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Changes in School Engagement as a Function of No Child Left Behind: A Comparative Interrupted Time Series Analysis
Anna Markowitz
American Educational Research Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
After the adoption of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a host of anecdotal evidence suggested that NCLB diminished students’ school engagement — a multidimensional construct that describes students’ active involvement and commitment to school and encompasses students’ thoughts, behaviors, and feelings about school. Using data from repeated cross-sections of the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study draws on methodological innovations from research linking NCLB to academic outcomes to explore this possibility. Findings are suggestive of an immediate NCLB-based increase in engagement that diminished and ultimately became negative over time. Because engagement predicts both achievement and socio-emotional well-being, researchers and policymakers should work to ensure that the Every Student Succeeds Act facilitates accountability systems that promote engagement.
Where and For Whom Can a Brief, Scalable Mindset Intervention Improve Adolescents’ Educational Trajectories?
David Yeager et al.
University of Texas Working Paper, March 2018
Abstract:
A pressing global challenge is to identify interventions that improve adolescents’ developmental trajectories. But no intervention will work for all young people everywhere. It is critical then to study the heterogeneity of intervention effects in a way that is generalizable and replicable. In the National Study of Learning Mindsets (N = 12,542) researchers randomly assigned 9th grade students in a representative sample of 65 U.S. public schools to a growth mindset intervention, which conveyed that intellectual abilities are not fixed but can be developed. The brief (~50-minute), scalable and low-cost intervention reduced by 3 percentage points the rate at which adolescents in the U.S. were off-track for graduation at the end of the year, corresponding to an estimated benefit of approximately 100,000 adolescents per year. This is the first experimental evidence that an intervention can improve adolescents’ educational trajectories in a national probability sample. Yet the growth mindset intervention effect was heterogeneous in predictable ways. Some sub-groups of students (lower-achievers) and schools (those with supportive behavioral norms) showed appreciably larger increases in grades. Heterogeneity findings were reproduced in a conservative Bayesian “sum-of-regression-trees” analysis, which guards against false discoveries. These findings lead to novel hypotheses about ways to enhance intervention effects and target public policies. Findings also illustrate the power of even slight adjustments in motivational priorities to create enduring change during adolescence.
Rent Sharing and the Compensation of Head Coaches in Power Five College Football
Michael Leeds, Eva Marikova Leeds & Aaron Harris
Review of Industrial Organization, March 2018, Pages 253–267
Abstract:
The monopoly and monopsony power of intercollegiate sports create significant rents, but previous studies of intercollegiate football coaches’ salaries implicitly assume that coaches are paid their marginal revenue products. In a two-stage estimation, we show that coaches share in these rents. The first stage shows that several common measures of coaches’ productivity do not affect an athletic department’s variable revenue. When we include these measures in the second-stage salary equation, their impact on pay reflects bargaining power, not productivity. We also find that several measures of fixed revenue, which are independent of the coach’s performance, increase the coach’s pay.
Strategic Interaction in a Repeated Game: Evidence from NCAA Football Recruiting
Brad Humphreys & Jane Ruseski
Review of Industrial Organization, March 2018, Pages 283–303
Abstract:
We analyze decisions to comply or cheat on NCAA recruiting regulations in the context of repeated interactions. Teams possess private information about resources devoted to football programs, recruiting effort made by rival programs, and rival program behavior. We test for evidence that the behavior of NCAA Division IA football programs conforms to predictions from repeated game theoretic models using panel data from IA football over the period 1978–2005. We find anecdotal and empirical support for strategic interaction. The presence of in-conference rivals under NCAA sanctions increases the probability of a team being placed under future sanctions.
The Effect of School Closings on Teacher Labor Market Outcomes and Teacher Effectiveness
Andrew Hill & Daniel Jones
Montana State University Working Paper, February 2018
Abstract:
School closings are estimated to displace around 17,000 teachers every year. This is a considerable labor market shock. We find that in response to all public school closings between 2002 and 2013 in North Carolina, forty percent of affected teachers leave public education altogether, another forty percent move to new schools in the same district, and the remainder take breaks from teaching. Most strikingly, low-performing teachers as measured by value-added are disproportionately more likely to leave teaching than move to new schools, which means that school closings may improve average teacher quality. Although the primary goal of school closings is typically to move students out of declining or failing schools, an issue which generates considerable debate on its own, the potential increase in the teacher quality distribution from school closings documented in this paper could be interpreted as an unintended second-order benefit.
Parental Credit Constraints and Child College Attendance
Daniel Ringo
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Parents in the U.S. frequently supplement the student loans available to their children by cosigning on a loan, borrowing against their home equity, or with unsecured debt in their own names. This paper investigates whether some students are constrained from attending and completing college by their parents' lack of access to credit markets by linking individual parental credit scores to their children's educational attainment. I find that good parental credit significantly improves the child's probability of attending college. Suggestive evidence that the estimated relationship may be causal and not biased by omitted factors such as unobserved ability or other personality characteristics is provided.
Head Start’s Long-Run Impact: Evidence from the Program’s Introduction
Owen Thompson
Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper estimates the effect of Head Start on health, education, and labor market outcomes observed through age 48. I combine outcome data from the NLSY79 with archival records on early Head Start funding levels, and for identification exploit differences across counties in the introduction timing and size of local Head Start programs. This allows me to compare the long-term outcomes of children who were too old for Head Start when the program was introduced in their county with the outcomes of children who were sufficiently young to be eligible. I find that individuals from counties that had an average sized program when they were in Head Start’s target age range experienced a $2,199 increase in annual adult earnings, completed .125 additional years of education, were 4.6 percentage points less likely to have a health limitation at age 40, and overall experienced a .081 standard deviation improvement in a summary index of these and other outcome measures. Funding levels at ages outside of Head Start’s target range are not significantly correlated with long-term outcomes. Estimated treatment effects are largest among blacks, the children of lower-education parents, and children exposed to better funded Head Start programs, heterogeneity that is consistent with a causal program impact.
Socioemotional Skills, Education, and Health-Related Outcomes of High-Ability Individuals
Peter Savelyev & Kegon Tan
American Journal of Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use the high IQ Terman sample to estimate relationships between education, socioemotional skills, and health-related outcomes that include health behaviors, lifestyles, and health measures across the lifecycle. By both focusing on a high IQ sample and controlling for IQ in regression models, we mitigate ability bias due to cognitive skill. In addition, we control for detailed personality measures to account for socioemotional skills. We model skills using factor analysis to address measurement error and adopt a powerful stepdown procedure to account for multiple hypothesis testing. We find that among high IQ subjects, education is linked to better health-related outcomes, in contrast to previous evidence. Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism are linked to various health-related outcomes across the lifecycle. Furthermore, we find that accounting for a comprehensive set of skills, measurement error, and multiple hypothesis testing not only provides greater confidence in several established relationships but also generates novel results.
Can Simplifying Financial Aid Offers Impact College Enrollment and Borrowing? Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence
Kelly Ochs Rosinger
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent policy and research efforts have focused on simplifying the college-going process, improving transparency around college costs, and helping students make informed decisions. In 2012, the Obama administration released the “shopping sheet,” a standardized financial aid offer that is intended to provide students with simplified information about costs, loan options, and college outcomes. This paper examines the impact of the shopping sheet, adopted by more than 400 four-year colleges in two years, using: 1) administrative data from a field experiment among admitted and already enrolled students at a public university, and 2) college-level data from a quasi-experiment among four-year colleges. Findings provide some evidence that information in the shopping sheet relating a college's graduation rate to other colleges led to decreased borrowing at colleges with poor graduation outcomes. Additionally, the shopping sheet decreased borrowing at colleges that enroll high shares of students receiving federal student aid and underrepresented minority students. These findings indicate the shopping sheet may be particularly salient to students who traditionally face higher informational barriers during the college-going process.
More than Dollars for Scholars: The Impact of the Dell Scholars Program on College Access, Persistence and Degree Attainment
Lindsay Page et al.
Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
Abstract:
Socioeconomic inequalities in college completion have widened over time. A critical question is how to support low-income and first-generation students to achieve college success. We investigate one effort, the Dell Scholars Program, which provides a combination of financial support and individualized advising to selected students who attend institutions throughout the US. Using two quasi-experimental analytic strategies, regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences with a matched comparison sample, we find consistent evidence that being selected as a Dell Scholar leads to substantially higher rates of bachelor’s degree completion within six years as well improvements on multiple other measures of college success.
In Pursuit of the Common Good: The Spillover Effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City
Sarah Cordes
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
A particularly controversial topic in current education policy is the expansion of the charter school sector. This paper analyzes the spillover effects of charter schools on traditional public school (TPS) students in New York City. I exploit variation in both the timing of charter school entry and distance to the nearest charter school to obtain credibly causal estimates of the impacts of charter schools on TPS student performance and I am among the first to estimate the impacts of charter school co-location. I further add to the literature by exploring potential mechanisms for these findings with school-level data on per pupil expenditures (PPE), parent, and teacher perception of schools. Briefly, I find that charter schools significantly increase TPS student performance in both English Language Arts and math and decrease the probability of grade retention. Effects increase with charter school proximity and are largest in TPSs co-located with charter schools. Potential explanations for improved performance include increased PPE, academic expectations, student engagement, and a more respectful and safe school environment after charter entry. The findings suggest that more charter schools in NYC may be beneficial at the margin and that co-location may be mutually beneficial for charter and traditional public schools.
Is the GED a Viable Pathway to College for Adult Students? New Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Massachusetts
Blake Heller & Kirsten Slungaard Mumma
Harvard Working Paper, January 2018
Abstract:
While a mature body of research has examined the labor market returns to passing the GED, past analyses that use regression discontinuity research designs typically fail to account for retaking behavior. We estimate the GED's impact on postsecondary enrollment among participants in Massachusetts' Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes, accounting for this source of bias. We leverage the multi-dimensionality of GED scoring to examine several regression discontinuities (one for each GED subtest, plus one for total GED score) and aggregate all six passing thresholds into a single measure of distance from passing. In contrast with previous work that suggests a limited role for educational attainment as a mediator of returns to the GED, we find that earning a GED credential significantly increases enrollment and persistence in postsecondary education for ABE students who marginally pass the GED. Specifically, our IV estimates indicate that earning a GED increases the likelihood that an individual ever enrolls in college by 45.3 percentage points. Additionally, we find that marginal GED passers enroll for 2.90 additional quarters, and women GED holders are 35.5 percentage points more likely to persist in college for at least six quarters. We also find correlational evidence that ABE students are more likely than the overall population of testers to retest if they fail their GED on their first attempt, but less likely to pass overall, suggesting that the ABE population is positively selected on dimensions of non-cognitive skill like grit and persistence but negatively selected on dimensions of academic skill relative to the general GED testing population. In future extensions of this work, we plan to compare ABE students with Massachusetts high school dropouts and to add labor market outcomes to the analysis.
The Effect of Career and Technical Education on Human Capital Accumulation: Causal Evidence from Massachusetts
Shaun Dougherty
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Earlier work demonstrates that career and technical education (CTE) can provide long-term financial benefits to participants, yet few have explored potential academic impacts, with none in the era of high-stakes accountability. This paper investigates the causal impact of participating in a specialized high school-based CTE delivery system on high-school persistence, completion, earning professional certifications, and standardized test scores, with a focus on individuals from low-income families, a group that is overrepresented in CTE and high-school noncompleters. Using administrative data from Massachusetts, I combine ordinary least squares with a regression discontinuity (RD) design that capitalizes on admissions data at three schools that are oversubscribed. All estimates suggest that participation in a high-quality CTE program boosts the probability of on-time graduation from high school by 7 to 10 percentage points for higher income students, and suggestively larger effects for their lower-income peers and students on the margin of being admitted to oversubscribed schools. This work informs an understanding of the potential impact of specific CTE program participation on the accumulation of human capital even in a high-stakes policy environment. This evidence of a productive CTE model in Massachusetts may inform the current policy dialog related to improving career pathways and readiness.
Cross-Subsidization of Teacher Pension Costs: The Case of California
Robert Costrell & Josh McGee
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
The value of pension benefits varies widely, by a teacher's age of entry and exit. This variation is masked by the uniform rate of annual contributions, as a percent of pay, to fund benefits for all. For the first time, we unmask that variation by calculating annual costs at the individual level. In California, we find the value of a teacher's benefits ranges from about 4 to 20 percent of pay, and exhibits some idiosyncratic patterns, as is endemic to traditional pension plans. The variation in individual cost rates generates an extensive, but hidden array of cross-subsidies, as winners receive benefits worth more than the uniform contribution rate, and losers receive less. Two-thirds of all entering teachers, past and present, are losers in California. By contrast, a prominently invoked study finds that nearly all active teachers are winners there. That result is shown to be highly skewed by excluding the losses of prior entrants who left early, thereby violating the funding fact that the gains and losses of winners and losers must offset each other. Our main policy conclusion is that cash balance plans can rationalize or eliminate the current system of cross-subsidies and provide the transparency lacking in traditional plans.
Raising the Bar for College Admission: North Carolina's Increase in Minimum Math Course Requirements
Charles Clotfelter, Steven Hemelt & Helen Ladd
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
We explore the effects of a statewide policy change that increased the number of high school math courses required for admission to four-year public universities in North Carolina. Using data on cohorts of 8th grade students from 1999 to 2006, we exploit variation by district over time in the math course-taking environment encountered by students. Purely as a result of a student's year of birth and location, students faced different probabilities of encountering a sequence of math courses sufficient to qualify for admission. Within an instrumental variables setup, we examine effects of this policy shift. We find that students took more math courses in high school following the state's announcement, with relatively larger increases for students in the middle and bottom quintiles of their 8th grade math test scores. Our results suggest that this increased math course-taking led to higher high school graduation rates. It also led to increases in enrollment rates at universities in the UNC system, with the largest increases being in the quintiles of student achievement from which universities were already drawing the bulk of their enrollees. Finally, we find scant evidence of boosts in post-enrollment college performance due to increased math course-taking in high school.
The Promise of Place-Based Investment in Postsecondary Access and Success: Investigating the Impact of the Pittsburgh Promise
Lindsay Page et al.
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Place-based promise scholarships are a relatively recent innovation in the space of college access and success. Although evidence on the impact of some of the earliest place-based scholarships has begun to emerge, the rapid proliferation of promise programs largely has preceded empirical evidence of their impact. We utilize regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences analyses to investigate the causal effect of the Pittsburgh Promise on students' immediate postsecondary attainment and early college persistence outcomes. Both analytic approaches yield similar conclusions. As a result of Promise eligibility, Pittsburgh Public School graduates are approximately 5 percentage points more likely to enroll in college, particularly four-year institutions; 10 percentage points more likely to select a Pennsylvania institution; and 4 to 7 percentage points more likely to enroll and persist into a second year of postsecondary education. Impacts vary with changes over time in the program structure and opportunities and are larger for those responsive to the Promise opportunity, as instrumental variable-adjusted results reveal. Although the Pittsburgh Promise represents a sizeable investment, conservative cost-benefit calculations indicate positive returns. Even so, an important question is whether locally funded programs such as the Pittsburgh Promise are economically sustainable in the long run.
School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools
Mark Berends & Joseph Waddington
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3–8) in Indianapolis, using student fixed effects models to estimate the impacts of students switching from a traditional public school to a charter, magnet, Catholic, or other private school. We find that students experience no differences in their achievement gains after transferring from a traditional public school to a charter school. However, students switching to magnet schools experience modest annual losses of −0.09 standard deviation (SD) in mathematics and −0.11 SD in English Language Arts. Students switching to Catholic schools also experience annual losses of −0.18 SD in mathematics. These findings are robust to a series of alternative model specifications. Additionally, we find some variability in the mean school type impacts by students’ race/ethnicity, English language learner status, and number of years enrolled in a choice school. We discuss our results in the context of the variability of choice school effects across an entire urban area, something future research needs to examine.
The Impact of State Aid Reform on Property Values: A Case Study of Maryland's Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act
Il Hwan Chung, William Duncombe & John Yinger
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
A major feature of the school finance landscape over the last two decades has been the reform of state school finance systems. Using the case of Maryland's Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act, this paper extends the current literature by developing a conceptual framework for residential bidding and sorting and using it to estimate housing market responses to the Maryland state aid reform. With repeat-sales data and many control variables, we find that an increase of $1,000 in current state aid per pupil induced by the reform is associated with an increase of 5 to 13 percent in property values. Moreover, within a district the property-value increases are greater in higher-income tracts, where the demand for school quality is likely to be greater.
Does Knowing Your FICO Score Change Financial Behavior? Evidence from a Field Experiment with Student Loan Borrowers
Tatiana Homonoff, Rourke O'Brien & Abigail Sussman
NYU Working Paper, March 2018
Abstract:
This paper evaluates the impact of providing access to an individual's FICO® Score on financial behavior. We conduct a field experiment with over 400,000 Sallie Mae student loan borrowers in which treatment group members received direct communications about score availability. Using administrative credit report data, we find that borrowers in the treatment group are less likely to have any payments past due, more likely to have at least one revolving credit account, and have higher FICO Scores after one year. Survey data find treatment group members were more likely to accurately report their own FICO Score; specifically, they were less likely to overestimate their score. These effects are particularly encouraging given the limited success of traditional higher cost financial education interventions.
Performance Funding Policy Impacts on STEM Degree Attainment
Amy Li
Educational Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Performance funding policies for higher education allocate appropriations to public institutions based on student outcomes such as degree completions. This study investigates whether a special science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) incentive in 13 state performance funding policies leads to greater undergraduate degree completions in STEM fields. This study applies a conceptual framework of principal–agent theory and anticipatory policy effects. Incorporating a panel data set on 551 public 4-year institutions from 2003-2004 to 2014-2015, results from difference-in-differences analyses suggest that the STEM incentive increases total STEM bachelor’s degrees completed as well as STEM bachelor’s degrees completed as a proportion of all bachelor’s degrees. Findings are robust to alternative specifications, suggesting that institutions are responding to the performance funding STEM incentive by graduating more students in these high-demand fields.
How Does Grade Configuration Impact Student Achievement in Elementary and Middle School Grades?
Kai Hong, Ron Zimmer & John Engberg
Journal of Urban Economics, May 2018, Pages 1-19
Abstract:
Recently, there has been a move towards K-8 schools as opposed to separate elementary and middle schools, especially among urban districts. In this paper, we examine the effect of enrollment in separate elementary and middle schools relative to enrollment in a K-8 school using longitudinal data from an anonymous district in the United States. The choice to enroll in a K-8 or separate elementary and middle schools is potentially endogenous. While previous research has taken steps to address the possible endogeneity when estimating the effects for separate middle schools, previous research has not addressed the possible endogeneity when examining the effect at the elementary level. Without generating an unbiased estimate during the elementary grades, we cannot fully understand the impact of policies that have shifted the grade arrangement of separate elementary and middle schools to K-8 schools. In this paper, we employ a research design that leverages the fact that the anonymous district closed several schools and rezoned their students to other schools with new boundaries. We compare students on the side of the new boundaries who are assigned to a separate middle or elementary school to students on the other side of the new boundaries who are assigned to a K-8 school. When taking into the consideration the effect at the elementary level, our results are much less supportive of a K-8 policy than previous research.
A Degree Above? The Value-Added Estimates and Evaluation Ratings of Teachers with a Graduate Degree
Kevin Bastian
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the present study I use teacher value-added and evaluation rating data from North Carolina public schools to estimate the signaling and human capital effects of graduate degrees. These analyses consider the effects of graduate degrees, overall, and the effects of graduate degrees inside and outside teachers' area(s) of teaching. Signaling analyses show that those with a graduate degree in their area of teaching have comparable value-added estimates and receive higher evaluation ratings than teachers with undergraduate degrees only. Human capital analyses indicate that in-area graduate degrees benefit teacher value-added in several comparisons and predict higher evaluation ratings on the Leadership standard. Signaling and human capital effects for out-of-area graduate degrees are generally negative or insignificant. Taken together, these results present a more comprehensive and nuanced view of the effectiveness of teachers with graduate degrees. Future analyses should assess additional outcome measures and continue focusing on the alignment between the graduate degree content and the teaching assignment.
The Impact of State-Mandated Advanced Placement Programs on Student Outcomes
Paula Arce-Trigatti
Economics of Education Review, April 2018, Pages 180-193
Abstract:
This paper examines the effect of a state mandate to offer Advanced Placement (AP) programs at all public high schools on student outcomes. Requiring compliance with this policy could lead to unintended consequences as schools shift resources or students are re-sorted. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, I investigate a 2004 state-wide mandate to offer AP programs in Arkansas and its impact on students’ schooling outcomes. Results suggest schools decrease the share of courses dedicated to career and technical education in favor of AP courses. Additionally, enrollment decreases by about 60 students on average, the 4-year graduation rate increases by 2.5 percentage points, and there are generally fewer students scoring in the highest category on two end-of-course exams at schools required to comply with the mandate. Taken together, these results suggest the policy may have at least partially affected the sorting of students across schools.
Can Innovators be Created? Experimental Evidence from an Innovation Contest
Joshua Graff Zivin & Elizabeth Lyons
NBER Working Paper, February 2018
Abstract:
Existing theories and empirical research on how innovation occurs largely assume that innovativeness is an inherent characteristic of the individual and that people with this innate ability select into jobs that require it. In this paper, we investigate whether people who do not self-select into being innovators can be induced to innovate, and whether they innovate differently than those who do self-select into innovating. To test these questions, we designed and implemented an innovation contest for engineering and computer science students which allowed us to differentiate between those who self-select into innovative activities and those who are willing to undertake them only after receiving an additional incentive for doing so. We also randomly offer encouragement to subsets of both the induced and self-selected contest participants in order to examine the importance of confidence-building interventions on each sample. We find that while induced participants have different observable characteristics than those that were ‘innately’ drawn to the competition, on average, the success of induced participants was statistically indistinguishable from their self-selected counterparts and encouragement does not change this result. Heterogeneity in treatment effects suggests an important role for the use of targeted interventions.
Donors and Founders on Charter School Boards and Their Impact on Financial and Academic Outcomes
Charisse Gulosino & Elif Şişli-Ciamarra
Education Finance and Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study provides the first systematic analysis of the composition of charter school governing boards. We assemble a dataset of charter school boards in Massachusetts between 2001 and 2013 and investigate the consequences of donor and founder representation on governing boards. We find that the presence of donors on the charter school boards is positively related to financial performance and attribute this result to the donors' strong monitoring incentives due to their financial stakes in the school. We also show that financial outcomes are not generated at the expense of academic outcomes, as the presence of donors on the boards is also associated with higher student achievement. Founder representation on charter school boards, on the other hand, is associated with lower financial performance but higher academic achievement.