It's Academic
Understanding College Application Decisions: Why College Sports Success Matters
Devin Pope & Jaren Pope
Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using a unique, national data set that indicates where students choose to send their SAT scores, the authors find that college sports success has a large impact on student application decisions. For example, a school that has a stellar year in basketball or football on average receives up to 10% more SAT scores. Certain demographic groups (males, Blacks, out-of-state students, and students who played sports in high school) are more likely to be influenced by sports success than their counterparts. The authors explore the reasons why students might be influenced by these sporting events and present evidence that attention/accessibility helps explain these findings.
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The Effect of Housing Wealth on College Choice: Evidence from the Housing Boom
Michael Lovenheim & Lockwood Reynolds
NBER Working Paper, May 2012
Abstract:
The higher education system in the United States is characterized by a large degree of quality heterogeneity, and there is a growing literature suggesting students attending higher quality universities have better educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper, we use NLSY97 data combined with the difference in the timing and strength of the housing boom across cities to examine how short-run home price growth affects the quality of postsecondary schools chosen by students. Our findings indicate a $10,000 increase in a family's housing wealth in the four years prior to a student becoming of college-age increases the likelihood she attends a flagship public university relative to a non-flagship public university by 2.0 percent and decreases the relative probability of attending a community college by 1.6 percent. These effects are driven by relatively lower and middle-income families. We show that these changes are due to the effect of housing wealth on where students apply, not on whether they are admitted. We also find that short-run increases in home prices lead to increases in direct quality measures of the institutions students attend. Finally, for the lower-income sample, we find home price increases reduce student labor supply and that each $10,000 increase in home prices is associated with a 1.8% increase in the likelihood of completing college.
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How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation
Jere Behrman et al.
American Economic Review, May 2012, Pages 300-304
Abstract:
This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also indicate that the schooling effect only becomes positive when interacted with financial literacy. Estimated impacts are substantial enough to imply that investments in financial literacy could have large wealth payoffs.
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Changes in Children's Pretend Play Over Two Decades
Sandra Russ & Jessica Dillon
Creativity Research Journal, Fall 2011, Pages 330-338
Abstract:
There is growing recognition that children have less time to engage in play, and, concurrently, recent evidence suggests a decrease in divergent thinking ability in young children. This study investigated changes in pretend play ability during a 23-year period. The same standardized measure of pretend play, the Affect in Play Scale (APS; Russ, 1993; 2004), was the measure of pretend play in all studies. This puppet play task is videotaped and scored from the tapes. Fourteen studies of children from 6 to 10 years of age in school-based samples from 1985-2008 were included in the analyses. A cross-temporal meta-analysis examined correlations between weighted mean scores and year of data collection. Main findings were that imagination in play and comfort with play significantly increased over time. There was no evidence of change in organization of the story or in overall expression of affect in play. When one outlier was removed, there was a significant decrease in negative affect expression in play. Even though children have less time to play, cognitive processes that occur in play are continuing to develop. Whether these pretend abilities are being transferred to creative production is a key question for future investigation.
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Martin West, Michael Henderson & Paul Peterson
The Forum, May 2012
Abstract:
Do teachers and the public disagree on education reform? We use data from a nationally representative survey conducted in 2011 to identify the extent of the differences between the opinion of teachers and the general public on a wide range of education policies. The overall cleavage between teachers and the general public is wider than the cleavages between other relevant groups, including that between Democrats and Republicans. At least with respect to patterns of opinion on education reform, school politics is largely a conflict between producers within the system and consumers outside it - a classic iron triangle theme.
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Applying Early Decision: Student and College Incentives and Outcomes
Gabrielle Chapman & Stacy Dickert-Conlin
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Colleges' early decision (ED) admission policies require accepted students to commit to attend the school without comparing outside options. With data from two liberal arts schools we find evidence that students with higher willingness and ability to pay and lower measured ability levels are more likely to apply ED. Applying ED raises the probability of acceptance by 40 percentage points. We address the potential selection of students into ED, including estimating an upper bound of 46 percentage points following Altonji et al. (2005). One college appears to use the ED process to screen applicants with high SAT scores and female applicants, thereby avoiding the potential adverse selection of applicants in the regular decision process. Finally, even conditional on higher socioeconomic status and other observable characteristics, applying ED is correlated with higher financial aid packages, perhaps because the college's financial aid resources are higher earlier in the admission process.
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Cognitive effects of one season of head impacts in a cohort of collegiate contact sport athletes
T.W. McAllister et al.
Neurology, 29 May 2012, Pages 1777-1784
Objective: To determine whether exposure to repetitive head impacts over a single season negatively affects cognitive performance in collegiate contact sport athletes.
Methods: This is a prospective cohort study at 3 Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic programs. Participants were 214 Division I college varsity football and ice hockey players who wore instrumented helmets that recorded the acceleration-time history of the head following impact, and 45 noncontact sport athletes. All athletes were assessed prior to and shortly after the season with a cognitive screening battery (ImPACT) and a subgroup of athletes also were assessed with 7 measures from a neuropsychological test battery.
Results: Few cognitive differences were found between the athlete groups at the preseason or postseason assessments. However, a higher percentage of the contact sport athletes performed more poorly than predicted postseason on a measure of new learning (California Verbal Learning Test) compared to the noncontact athletes (24% vs 3.6%; p < 0.006). On 2 postseason cognitive measures (ImPACT Reaction Time and Trails 4/B), poorer performance was significantly associated with higher scores on several head impact exposure metrics.
Conclusion: Repetitive head impacts over the course of a single season may negatively impact learning in some collegiate athletes. Further work is needed to assess whether such effects are short term or persistent.
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Annie Georges, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn & Lizabeth Malone
American Behavioral Scientist, July 2012, Pages 961-990
Abstract:
A growing number of studies examine the influence of classroom behavior on teaching and individual children's behavior. However, limited work has examined the effects of classroom behavior on academic achievement. The present study used 14,537 children in 2,109 classrooms from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS -K) to examine the association between attention, aggressive behavior, and achievement at two levels --the child and classroom. Children with low attention, alone or in combination with aggressive behavior, made fewer gains in test scores during kindergarten. The achievement gap between children with low attention and those without was larger than those based on low-income status or race/ethnicity. Additionally, having more children in the classroom with low attention was negatively associated with achievement gains. No similar association was found for the number of children with high aggression. The authors discuss avenues for teacher training and intervention to facilitate attention.
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Rosa Minhyo Cho
Economics of Education Review, October 2012, Pages 629-643
Abstract:
Over the past decade, several state and federal policies have directed schools to mainstream English Language Learner (ELL) students into English-only instruction classrooms. While there is mixed evidence on the effects of these immersion policies on the ELL students, research examining potential peer effects on their non-ELL classmates is non-existent. This paper begins to fill in this gap by using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of children in early elementary grades. Results indicate that having an ELL classmate during kindergarten and first grade is associated with lower test score gains in reading but not necessarily in math for non-ELL students whose primary language is English, controlling for unobserved fixed school characteristics as well as individual characteristics. The negative peer effects on reading test score gain are sensitive to the frequency of within classroom ability grouping usage, gender, and household income level of non-ELL children.
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John Fantuzzo et al.
Journal of School Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In light of persistent Black-White achievement gaps for boys, this study examined publicly monitored risks believed to be associated with being behind academically for an entire subpopulation of African American boys in a large urban public school district. Also examined were indicators of academic engagement hypothesized to mediate the relations between risks and low achievement. Findings indicated that the Black-White achievement gap for boys was matched by a comparable difference in risk experiences. Multilevel linear regression models controlling for poverty found that both the type and accumulation of risk experiences explained a significant amount of variation in reading and mathematics achievement for the subpopulation of African American boys. Socio-familial risks were related to the poorest academic outcomes. Academic engagement indicators significantly mediated relations between risks and achievement. Implications of this research for collective school and community actions to make race, gender, and place matter in educational public policy were discussed.
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Orhan Agirdag, Mieke Van Houtte & Piet Van Avermaet
European Sociological Review, June 2012, Pages 366-378
Abstract:
Although a number of studies in many countries have investigated the impact of the ethnic and socio-economic composition of schools on academic performance, few studies have analyzed in detail how and why compositional features matter. This article presents an examination of whether pupils' sense of futility and schools' futility culture account for the impact of ethnic and socio-economic status (SES) composition of schools on the academic achievement of their pupils. Multilevel analyses of data based on a survey of 2,845 pupils (aged 10-12 years) in 68 Flemish primary schools revealed that higher proportions of immigrant and working-class pupils in a school is associated with lower levels of math achievement in both immigrant and native Belgian pupils. However, by analyzing at a deeper level, by taking control variables into account, our study found that the ethnic composition of the school no longer had a significant effect on pupils' achievement, while the SES composition still did. Most importantly, our results indicated that the remaining impact of SES composition can be explained by pupils' sense of futility and schools' futility culture. The implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.
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Switching Schools: Revisiting the Relationship Between School Mobility and High School Dropout
Joseph Gasper, Stefanie DeLuca & Angela Estacion
American Educational Research Journal, June 2012, Pages 487-519
Abstract:
Youth who switch schools are more likely to demonstrate a wide array of negative behavioral and educational outcomes, including dropping out of high school. However, whether switching schools actually puts youth at risk for dropout is uncertain, since youth who switch schools are similar to dropouts in their levels of prior school achievement and engagement, which suggests that switching schools may be part of the same long-term developmental process of disengagement that leads to dropping out. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study uses propensity score matching to pair youth who switched high schools with similar youth who stayed in the same school. We find that while over half the association between switching schools and dropout is explained by observed characteristics prior to ninth grade, switching schools is still associated with dropout. Moreover, the relationship between switching schools and dropout varies depending on a youth's propensity for switching schools.
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Elda Pema & Stephen Mehay
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior research on the labor market success of secondary vocational education has produced mixed results, with several studies finding wage gains only for individuals who work in training-related occupations. We contribute to this debate by focusing on a single occupation and organization and by comparing the careers of employees with and without occupation-related training in high school. We use longitudinal data on the careers of military recruits who completed high school JROTC, a military science program that has features of a vocational training and school-to-work program. We find that the occupation-specific training received via JROTC reduces early turnover and improves long-run job stability for those who choose military jobs, suggesting that an important effect of vocational training is to improve job match quality. We also find that promotion rates for vocational graduates are similar to their peers, suggesting that vocational education in general works by improving occupational sorting.
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Edward Reeves
American Behavioral Scientist, July 2012, Pages 887-907
Abstract:
Research has shown that rural high school students in the United States (and elsewhere) have lower academic achievement than their nonrural counterparts. The evidence for why this inequality exists is unclear, however. The present study takes up this issue with a narrowing of the focus. Using the database of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002-2004, the author investigates reasons for the rural achievement gap in mathematics during the last 2 years of high school. His approach focuses on the geographic disparities in the opportunity to learn advanced math. The findings show that geographic variation in high school resources and practices-operationalized as the availability of advanced math courses, evidence for track assignment by family background, and the quality of instruction-do not account for the rural math achievement gap. On the other hand, geographic variations in the opportunity to learn that result from differences in family socioeconomic status (SES) and the influence of friends' academic commitments and aspirations do help to explain why rural high school students learn less mathematics than their nonrural counterparts. The observed effects on math achievement by family SES and friends are in part direct effects, but these factors also have critically important indirect effects because they appear to influence student motivation to take advanced math courses.
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Rural-Nonrural Disparities in Postsecondary Educational Attainment Revisited
Soo-yong Byun, Judith Meece & Matthew Irvin
American Educational Research Journal, June 2012, Pages 412-437
Abstract:
Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, this study revisited rural-nonrural disparities in educational attainment by considering a comprehensive set of factors that constrain and support youth's college enrollment and degree completion. Results showed that rural students were more advantaged in community social resources compared to nonrural students, and these resources were associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of bachelor's degree attainment. Yet results confirmed that rural students lagged behind nonrural students in attaining a bachelor's degree largely due to their lower socioeconomic background. The findings present a more comprehensive picture of the complexity of geographic residence in shaping college enrollment and degree attainment.
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Care or Cash? The Effect of Child Care Subsidies on Student Performance
Sandra Black et al.
NBER Working Paper, May 2012
Abstract:
Given the wide use of childcare subsidies across countries, it is surprising how little we know about the effect of these subsidies on children's longer run outcomes. Using a sharp discontinuity in the price of childcare in Norway, we are able to isolate the effects of childcare subsidies on both parental and student outcomes. We find very small and statistically insignificant effects of childcare subsidies on childcare utilization and parental labor force participation. Despite this, we find significant positive effect of the subsidies on children's academic performance in junior high school, suggesting the positive shock to disposable income provided by the subsidies may be helping to improve children's scholastic aptitude.
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Class Size and Class Heterogeneity
Giacomo De Giorgi, Michele Pellizzari & William Gui Woolston
Journal of the European Economic Association, forthcoming
Abstract:
We study how class size and class composition affect the academic and labor market performance of college students, two crucial policy questions given the secular increase in college enrollment. Our identification strategy relies on the random assignment of students to teaching classes. We find that a one standard deviation increase in class-size results in a 0.1 standard deviation deterioration of the average grade. Further, the effect is heterogeneous as it is stronger for males and lower income students. Also, the effects of class composition in terms of gender and ability appear to be inverse U-shaped. Finally, a reduction of 20 students (one standard deviation) in one's class size has a positive effect on monthly wages of about €80 ($115) or 6% over the average.
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Do Course Evaluations Truly Reflect Student Learning?: Evidence from an Objectively Graded Post-test
Trinidad Beleche, David Fairris & Mindy Marks
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
It is difficult to assess the extent to which course evaluations reflect how much students truly learn from a course because valid measures of learning are rarely available. This paper makes use of a unique setting in which students take a common, high-stakes post-test which is centrally graded and serves as the basis for capturing actual student learning. We match these student-specific measures of learning to student-specific course evaluation scores from electronic records and a rich set of student-level covariates, including a pre-test score and other measures of skills prior to entering the course. While small in magnitude, we find a robust positive, and statistically significant, association between our measure of student learning and course evaluations.
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Public Online Charter School Students: Choices, Perceptions, and Traits
Paul Kim, Flora Hisook Kim & Arafeh Karimi
American Educational Research Journal, June 2012, Pages 521-545
Abstract:
There has been a steady growth of the K-12 student population taking courses online. This study examined reasons for students to choose a public online charter school program and their perceptions of online discussion. A survey was sent to 1,500 students newly enrolled in a statewide public online charter school program. From those who responded, 44% indicated that the online discussion component is not helpful in achieving their academic goals. Also, further analysis suggested that those who drop out of traditional schools probably would not stay even in an online program unless the program adequately supported the students. In this report, interrelationships among perceptual measures along with traits and preferences of online students are discussed and suggestions are made for educators.
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The Effects of Spanish-Language Background on Completed Schooling and Aptitude Test Scores
Luis Locay, Tracy Regan & Arthur Diamond
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigate the effect of speaking Spanish at home as a child on completed schooling and aptitude test scores using data from the NLSY79 on Hispanics who grew up in the United States. We model the accumulation of traditional human capital and English fluency, leading to the joint determination of schooling and test scores. We find that speaking Spanish at home reduces test scores, but has no significant effect on completed schooling. The reduction in test scores (1) increases in magnitude in three of the tests when the parents are more educated; (2) is much more dramatic when the choice of home language is made endogenous; and (3) is not systematically greater for the verbal than for the math tests.
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Jürgen Baumert, Gabriel Nagy & Rainer Lehmann
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article examines the development of social and ethnic disparities in academic achievement in elementary schooling. It investigated whether reading and mathematics development in 136 mixed-ability classes shows path-dependent processes of cumulative advantage (Matthew effects) from Grades 4 to 6 (Grade 4 mean age = 10.62, SD = 0.57) resulting in growing inequality. Status-dependent processes of cumulative advantage, their interaction with path-dependent processes, and consequences for the degree of social and ethnic inequality are examined. Two complementary methods for analyzing multilevel data are used: growth curve and quasi-simplex models. No evidence for a Matthew effect was found in either domain. A compensation effect emerged for reading, to the benefit of ethnic minorities. A fan-spread effect was found for mathematics, partly attributable to status-dependent processes of cumulative advantage.