On Campus
Out of place: Socioeconomic status, use of public space, and belonging in higher education
Sophie Trawalter, Kelly Hoffman & Lindsay Palmer
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Those from low socioeconomic status (SES) often lack access to public space and, when they have access, they are often discouraged from using public space. Scholars from human geography and related fields have argued that this limits engagement in civic life and undermines sense of belonging in one's community. In the present work, we consider whether lower-SES students face this predicament in higher education, particularly at elite public institutions. Across four studies, we find that, compared with higher-SES students, lower-SES students use public space on campus less - iconic public space in particular - and this can mediate the relationship between SES and sense of belonging at the University. We also find that experimentally increasing students' use of public space can reduce and even close SES gaps in felt belonging. Taken together, the present studies suggest that use of public space matters for belonging and for understanding gaps in belonging. This work contributes to our understanding of SES disparities in higher education. More generally, it illustrates the importance of public space.
Class Rank and Long-Run Outcomes
Jeffrey Denning, Richard Murphy & Felix Weinhardt
NBER Working Paper, July 2020
Abstract:
This paper considers an unavoidable feature of the school environment, class rank. What are the long run effects of a student's ordinal rank in elementary school? Using administrative data from all public school students in Texas, we show that students with a higher third grade academic rank, conditional on achievement and classroom fixed effects, have higher subsequent test scores, are more likely to take AP classes, to graduate from high school, enroll in college, graduate from college, and ultimately have higher earnings 19 years later. The paper concludes by exploring the tradeoff between higher quality schools and higher rank in the presence of these rank-based peer effects.
Schooled by Strikes? The Effects of Large-Scale Labor Unrest on Mass Attitudes toward the Labor Movement
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Suresh Naidu & Adam Reich
Perspectives on Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Strikes are a central tool of organized labor, yet existing research has focused on the economic consequences of strikes, rather than their political effects. We examine how labor actions by teachers, a well-organized group of public sector workers, affect mass attitudes about the strikes and interest in the labor movement more generally. Our context involves large-scale teacher strikes and walkouts in six states in 2018. Using an original survey in the affected states, we study the causal effect of strike exposure among parents whose children's ages place them in or out of school. Firsthand strike exposure increased parents' support for the teachers and for the labor movement, as well as parents' interest in labor action (though not necessarily through traditional unions). Our results highlight the importance of strikes as a political strategy for unions: not only can they build stronger public support for the striking workers but they can also inspire greater interest in further labor action among other workers.
Does attending a college with more heavy drinking peers increase risk of heavy drinking and consequences? A prospective national analysis
Allecia Reid et al.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
Heavy drinking in college increases risk for negative consequences. Among a national sample of high school abstainers and moderate drinkers, we hypothesized that the extent of heavy drinking among students on campus would be among the strongest predictors of first semester heavy drinking and consequences, relative to personal approval of alcohol use and sociability and impairment outcome expectancies. We expected these psychological factors to moderate effects of campus heavy drinking. Data from 90,455 abstainers and 97,168 moderate drinkers matriculating at 245 and 242 universities, respectively, were drawn from AlcoholEdu (EverFi, 2013), a web-based intervention completed by most first-year students at participating universities. Students reported alcohol use, approval, expectancies, and covariates prior to enrollment (Time 1). During the first semester (Time 2), abstinence, moderate drinking, or heavy drinking, and negative consequences experienced were reassessed. Campus heavy drinking reflected the percentage of other students attending the same school who engaged in heavy drinking at Time 2. In multilevel multinomial logistic regression models, campus heavy drinking was consistently among the strongest predictors of heavy drinking and consequences: It predicted an 83% and 82% increase in risk of heavy drinking and a 106% and 91% increase in risk of consequences among students who were abstainers and moderate drinkers at Time 1, respectively. There were few interactions among campus heavy drinking and psychological factors. Post hoc analyses supported that students did not self-select into heavier drinking environments. Campus heavy drinking is a key predictor of first semester alcohol use and an important intervention target.
Academic acceleration in gifted youth and fruitless concerns regarding psychological well-being: A 35-year longitudinal study
Brian Bernstein, David Lubinski & Camilla Benbow
Journal of Educational Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Academic acceleration of intellectually precocious youth is believed to harm overall psychological well-being even though short-term studies do not support this belief. Here we examine the long-term effects. Study 1 involves three cohorts identified before age 13, then longitudinally tracked for over 35 years: Cohort 1 gifted (top 1% in ability, identified 1972-1974, N = 1,020), Cohort 2 highly gifted (top 0.5% in ability, identified 1976-1979, N = 396), and Cohort 3 profoundly gifted (top 0.01% in ability, identified 1980-1983, N = 220). Two forms of educational acceleration were examined: (a) age at high school graduation and (b) quantity of advanced learning opportunities pursued prior to high school graduation. Participants were evaluated at age 50 on several well-known indicators of psychological well-being. Amount of acceleration did not covary with psychological well-being. Study 2, a constructive replication of Study 1, used a different high-potential sample-elite science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduate students (N = 478) identified in 1992. Their educational histories were assessed at age 25 and they were followed up at age 50 using the same psychological assessments. Again, the amount of educational acceleration did not covary with psychological well-being. Further, the psychological well-being of participants in both studies was above the average of national probability samples. Concerns about long-term social/emotional effects of acceleration for high-potential students appear to be unwarranted, as has been demonstrated for short-term effects.
The future is now: Age-progressed images motivate community college students to prepare for their financial futures
Tamara Sims et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, forthcoming
Abstract:
Part of the challenge young people face when preparing for lifelong financial security is visualizing the far-off future. Age-progression technology has been shown to motivate young people to save for retirement. The current study applied age progression for motivating socioeconomically diverse community college students as part of a college planning course. We recruited 106 students enrolled in a mandatory "Transitioning to College" course and randomly assigned them to view age-progressed or same-aged digital avatars. Compared to controls, age-progressed participants gave more correct answers and exhibited higher confidence (i.e., fewer "don't know" responses) on a financial literacy test. Confidence mediated the effect of age progression on correct responses, but not the other way around, pointing to financial confidence as a precursor to effective financial education. Students also reported interest in attending more long-term financial planning workshops (e.g., investing and retirement) available through their college. No differences were observed in financial planning for the near term (e.g., student aid and credit cards). The current study demonstrates the viability of age progression as a practical, inexpensive, and scalable intervention. Findings also illustrate the significance of this intervention for reducing pervasive socioeconomic and age disparities in financial knowledge and enhancing long-term financial prospects across future generations.
The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges
Eleanor Wiske Dillon & Jeffrey Andrew Smith
Journal of Human Resources, Summer 2020, Pages 767-808
Abstract:
We consider the effects of student ability, college quality, and the interaction between the two on academic outcomes and earnings, using data on two cohorts of college enrollees. Student ability and college quality strongly improve degree completion and earnings for all students. We find evidence of meaningful complementarity between student ability and college quality in degree completion at four years and in long-term earnings, but not in degree completion at six years or STEM degree completion. This complementarity implies some trade-off between equity and efficiency for policies that move lower-ability students to higher-quality colleges.
Teacher Wage Penalty and Decrease in Teacher Quality: Evidence from Career-Changers
Eunice Han
Labor Studies Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper examines the relation between teacher pay and teacher quality through the career dynamics of teachers and non-teachers. I find that public school teachers earn considerably less than their comparable college graduates in the non-teaching sector. By tracking wage differentials before and after career changes, I find evidence of positive selection, in which high-paid teachers are more likely to move to non-teaching occupations, and of negative selection, in which low-paid non-teachers tend to move to the teaching sector. These selection patterns, which ultimately contribute to a decrease in teacher quality, are more significant in union-unfriendly states.
A Neoliberal Grammar of Schooling? How a Progressive Charter School Moved toward Market Values
Elise Castillo
American Journal of Education, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although initially ideologically diverse, the charter school movement has become increasingly aligned with neoliberal ideology, which assumes that public services, including education, are improved through market forces, such as accountability, competition, efficiency, and managerialism. Yet little is known about how leaders of ideologically progressive charter schools sustain their founding pedagogical and political missions amid widespread market values. This qualitative case study of one progressive charter school in New York City investigates this phenomenon. Findings demonstrate that the school's enrollment, instructional, school governance, and community engagement practices moved toward market values as school leaders and board trustees prioritized attaining favorable test outcomes, garnering resources, and ensuring the renewal of the school's charter. Findings illustrate a neoliberal grammar of schooling, or powerful forces that led school leaders to move their practices toward market values, in turn constraining the realization of the school's founding progressive mission.
What Happened Following Comprehensive Developmental Education Reform in the Sunshine State? The Impact of Florida's Developmental Education Reform on Introductory College-Level Course Completion
Toby Park-Gaghan et al.
Educational Researcher, forthcoming
Abstract:
Florida's Senate Bill 1720 allowed many students to bypass developmental education and enroll directly in introductory college-level courses. We use an interrupted time series design to introductory college-level courses enrollment and passing rates in English and math for three cohorts of college students prereform and three cohorts postreform. Based on a cohort-by-cohort comparative analysis, we find that cohorts after the reform are more likely to enroll and pass introductory college-level courses in their 1st year of college, indicating that the reform may help to accelerate student success in college. Further, we find that Black and Hispanic students experience even greater gains in passing rates than White students, effectively narrowing the racial/ethnic achievement gap.
Teaching to Support Students With Diverse Academic Needs
David Blazar & Casey Archer
Educational Researcher, June 2020, Pages 297-311
Abstract:
Policy and practice communities increasingly are emphasizing conceptual, cognitively demanding, and "ambitious" instruction. Within this context, we examine whether such practices serve the needs of students with specialized academic needs. Across upper-elementary classrooms in four districts, we find that exposure to "ambitious" mathematics practices is more strongly associated with test score gains of English language learners (ELs) compared to those of their peers in general education classrooms; furthermore, this teaching practice is associated with the math self-efficacy of students with individualized education programs (IEP), and the self-reported behavior of general education students. We also find links between teachers' emotional support and students' self-efficacy and engagement, with the strongest relationships for students identified both as an EL and with an IEP.