Findings

School Takeover

Kevin Lewis

November 04, 2024

The politics of teachers' union endorsements
Michael Hartney & Vladimir Kogan
American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming

Abstract:
School board candidates supported by local teachers' unions overwhelmingly win, and we examine the causes and consequences of the “teachers' union premium” in these elections. First, we show that union endorsement information increases voter support. Although the magnitude of this effect varies across ideological and partisan subgroups, an endorsement rarely hurts a candidate's prospects with the electorate. Second, we benchmark the size of the endorsement premium to other well-known determinants of vote choice in local elections. Perhaps surprisingly, we show the effect can be as large as the impact of shared partisanship, and substantially larger than the boost from endorsements provided by other stakeholders. Finally, examining real-world endorsement decisions, we find that union support for incumbents hinges on self-interested pecuniary considerations and is unaffected by performance in improving student academic outcomes. The divergence between what endorsements mean and how voters interpret them has troubling normative democratic implications.


Inequality in the Classroom: Electoral Incentives and the Distribution of Local Education Spending
Brian Hamel
Journal of Politics, forthcoming

Abstract:
Locally-elected school boards have wide discretion over allocating money among the schools in their district, yet we know relatively little about how they decide “which schools get what.” I argue that electoral incentives are one factor that can influence the distribution of resources: board members will direct spending toward schools located in neighborhoods of their district where it will be most electorally beneficial in the next election. I test this argument using data from a discretionary school modernization program in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and find that board members distribute resources primarily to schools in competitive and moderately supportive neighborhoods, especially when running in an on-cycle election where parents make-up a larger share of the electorate and where student performance affects election outcomes. By comparison, schools in overwhelmingly opposed and supportive areas are excluded. These results suggest that local democratic control of school boards can hinder educational equality.


Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Toward an Understanding of Fade-out in Early Childhood Education Programs
John List & Haruka Uchida
NBER Working Paper, October 2024

Abstract:
An unsettling stylized fact is that decorated early childhood education programs improve cognitive skills in the short-term, but lose their efficacy after a few years. We implement a field experiment with two stages of randomization to explore the underpinnings of the fade-out effect. We first randomly assign preschool access to children, and then partner with the local school district to randomly assign the same children to classmates throughout elementary school. We find that the fade-out effect is critically-linked to the share of classroom peers assigned to preschool access—with enough treated peers the classic fade-out effect is muted. Our results highlight a paradoxical insight: while the fade-out effect has been viewed as a devastating critique of early childhood programs, our results highlight that fade-out is a key rationale for providing early education to all children. This is because human capital accumulation is inherently a social activity, leading early education programs to deliver their largest benefits at scale when everyone receives such programs.


Instructor Value-Added in Higher Education
Merrill Warnick, Jacob Light & Anthony Yim
Stanford Working Paper, October 2024

Abstract:
Estimating post-secondary instructors’ value-added is challenging because college students select their courses and instructors. In the absence of sound measures of value-added, universities use subjective student evaluations to make personnel decisions. In this paper, we develop a method to estimate instructor value-added at any university. The method groups together students who have previously taken similar courses and estimates value-added based on differences in outcomes for students in the same group and same course who have different instructors. Using a unique policy at a large public university in Indiana, we show that our non-experimental method controls for selection just as well as methods that exploit conditional random assignment of students to courses. We next show that our method reduces forecast bias in a wider variety of institutions using data from nearly all public universities in Texas. We find that individual instructors matter for students’ future grades and post-college earnings in many subjects and courses. On average, moving to a 1 standard deviation better instructor would increase a student’s next semester GPA by 0.13 points, and earnings six years after college entry by 17%. Strikingly, value-added is only weakly correlated with student evaluations. An instructor retention policy based on value-added would result in 2.7% higher earnings for students attending Texas universities.


The Effects of a Statewide Ban on School Suspensions
Jane Arnold Lincove, Catherine Mata & Kalena Cortes
NBER Working Paper, October 2024

Abstract:
This research analyzes the implementation of a school suspension ban in Maryland to investigate whether a top-down state-initiated ban on suspensions in early primary grades can influence school behavior regarding school discipline. Beginning in the fall of 2017, the State of Maryland banned the use of out-of-school suspensions for grades PK-2, unless a student posed an “imminent threat” to staff or students. This research investigates (1) what was the effect of the ban on discipline outcomes for students in both treated grades and upper elementary grades not subject to the ban? (2) did schools bypass the ban by coding more events as threatening or increasing the use of in-school suspensions? and (3) were there differential effects for students in groups that are historically suspended more often? Using a comparative interrupted time series strategy, we find that the ban is associated with a substantial reduction in, but not a total elimination of, out-of-school suspensions for targeted grades without substitution of in-school suspensions. Disproportionalities by race and other characteristics remain after the ban. Grades not subject to the ban experienced few effects, suggesting the ban did not trigger a schoolwide response that reduced exclusionary discipline.


Early Mentors for Exceptional Students
Ian Calaway
Stanford Working Paper, November 2024

Abstract:
Although we are acquainted anecdotally with extraordinary people like Mozart and Marie Curie, there is little systematic research on how children with exceptional ability develop into truly extraordinary talents. Is the supply of extraordinary talent inelastic, dependent on a rare combination of innate gifts and the availability of mentors who are themselves world-class (Irene Joliot-Curie and her mother Marie)? Or, could the supply be fairly elastic because mentors need only have abilities within the normal range? I analyze these questions in the context of mathematics, where there is a consensus on how exceptional ability presents itself in children. I show that mathematics teachers who organize clubs and competitions can identify and foster exceptional math students, causing them to win honors, attend selective universities, major in STEM fields, and have careers in which they disproportionately spur economic growth. I demonstrate that there are many exceptional math students without mentors who could be reached with modest investments.


Distance to Opportunity: Higher Education Deserts and College Enrollment Choices
Riley Acton, Kalena Cortes & Camila Morales
NBER Working Paper, October 2024

Abstract:
We study how geographic access to public postsecondary institutions is associated with students’ college enrollment decisions across race and socioeconomic status. Leveraging rich administrative data, we first document substantial differences in students’ local college options, with White, Hispanic, and rural students having, on average, many fewer nearby options than their Black, Asian, suburban, and urban peers. We then show that students are sensitive to the distance they must travel to access public colleges and universities, but there are heterogeneous effects across students. In particular, we find that White and non-economically disadvantaged students respond to living far from public two-year colleges primarily by enrolling in four-year colleges, whereas Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students respond primarily by forgoing college enrollment altogether. Lastly, in a series of decomposition and simulation exercises to inform public policy efforts to increase college enrollment, especially among underrepresented minorities and low-income students, we find that differences in students’ sensitivity to distance, rather than differences in distance to the nearest college, primarily contribute to observed four-year college enrollment gaps across racial and ethnic groups.


Effectiveness of a Social-Emotional Learning Program for Both Teachers and Students
Christi Bergin et al.
AERA Open, October 2024

Abstract:
This study investigated the effects of the Leader in Me (LiM), a social-emotional learning program implemented in thousands of schools. A mixed-method design included (1) a collective case study in four diverse, high-implementing elementary schools and (2) a post hoc quasi-experiment using propensity score 1:3 matching of 117 LiM and 348 non-LiM schools to compare achievement and discipline incident rates. The case study indicated that participants perceived LiM as improving social-emotional competencies for both teachers and students. Teachers reported being more prosocial, feeling more camaraderie, using more effective discipline, developing better teacher-student relationships, and enjoying teaching more. Students were more prosocial, confident and motivated, and had fewer problem behaviors. School climate improved. Results replicated across four diverse schools. The quasi-experiment supported results of the collective case study. Schools implementing LiM had higher mathematics and ELA, but not science, scores on state proficiency exams and fewer discipline incidents.


Social Interactions, Information, and Preferences for Schools: Experimental Evidence from Los Angeles
Christopher Campos
NBER Working Paper, September 2024

Abstract:
This paper measures parents' beliefs about school and peer quality, how information about each affects school choices, and how social interactions mediate these effects. Parents underestimate school quality and overestimate peer quality. Cross-randomized school and peer quality information combined with a spillover design shows that when parents received information, they and their neighbors' preferences shifted toward higher value-added schools, underscoring stronger tastes for school quality and the role of social interactions. Increased enrollment in effective schools improved socio-emotional outcomes. The experimental evidence shows parents value school effectiveness even conditional on peer quality and that social interactions strongly influence school choice.


Accelerated Postsecondary Pathways: The Longer-Term Impact of the Early College High School Model on Postsecondary Degree Attainment
Mengli Song et al.
American Educational Research Journal, September 2024

Abstract:
Utilizing a lottery-based natural experiment, this study assessed the longer-term impact of early colleges on postsecondary degree attainment. It found that early colleges significantly increased the overall degree completion and associate degree completion rates within 10 years of expected high school graduation. While the impact on bachelor’s degree or advanced degree attainment was no longer significant 10 years after high school, results from earlier years suggest that early college students attained these degrees at a higher rate and faster pace than control students. This study also found that the early college impact on bachelor’s degree attainment was significantly stronger for underrepresented minorities and that the impact on associate degree attainment was significantly stronger for students with higher prior achievement.


Allow Me to Explain: Benefits of Explaining Extend to Distal Academic Performance
Anahid Modrek & Tania Lombrozo
Cognitive Science, September 2024

Abstract:
How does the act of explaining influence learning? Prior work has studied effects of explaining through a predominantly proximal lens, measuring short-term outcomes or manipulations within lab settings. Here, we ask whether the benefits of explaining extend to academic performance over time. Specifically, does the quality and frequency of student explanations predict students’ later performance on standardized tests of math and English? In Study 1 (N = 127 5th−6th graders), participants completed a causal learning activity during which their explanation quality was evaluated. Controlling for prior test scores, explanation quality directly predicted both math and English standardized test scores the following year. In Study 2 (N = 20,384 10th graders), participants reported aspects of teachers’ explanations and their own. Controlling for prior test scores, students’ own explanations predicted both math and English state standardized test scores, and teacher explanations were linked to test performance through students’ own explanations. Taken together, these findings suggest that benefits of explaining may result in part from the development of a metacognitive explanatory skill that transfers across domains and over time. Implications for cognitive science, pedagogy, and education are discussed.


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