Some child left behind
Do Suspensions Affect Student Outcomes?
Johanna Lacoe & Matthew Steinberg
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
Discipline reformers claim that suspensions negatively affect suspended students, while others suggest reforms have unintended consequences for peers. Using student panel data from the School District of Philadelphia, we implement student fixed effects and instrumental variable (IV) strategies to examine the consequences of suspensions for offending students and their peers. A suspension decreases math and reading achievement for suspended students. The effects are robust to IV estimates leveraging a district-wide policy change in suspension use. Suspensions are more salient for students who personally experience suspension than for their peers. Exposure to suspensions for more serious misconduct has very small, negative spillovers onto peer achievement, but does not change peer absences.
Self-Affirmation Effects Are Produced by School Context, Student Engagement With the Intervention, and Time: Lessons From a District-Wide Implementation
Geoffrey Borman et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Self-affirmation shows promise for reducing racial academic-achievement gaps; recently, however, mixed results have raised questions about the circumstances under which the self-affirmation intervention produces lasting benefits at scale. In this follow-up to the first district-wide scale-up of a self-affirmation intervention, we examined whether initial academic benefits in middle school carried over into high school, we tested for differential impacts moderated by school context, and we assessed the causal effects of student engagement with the self-affirming writing prompted by the intervention. Longitudinal results indicate that self-affirmation reduces the growth of the racial achievement gap by 50% across the high school transition (N = 920). Additionally, impacts are greatest within school contexts that cued stronger identity threats for racial minority students, and student engagement is causally associated with benefits. Our results imply the potential for powerful, lasting academic impacts from self-affirmation interventions if implemented broadly; however, these effects will depend on both contextual and individual factors.
It’s Not Only Who You Are but Who You Are With: High School Composition and Individuals’ Attainment Over the Life Course
Richard Göllner et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined life-course effects of attending selective schools using a longitudinal study of U.S. high school students begun in 1960 (Ns ranging from 1,952 to 377,015). The effects, measured 11 and 50 years after the initial assessment, differed significantly across the two indicators of school selectivity that were used. School average socioeconomic background was positively related to students’ educational expectations, educational attainment, income, and occupational prestige at the 11-year follow-up (0.15 ≤ β ≤ 0.39; all ps < .001). Conversely, schools’ average achievement at the 11-year follow-up was negatively related to students’ expectations, attainment, income, and occupational prestige (−0.42 ≤ β ≤ −0.05; all ps < .05) when schools’ socioeconomic background was controlled for. All associations were mediated by students’ educational expectations. With the exception of income, these effects were consistent 50 years after high school, pointing to the long reach of beneficial learning resources and negative social comparison processes when attending selective schools.
So Many Educational Service Providers, So Little Evidence
Coby Meyers & Bryan VanGronigen
American Journal of Education, forthcoming
Abstract:
More than 15 years after the passage of No Child Left Behind, billions of dollars have been spent on school-turnaround policies and initiatives. Yet, this growing “school improvement industry” has received surprisingly little consideration. This study is an initial effort to begin to better understand this industry’s supply side. We use qualitative research techniques to analyze the websites of 151 school-turnaround providers that have been endorsed, either directly or indirectly, by 13 state education agencies with publicly available lists of providers. In addition, we conduct a systematic review of the research evidence behind each provider, finding that the types of providers and the services that they purport offering vary considerably. Approximately 50% of providers indicate being research based, but 11% have evidence of impact on student achievement outcomes generally, and only 5% in turnaround contexts specifically. We consider several tensions in policy and practice that arise from this research.
Educational Resources and Student Achievement: Evidence from the Save Harmless Provision in New York State
Philip Gigliotti & Lucy Sorensen
Economics of Education Review, October 2018, Pages 167-182
Abstract:
A long-standing debate in the economics of education literature is whether increasing educational resources moves the needle on student achievement. Education finance reformers advocate delivering extra resources to disadvantaged school districts to close academic achievement gaps, but their efforts are subject to criticism from skeptics who believe that extra resources do not actually improve performance. This study leverages variation in per-pupil expenditures from a specific provision of the state aid formula in New York State that allows districts to maintain prior levels of total state aid even as their student enrollment declines. We uncover achievement gains of approximately .047 standard deviations in math and .042 standard deviations in English corresponding to $1,000 in additional per-pupil spending. This study strengthens the case that school resources matter, and that sustained financial investments can help districts maintain and improve quality of public education.
How Does For-profit College Attendance Affect Student Loans, Defaults and Labor Market Outcomes?
Luis Armona, Rajashri Chakrabarti & Michael Lovenheim
NBER Working Paper, September 2018
Abstract:
For-profit providers are becoming an increasingly important fixture of US higher education markets. Students who attend for-profit institutions take on more educational debt, have worse labor market outcomes, and are more likely to default than students attending similarly-selective public schools. Because for-profits tend to serve students from more disadvantaged backgrounds, it is important to isolate the causal effect of for-profit enrollment on educational and labor market outcomes. We approach this problem using a novel instrument combined with more comprehensive data on student outcomes than has been employed in prior research. Our instrument leverages the interaction between changes in the demand for college due to labor demand shocks and the local supply of for-profit schools. We compare enrollment and postsecondary outcome changes across areas that experience similar labor demand shocks but that have different latent supply of for-profit institutions. The first-stage estimates show that students are much more likely to enroll in a for-profit institution for a given labor demand change when there is a higher supply of such schools in the base period. Among four-year students, for-profit enrollment leads to more loans, higher loan amounts, an increased likelihood of borrowing, an increased risk of default and worse labor market outcomes. Two-year for-profit students also take out more loans, have higher default rates and lower earnings. But, they are more likely to graduate and to earn over $25,000 per year (the median earnings of high school graduates). Finally, we show that for-profit entry and exit decisions are at most weakly responsive to labor demand shocks. Our results point to low returns to for-profit enrollment that have important implications for public investments in higher education as well as how students make postsecondary choices.
When Investor Incentives and Consumer Interests Diverge: Private Equity in Higher Education
Charlie Eaton, Sabrina Howell & Constantine Yannelis
NBER Working Paper, August 2018
Abstract:
This paper uses private equity buyouts to study a transition from lower- to higher-powered profit-maximizing incentives in higher education, a sector heavily dependent on government subsidy. Private equity owners have especially high-powered incentives to maximize profits. In a subsidized industry, this could intensify focus on capturing government aid at the expense of consumer outcomes. Employing novel data on 88 private equity deals and 994 schools with private equity ownership, we find that private equity buyouts lead to higher enrollment and profits, but also to lower education inputs, higher tuition, higher per-student debt, lower graduation rates, lower student loan repayment rates, and lower earnings among graduates. Neither changes to the student body composition nor a selection mechanism fully explain our results. In a series of tests exploiting regulatory events and thresholds, we find that private equity-owned schools are better able to capture government aid.
The Elasticity of Science
Kyle Myers
Harvard Working Paper, August 2018
Abstract:
This paper estimates the degree to which scientists are willing to change the direction of their work in exchange for resources. Novel data from the National Institutes of Health is used to estimate an entry model that accounts for strategic interactions. Inducing a scientist to change their direction by 1 standard deviation, a qualitatively small difference, requires a four-fold increase in funds, an extra $1 million per year. But at current levels, the costs and benefits of directed versus undirected research appear to be quite similar.
Building Bridges to Life after High School: Contemporary Career Academies and Student Outcomes
Steven Hemelt, Matthew Lenard & Colleen Paeplow
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Career academies serve an increasingly wide range of students. This paper examines the contemporary profile of students entering career academies in a large, diverse school district and estimates causal effects of participation in one of the district's well-regarded academies on a range of high school and college outcomes. Exploiting the lottery-based admissions process of this technology-focused academy, we find that academy enrollment increases the likelihood of high school graduation by about 8 percentage points and boosts rates of college enrollment for males but not females. Analysis of intermediate outcomes suggests that effects on attendance and industry-relevant certification at least partially mediate the overall high school graduation effect.
Lack of Study Time is the Problem, but What is the Solution? Unsuccessful Attempts to Help Traditional and Online College Students
Philip Oreopoulos et al.
NBER Working Paper, September 2018
Abstract:
We evaluate two low-cost college support programs designed to directly target insufficient study time, a common characteristic among a large fraction of undergraduates. We conduct our experiment across three distinct college-types: (i) a selective urban college campus, (ii) a less-selective suburban college campus, and (iii) an online college, using a combination of unique survey and administrative data. More than 9,000 students were randomly assigned to complete an online planning exercise with information and guidance to create a weekly schedule containing sufficient study time and other obligations. Treated students also received weekly study tips, reminders, and coach consultations via text message throughout the academic year. Despite high levels of fidelity and initial participation, we estimate precise null effects on academic outcomes at each site, implying that the planning treatment was ineffective at improving student credit accumulation, course grades, and retention. We do find suggestive evidence, however, that the planning treatment marginally increased student study time. Taken together, the results suggest that, in addition to helping students stay organized, an effective intervention may need to provide stronger incentives or specific guidance on the tasks to complete while studying.
School Nutrition and Student Discipline: Effects of Schoolwide Free Meals
Nora Gordon & Krista Ruffini
NBER Working Paper, September 2018
Abstract:
Under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), schools serving sufficiently high-poverty populations may enroll their entire student bodies in free lunch and breakfast programs, extending free meals to some students who would not qualify individually and potentially decreasing the stigma associated with free meals. We examine whether CEP affects disciplinary outcomes, focusing on the use of suspensions. We use school discipline measures from the Civil Rights Data Collection and rely on the timing of pilot implementation of CEP across states to assess how disciplinary infractions evolve within a school as it adopts CEP. We find modest reductions in suspension rates among elementary and middle but not high school students. While we are unable to observe how the expansion of free school meals affects the dietary intake of students in our national sample, we do observe that for younger students, these reductions are concentrated in areas with higher levels of estimated child food insecurity. Our findings suggest that the impact of school-based child nutrition services extends beyond the academic gains identified in some of the existing literature.
The Effects of the Expansion of For-Profit Colleges on Student Enrollments and Outcomes at Community Colleges
Adela Soliz
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study is the first large-scale examination of the impact of for-profit colleges on the enrollment and outcomes of students at other postsecondary institutions. Using data primarily from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and a differences-in-differences approach, I estimate the effect of a new for-profit college opening on community college enrollments and degree completions, as well as county education levels. My results suggest that community college enrollments and degree completions do not decline when a new degree-granting for-profit college opens nearby. Furthermore, I find evidence that the county-level production of short- and long-term certificates increases after a new for-profit college opens, though the number of associate’s degrees does not increase. This evidence should serve to broaden conversations about the role of for-profit colleges in the larger landscape of the American higher education system.
Stay or go? Turnover in CMO, EMO and regular charter schools
Christine Roch & Na Sai
Social Science Journal, September 2018, Pages 232-244
Background: We examine whether working conditions in different types of charter schools lead to different levels of teacher turnover. We consider two types of teacher turnover behaviors. One is teacher migration, which refers to the transfer of teachers from one school to another. The other one is teacher attrition, which describes the phenomenon of teachers leaving the profession entirely. We distinguish among charter schools managed by for-profit education management organizations (EMOs), those managed by non-profit charter management organizations (CMOs), and regular charter schools.
Method/analysis: Our data come from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). We estimate multi-level models with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) software.
Findings and implications: We find that teachers in charter schools managed by EMOs and CMOs have higher levels of migration and attrition intention than do teachers in regular charter schools. Teachers, particularly in EMO-managed charter schools, are more likely to consider moving to another school or to leave the teaching profession. Our analyses suggest that the increased migration and attrition among teachers in MO-managed charter schools can be partially explained by the differences in working conditions, such as the degree of administrative support in the school, the degrees of classroom control and school-wide influence of teachers, salary, opportunities of professional development, the quality of the student body, and the degree of student misbehavior.
Academic Performance in Community Colleges: The Influences of Part-Time and Full-Time Instructors
Di Xu
American Educational Research Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Understanding the relative impacts of part-time adjuncts in community colleges is highly policy-relevant, partly because community colleges rely on part-time faculty heavily and partly because community colleges assume a critical role in addressing the national equity agenda by disproportionately serving underrepresented groups. This study uses individual transcript data to explore how initial exposure to a particular field of study with part-time adjuncts influences student performance in current and subsequent course performance in community colleges. To address selection bias, I use two empirical strategies, a two-way fixed effects model and an instrumental variable approach. The results consistently suggest that part-time adjuncts are associated with higher grades in contemporaneous courses but have negative impacts on subsequent course performance.
Effects of (ultra-fast) fibre broadband on student achievement
Arthur Grimes & Wilbur Townsend
Information Economics and Policy, September 2018, Pages 8-15
Abstract:
We estimate the impact of ultra-fast broadband on schools’ academic performance. We do so through a difference-in-difference study of a new government-promoted fibre broadband network designed to deliver ultra-fast broadband to schools and hospitals. We show that fibre broadband increases primary (elementary) schools’ passing rates in standardised assessments by roughly one percentage point. Estimates are robust to alternative specifications, including controlling for time-varying covariates. We find no evidence that gender, ethnic minorities or students in remote schools benefit disproportionately. However, we find some evidence of a larger benefit within schools having a greater proportion of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.