Passing the tests
Jayanti Owens & Heide Jackson
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although 11% (6.4 million) American children are diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the role of ADHD severity in shaping the association between ADHD diagnosis and academic achievement is not understood. Using a nationally-representative sample of 7,830 U.S. kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, we use regression and propensity score matching to compare diagnosed (N = 350) and undiagnosed children who are cognitively, behaviorally, and demographically similar. Diagnosed children with less severe ADHD-related behaviors on average scored lower in reading (−0.30 SD) and math (−0.22 SD) than their undiagnosed peers – a difference two times larger than that between diagnosed and undiagnosed children with more severe ADHD-related behaviors. Pharmacological treatment did not attenuate most of this “diagnostic labeling effect” among children with less severe ADHD-related behaviors. Negative factors associated with an ADHD diagnosis may outweigh potential benefits for achievement among children with less severe ADHD-related behaviors, even those receiving treatment.
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The Impact of Campus Scandals on College Applications
Michael Luca, Patrick Rooney & Jonathan Smith
Harvard Working Paper, June 2016
Abstract:
In recent years, there have been a number of high profile scandals on college campuses, ranging from cheating to hazing to rape. With so much information regarding a college’s academic and non-academic attributes available to students, how do these scandals affect their applications? To investigate, we construct a dataset of scandals at the top 100 U.S. universities between 2001 and 2013. Scandals with a high level of media coverage significantly reduce applications. For example, a scandal covered in a long-form news article leads to a ten percent drop in applications the following year. This is roughly the same as the impact on applications of dropping ten spots in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. Moreover, colleges react to scandals – the probability of another incident in the subsequent years falls – but this effect dissipates within five years. Combined, these results suggest important demand side and supply side responses to incidents with negative media coverage.
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A Promising Alternative: How Making College Free Affects Teens’ Risky Behaviors
Jennifer Doleac & Chloe Gibbs
University of Virginia Working Paper, May 2016
Abstract:
Promise-type college scholarships first garnered attention in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with the announcement of the Kalamazoo Promise program in November 2005. Other similar college scholarship programs, in which graduates from local high schools are guaranteed a full-tuition (and fees) scholarship at an in-state, public university or college for up to four years, have been developed across the country. The programs are typically funded by private donors and have few, if any, eligibility criteria beyond graduation from a public high school in the particular geographic area. While there is a small and growing literature on the academic effects of such programs, their impact on adolescent engagement in risky behaviors has yet to be explored. In this paper, we leverage the rollout of several Promise-type college scholarship programs to estimate their impact on juvenile crime and teenage childbearing in the affected county, using a triple-differences framework. We find evidence that program announcements decreased risky behaviors among youth in Promise-adopting counties, observing beneficial changes in arrest rate trends and suggestive evidence of declining teen birth rates over time after announcement. We also consider heterogeneity of effects by race and across the geographies implementing such programs.
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Charter School Closure and Student Achievement: Evidence from Ohio
Deven Carlson & Stéphane Lavertu
Journal of Urban Economics, September 2016, Pages 31–48
Abstract:
The closure of low-performing schools is an essential feature of the charter school model. Our regression discontinuity analysis uses an exogenous source of variation in school closure — an Ohio law that requires charter schools to close if they fail to meet a specific performance standard — to estimate the causal effect of closure on student achievement. The results indicate that closing low-performing charter schools eventually yields achievement gains of around 0.2-0.3 standard deviations in reading and math for students attending these schools at the time they were identified for closure. The study also employs mandatory closure as an instrument for estimating the impact of exiting low-quality charter schools, thus providing plausible lower-bound estimates of charter school effectiveness. These results complement the more common lottery-based estimates of charter school effects, which likely serve as upper-bound estimates due to their focus on oversubscribed schools often located in cities with high-performing charter sectors. We discuss the implications for research and policy.
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Learning to Manage and Managing to Learn: The Effects of Student Leadership Service
Michael Anderson & Fangwen Lu
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Employers and colleges value individuals with leadership service, but there is limited evidence on whether leadership service itself creates skills. Identification in this context has proved difficult because settings in which leadership service accrues to individuals for ostensibly random reasons are rare. In this study we estimate the effects of random assignment to classroom leadership positions in a Chinese secondary school. We find that leadership service increases test scores, increases students’ political popularity in the classroom, makes students more likely to take initiative, and shapes students’ beliefs about the determinants of success. The results suggest that leadership service may impact human capital and is not solely a signal of preexisting skills.
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Nicole Deterding & David Pedulla
Sociology of Education, July 2016, Pages 155-170
Abstract:
In recent years, private for-profit education has been the fastest growing segment of the U.S. postsecondary system. Traditional hiring models suggest that employers clearly and efficiently evaluate college credentials, but this changing institutional landscape raises an important question: How do employers assess credentials from emerging institutions? Building on theories of educational authority, we hypothesize that employers respond to an associate’s degree itself over the institution from which it came. Using data from a field experiment that sent applications to administrative job openings in three major labor markets, we found that employers responded similarly to applicants listing a degree from a fictional college and applicants listing a local for-profit or nonprofit institution. There is some evidence that educational authority is incomplete, but employers who prefer degree-holders do not appear to actively evaluate institutional quality. We conclude by discussing implications of our work for research on school to labor market links within the changing higher education marketplace.
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David Yeager, Hae Yeon Lee & Jeremy Jamieson
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research integrated implicit theories of personality and the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat, hypothesizing that adolescents would be more likely to conclude that they can meet the demands of an evaluative social situation when they were taught that people have the potential to change their socially relevant traits. In Study 1 (N = 60), high school students were assigned to an incremental-theory-of-personality or a control condition and then given a social-stress task. Relative to control participants, incremental-theory participants exhibited improved stress appraisals, more adaptive neuroendocrine and cardiovascular responses, and better performance outcomes. In Study 2 (N = 205), we used a daily-diary intervention to test high school students’ stress reactivity outside the laboratory. Threat appraisals (Days 5–9 after intervention) and neuroendocrine responses (Days 8 and 9 after intervention only) were unrelated to the intensity of daily stressors when adolescents received the incremental-theory intervention. Students who received the intervention also had better grades over freshman year than those who did not. These findings offer new avenues for improving theories of adolescent stress and coping.
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Vigile Marie Fabella
European Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Education reforms come in two general types: access and quality reforms. Access reforms provide more educational opportunities, while quality reforms improve educational effectiveness. This paper investigates empirically the factors affecting the enactment of these two kinds of reforms in public primary and secondary education. By using a novel dataset of U.S. state legislation from 2008 to 2013, we find that both access and quality reforms are more likely in times of bad educational outcomes. Moreover, this is the first study documenting that teachers' union strength correlates positively with access reforms and negatively with quality reforms. Our results also shed light on the way teachers' unions promote their political interests: both lobbying and contributions are effective at opposing undesired reforms, but contributions have an extra effect of influencing the enactment of desired reforms.
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Katie Kerstetter
Sociological Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
A key component of recent school reform policies has been the authorization of public charter schools. A subset of public charter schools, often termed “no excuses” schools, have received national attention for their students’ academic success; however, scholars have recently begun to question the role of the schools’ authoritarian discipline systems in the process of social reproduction. This study examines the extent to which authoritarian discipline systems are necessary for success at “no excuses” schools, drawing upon qualitative research at a strategic site: a school that adopts many of the practices of “no excuses” schools while also pursuing a relational approach to discipline. Qualitative analysis of classroom observation and interview data finds that a relational approach to discipline cultivates non-cognitive skills more closely aligned with the evaluative standards of middle-class institutions, such as skills in self-expression, self-regulation, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. A comparison of academic achievement data also suggests that “no excuses” schools may be able to implement relational discipline approaches without sacrificing academic success on a key predictor of future academic performance.
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Pre-K Classroom-Economic Composition and Children’s Early Academic Development
Portia Miller et al.
Journal of Educational Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
There are currently 2 principal models of publicly funded prekindergarten programs (pre-K): targeted pre-K, which is means-tested, and universal pre-K. These programs often differ in terms of the economic characteristics of the preschoolers enrolled. Studies have documented links between individual achievement in school-age children and the economic composition of classroom peers, but little research has revealed whether these associations hold in pre-K classrooms. Using data from 2,966 children in 709 pre-K classrooms, we examined whether classroom-economic composition (i.e., average family income, standard deviation of incomes, and percentage of students from low-income households) relates to achievement in preschool. Furthermore, this study investigated whether associations between classroom-economic composition and achievement differed depending on initial academic skill level. Increased economic advantage in pre-K classrooms positively predicted spring achievement. Specifically, increasing aggregate classroom income between $22,500 and $62,500 was related to improvements in math scores. Increases in the proportion of children from low-income households in the classroom were negatively related to both math and literacy and language skills when increases occurred between 52.5% and 72.5% and 25% and 45%, respectively. There was limited evidence that links between classroom-economic composition and achievement differed depending on initial skill level. Results suggest that economically integrated pre-K programs may be more beneficial to preschoolers from low-income households’ achievement than classrooms targeting economically disadvantaged children.
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Early Childhood Behavior Problems and the Gender Gap in Educational Attainment in the United States
Jayanti Owens
Sociology of Education, July 2016, Pages 236-258
Abstract:
Why do men in the United States today complete less schooling than women? One reason may be gender differences in early self-regulation and prosocial behaviors. Scholars have found that boys’ early behavioral disadvantage predicts their lower average academic achievement during elementary school. In this study, I examine longer-term effects: Do these early behavioral differences predict boys’ lower rates of high school graduation, college enrollment and graduation, and fewer years of schooling completed in adulthood? If so, through what pathways are they linked? I leverage a nationally representative sample of children born in the 1980s to women in their early to mid-20s and followed into adulthood. I use decomposition and path analytic tools to show that boys’ higher average levels of behavior problems at age 4 to 5 years help explain the current gender gap in schooling by age 26 to 29, controlling for other observed early childhood factors. In addition, I find that early behavior problems predict outcomes more for boys than for girls. Early behavior problems matter for adult educational attainment because they tend to predict later behavior problems and lower achievement.
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What Can We Learn from Charter School Lotteries?
Julia Chabrier, Sarah Cohodes & Philip Oreopoulos
NBER Working Paper, July 2016
Abstract:
We take a closer look at what we can learn about charter schools by pooling data from lottery-based impact estimates of the effect of charter school attendance at 113 schools. On average, each year enrolled at one of these schools increases math scores by 0.08 standard deviations and English/language arts scores by 0.04 standard deviations. There is wide variation in impact estimates. To glean what drives this variation, we link these effects to school practices, inputs, and characteristics of fallback schools. In line with the earlier literature, we find that schools that adopt an intensive “No Excuses” attitude towards students are correlated with large gains in academic performance, with traditional inputs like class size playing no role in explaining charter school effects. However, we highlight that “No Excuses” schools are also located among the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country. After accounting for performance levels at fallback schools, the relationship between the remaining variation in school performance and the entire “No Excuses” package of practices weakens. “No Excuses” schools are effective at raising performance in neighborhoods with very poor performing schools, but the available data have less to say on whether the “No Excuses” approach could help in nonurban settings or whether other practices would similarly raise achievement in areas with low-performing schools. We find that intensive tutoring is the only “No Excuses” characteristic that remains significant (even for nonurban schools) once the performance levels of fallback schools are taken into account.
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Lessons Learned From the Great Recession: Layoffs and the RIF-Induced Teacher Shuffle
Dan Goldhaber et al.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, September 2016, Pages 517-548
Abstract:
One consequence of the Great Recession is that teacher layoffs occurred at a scale previously unseen. In this article, we assess the effects of receiving a layoff notice on teacher mobility using data from Los Angeles and Washington State. Our analyses are based on 6-year panels of data in each site, including 4 years of layoffs. We find that the layoff process leads far more teachers to leave their schools for other district schools than is necessary to reach budget savings targets. In other words, the layoff process induces teacher churn, impacting even teachers who are not actually laid off. Placebo tests confirm that this “structural churn” results from the layoff process rather than from differential mobility of targeted teachers.
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Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot
Economics of Education Review, October 2016, Pages 95–112
Abstract:
Open campus privileges in high schools can be conditional on students’ academic (GPA, test scores, etc.) or behavioral (absences, probation, etc.) performance. I evaluate the effectiveness of this incentive scheme in improving student academic outcomes using a dataset covering over 460 California high schools over a 10-year period and their open/closed campus policies, while distinguishing between conditional and unconditional open campus policies. The results show an increase of roughly 0.1 of a standard deviation in student test scores when a conditional open campus policy is in place, in comparison to an unconditional open campus policy, thus suggesting that the incentive scheme intended by the conditional open campus policy is effective as a means for improving student test score outcomes. While the incentive scheme seems to improve test outcomes both for high and low-performing students, the magnitude of the effect is greater for lower-performing students, which is consistent with the fact that the academic thresholds under the conditional open campus policies are generally very minimal. The evidence also suggests that the incentive scheme is more effective for 9th and 10th grade students than it is for 11th grade students.
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Linda Pfiffner et al.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, forthcoming
Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel psychosocial intervention (Collaborative Life Skills, CLS) for primary-school students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. CLS is a 12-week program consisting of integrated school, parent, and student treatments delivered by school-based mental health providers. Using a cluster randomized design, CLS was compared to usual school/community services on psychopathology and functional outcomes.
Method: Schools within a large urban public school district were randomly assigned to CLS (12 schools) or usual services (11 schools). Approximately six students participated at each school (N=135, mean age= 8.4 years, grade range=2nd-5th, 71% boys). Using PROC GENMOD (SAS 9.4), the difference between the means of CLS and usual services for each outcome at posttreatment was tested. To account for clustering effects by school, the Generalized Estimating Equation method was used.
Results: Students from schools assigned to CLS, relative to those assigned to usual services, had significantly greater improvement on parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptom severity and organizational functioning, teacher-rated academic performance, and parent ratings of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and social/interpersonal skills.
Conclusion: These results support the efficacy of CLS relative to typical school and community practices for reducing ADHD and ODD symptoms and improving key areas of functional impairment. They further suggest that existing school-based mental health resources can be re-deployed from non-empirically supported practices to those with documented efficacy. This model holds promise for improving access to efficient, evidence-based treatment for inattentive and disruptive behavior beyond the clinic setting.
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A.W. Logue, Mari Watanabe-Rose & Daniel Douglas
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, September 2016, Pages 578-598
Abstract:
Many college students never take, or do not pass, required remedial mathematics courses theorized to increase college-level performance. Some colleges and states are therefore instituting policies allowing students to take college-level courses without first taking remedial courses. However, no experiments have compared the effectiveness of these approaches, and other data are mixed. We randomly assigned 907 students to (a) remedial elementary algebra, (b) that course with workshops, or (c) college-level statistics with workshops (corequisite remediation). Students assigned to statistics passed at a rate 16 percentage points higher than those assigned to algebra (p < .001), and subsequently accumulated more credits. A majority of enrolled statistics students passed. Policies allowing students to take college-level instead of remedial quantitative courses can increase student success.
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The effects of Tulsa’s CAP Head Start program on middle-school academic outcomes and progress
Deborah Phillips, William Gormley & Sara Anderson
Developmental Psychology, August 2016, Pages 1247-1261
Abstract:
This study presents evidence pertinent to current debates about the lasting impacts of early childhood educational interventions and, specifically, Head Start. A group of students who were first studied to examine the immediate impacts of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Community Action Project (CAP) Head Start program were followed-up in middle school, primarily as 8th graders. Using ordinary least squares and logistic regressions with a rich set of controls and propensity score weighting models to account for differential selection into Head Start, we compared students who had attended the CAP Head Start program and enrolled in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) as kindergarteners with children who also attended TPS kindergarten but had attended neither CAP Head Start nor the TPS pre-K program as 4-year-olds. CAP Head Start produced significant positive effects on achievement test scores in math and on both grade retention and chronic absenteeism for middle-school students as a whole; positive effects for girls on grade retention and chronic absenteeism; for white students on math test scores; for Hispanic students on math test scores and chronic absenteeism, and for students eligible for free lunches on math test scores, grade retention, and chronic absenteeism. We conclude that the Tulsa CAP Head Start program produced significant and consequential effects into the middle school years.
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The Long Run Impacts of Merit Aid: Evidence from California's Cal Grant
Eric Bettinger et al.
NBER Working Paper, June 2016
Abstract:
We examine the impacts of being awarded a Cal Grant, among the most generous state merit aid programs. We exploit variation in eligibility rules using GPA and family income cutoffs that are ex ante unknown to applicants. Cal Grant eligibility increases degree completion by 2 to 5 percentage points in our reduced form estimates. Cal Grant also induces modest shifts in institution choice at the income discontinuity. At ages 28-32, Cal Grant receipt increases by three percentage points the likelihood of living in California at the income discontinuity, and raises earnings by four percentage points at the GPA discontinuity.
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The Private and Social Benefits of Double Majors
Alison Del Rossi & Joni Hersch
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
With increased emphasis on encouraging students to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), there is a general concern that society is losing the benefits associated with liberal arts education. One possible approach to achieving the benefits of higher-paying STEM degrees along with the social benefits of liberal arts training is to encourage double majoring among college students. Double majoring is common at about 20 percent of college graduates, yet most double majors are in related areas that provide limited educational diversity. We examine private and social benefits of double majoring using data from the 2010 National Survey of College Graduates. The strongest positive relations associated with combining a liberal arts major with a business or STEM major are on research and development activities and on job match. In addition, we find that students who double major in business and STEM earn a premium over those single majors. However, combining a liberal arts major with STEM or business fields does not increase earnings, indicating little private earnings incentive for students to combine STEM or business majors with liberal arts.
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School Entry, Compulsory Schooling, and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Michigan
Steven Hemelt & Rachel Rosen
B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Extant research on school entry and compulsory schooling laws finds that these policies increase the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students, but weaken their academic performance in early grades. In this paper, we explore the evolution of postsecondary impacts of the interaction of school entry and compulsory schooling laws in Michigan. We employ a regression-discontinuity (RD) design using longitudinal administrative data to examine effects on high school performance, college enrollment, choice, and persistence. On average, we find that children eligible to start school at a relatively younger age are more likely to complete high school, but underperform while enrolled, compared to their counterparts eligible to start school at a relatively older age. In turn, these students are 2 percentage points more likely to first attend a two-year college and enroll in fewer total postsecondary semesters, relative to their older counterparts. We explore heterogeneity in these effects across subgroups of students defined by gender and poverty status. For example, we illustrate that the increase in the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students attributable to the combination of school entry and compulsory schooling laws is driven entirely by impacts on economically disadvantaged students.
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Evolving Trends in Public Opinion on the Quality of Local Schools
Valentina Bali
Educational Policy, July 2016, Pages 688-720
Abstract:
The ratings given by citizens to local public schools in the United States have been rising in the last decades. Using national public opinion surveys, this study seeks to understand the determinants of public evaluations of local schools across time. Aggregate trend analyses indicate that public evaluations of local schools are influenced not only by measures of educational performance but also by presidential discourse. Individual-level analyses suggest that minorities and individuals with children may have given higher evaluations in recent years. The evidence suggests that citizens in general have moved away from more negative assessments of their local public schools, possibly as a result of perceived and real educational advances.
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School Climate and Dropping Out of School in the Era of Accountability
Stephen Kotok, Sakiko Ikoma & Katerina Bodovski
American Journal of Education, August 2016, Pages 569-599
Abstract:
Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) — a large nationally representative sample of US high school students — we employed multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationship between school characteristics and the likelihood that a student will drop out of high school. We used a multifaceted framework on school climate to assess the degree to which school attachment, disciplinary order, disciplinary fairness, and academic climate are associated with individuals dropping out of high school. Additionally, we examined how structural and compositional characteristics of schools influence school climate and dropping out of school. Our findings indicate that attending a high school with better disciplinary order and stronger school attachment for the students is associated with a decreased likelihood of dropping out, above and beyond individual characteristics.
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Connections Matter: How Interactive Peers Affect Students in Online College Courses
Eric Bettinger, Jing Liu & Susanna Loeb
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
Peers affect individual's productivity in the workforce, in education, and in other team-based tasks. Using large-scale language data from an online college course, we measure the impacts of peer interactions on student learning outcomes and persistence. In our setting, students are quasi-randomly assigned to peers, and as such, we are able to overcome selection biases stemming from endogenous peer grouping. We also mitigate reflection bias by utilizing rich student interaction data. We find that females and older students are more likely to engage in student interactions. Students are also more likely to interact with peers of the same gender and with peers from roughly the same geographic region. For students who are relatively less likely to be engaged in online discussion, exposure to more interactive peers increases their probabilities of passing the course, improves their grade in the course, and increases their likelihood of enrolling in the following academic term. This study demonstrates how the use of large-scale, text-based data can provide insights into students’ learning processes.
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Does Investing in School Capital Infrastructure Improve Student Achievement?
Kai Hong & Ron Zimmer
Economics of Education Review, August 2016, Pages 143–158
Abstract:
Within the research community, there is a vigorous debate over whether additional educational expenditures will lead to improved performance of schools. Some of the debate is an outgrowth of the lack of causal knowledge of the impacts of expenditures on student outcomes. To help fill this void, we examine the causal impact of capital expenditures on school district proficiency rates in Michigan. For the analysis, we employ a regression discontinuity design where we use the outcomes of bond elections as the forcing variable. Our results provide some evidence that capital expenditures can have positive effects on student proficiency levels.