119 U.S. medical schools were included in the analyses. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the relationships between UP and MCAT total scores alone, undergraduate grade point averages (UGPAs) alone, and UGPAs and MCAT total scores together. All analyses were conducted at the school level and were considered together to evaluate relationships across schools.
Results: The majority of matriculants experienced UP. Together, UGPAs and MCAT total scores predicted UP well. MCAT total scores alone were a better predictor than UGPAs alone. Relationships were similar across schools; however, there was more variability across schools in the relationship between UP and UGPAs than between UP and MCAT total scores.
Conclusions: The combination of UGPAs and MCAT total scores performs well as a predictor of UP. Both UGPAs and MCAT total scores are strong predictors of academic performance in medical school through graduation, not just the first two years. Further, these relationships generalize across medical schools.
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High School and Financial Outcomes: The Impact of Mandated Personal Finance and Mathematics Courses
Shawn Cole, Anna Paulson & Gauri Kartini Shastry
Harvard Working Paper, January 2013
Abstract:
Financial literacy and cognitive capabilities are convincingly linked to the quality of financial decision-making, influencing savings, stock-picking, and avoidance of outright financial mistakes. Yet, there is little evidence that education intended to improve financial decision-making is successful. Using plausibly exogenous variation in exposure to state-mandated personal finance and mathematics training in high school, affecting millions of students, this paper answers the question "Can good financial behavior be taught in high school?" It can, though not via personal finance courses, which we find have no effect on financial outcomes. Instead, we find additional training in mathematics leads to greater financial market participation, more investment income, and better credit management, including less bankruptcy and fewer foreclosures.
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Life-cycle effects of age at school start
Peter Fredriksson & Björn Öckert
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
In Sweden, children typically start school the year they turn 7. We combine this school entry cut-off with individuals' birthdates to estimate effects of school starting age on educational attainment and long-run labour market outcomes. We find that school entry age raises educational attainment and show that postponing tracking until age 16 reduces the effect of school starting age on educational attainment. On average, school starting age only affects the allocation of labour supply over the life-cycle and leaves prime-age earnings unaffected. But for individuals with low-educated parents we find that prime-age earnings increase in response to age at school start.
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Can High Schools Reduce College Enrollment Gaps With a New Counseling Model?
Jennifer Stephan & James Rosenbaum
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2013, Pages 200-219
Abstract:
Despite planning college, disadvantaged students are less likely to enroll in college, particularly 4-year colleges. Beyond cost and academic achievement, previous research finds that a lack of college-related social resources poses barriers. However, little research investigates whether schools can help. We examine whether, how, and for whom a new counseling model aimed at providing college-related social resources may improve college enrollment. Following nearly all seniors in Chicago Public Schools from senior year through the fall after high school, we find that coaches may improve the types of colleges that students attend by getting students to complete key actions. It is important that the most disadvantaged students appear to benefit. This research suggests that targeting social resources may improve the high-school-to-college transition for disadvantaged students.
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Ranking the Schools: How School-Quality Information Affects School Choice in the Netherlands
Pierre Koning & Karen van der Wiel
Journal of the European Economic Association, April 2013, Pages 466-493
Abstract:
This paper analyzes whether information about the quality of high schools published in a national newspaper affects school choice in the Netherlands. We find that negative (positive) school-quality scores decrease (increase) the number of first-year students who choose a school after the year of publication. These effects are only large for the college-preparatory track, such that a school receiving the most positive score for its most academic track sees 16-18 more first-year students enroll. We find that parents respond to the most recent and most prominently displayed information. The effects of information about school quality do not seem to be greater in regions with larger relevant newspaper circulation, suggesting that direct exposure to news about school quality does not explain the response to this information.