Using Education
Children’s arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics
Abhijit Banerjee et al.
Nature, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many children from low-income backgrounds worldwide fail to master school mathematics; however, some children extensively use mental arithmetic outside school. Here we surveyed children in Kolkata and Delhi, India, who work in markets (n = 1,436), to investigate whether maths skills acquired in real-world settings transfer to the classroom and vice versa. Nearly all these children used complex arithmetic calculations effectively at work. They were also proficient in solving hypothetical market maths problems and verbal maths problems that were anchored to concrete contexts. However, they were unable to solve arithmetic problems of equal or lesser complexity when presented in the abstract format typically used in school. The children’s performance in market maths problems was not explained by memorization, access to help, reduced stress with more familiar formats or high incentives for correct performance. By contrast, children with no market-selling experience (n = 471), enrolled in nearby schools, showed the opposite pattern. These children performed more accurately on simple abstract problems, but only 1% could correctly answer an applied market maths problem that more than one third of working children solved (β = 0.35, s.e.m. = 0.03; 95% confidence interval = 0.30–0.40, P < 0.001). School children used highly inefficient written calculations, could not combine different operations and arrived at answers too slowly to be useful in real-life or in higher maths. These findings highlight the importance of educational curricula that bridge the gap between intuitive and formal maths.
OK Boomer: Generational differences in teacher quality
Nhu Nguyen, Ben Ost & Javaeria Qureshi
Journal of Public Economics, March 2025
Abstract:
We document that recent generations of elementary school teachers are significantly more effective at raising math test scores for students than those from earlier generations. Measuring teachers’ value-added for Black and White students separately, the improvements in teaching for Black students are significantly larger than those seen for White students. For reading, we find no evidence of generational differences in either overall or race-specific teacher quality. The race-specific improvements in teacher quality in math are driven by White teachers. Our results suggest reason for optimism since these teacher quality differences should lead to improved student learning and a narrowing of the Black-White test score gap over time.
Differential Responses to Teacher Evaluation Incentives: Expectancy, Race, Experience, and Task
David Blazar et al.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
Teacher evaluation systems and their associated incentives have produced fairly mixed results. Our analyses are motivated by theory and descriptive evidence that accountability systems are highly racialized, and that individuals are less likely to respond to incentives when they have low expectations of success (and vice versa). Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that Black novices in the District of Columbia Public Schools faced the most negative consequences (dismissal threats) and the least benefits (salary incentives), without responding to either. White novices, in contrast, exhibited high expectations of success and large behavior changes, particularly in response to dismissal threats (0.6 SD). We also find some evidence of heterogeneity in effects by task difficulty, often used as a proxy for expectancy, though these differences are less stark.
Effect of International Roommates on College Outcomes: Evidence from Students of Disadvantaged Backgrounds
Hsin-Ta Tsai & Jose Eos Trinidad
Educational Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
College policies may support intentional cross-cultural interactions among peers. This study examines the impact of having an international roommate on the college outcomes of domestic U.S. students. Using institutional data on more than 6,600 U.S. students from a selective liberal arts college that serves low-income individuals, our analysis demonstrates the positive effects of being paired with an international roommate on U.S. students’ first-year GPA, subsequent GPAs, and second-year retention. However, our findings show no significant effects on graduation rates or retention rates beyond the second year. These findings point to the potential benefits of deliberate organizational and institutional policies to facilitate interactions among individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
How the Ingroup Representation of First-Generation Students in Residence Halls Predicts Short-Term and Long-Term College Success
Nicholas Bowman, Genia Bettencourt & Sora Moon
Research in Higher Education, February 2025
Abstract:
Despite a burgeoning literature on first-generation college student success, little is known about how the presence of first-generation or continuing-generation peers may facilitate desired outcomes among first-generation students. Moreover, two theoretical traditions lead to contrasting predictions about the potential impact of the representation of other first-generation students. The present study explored this issue within a sample of 4154 first-year, first-generation students who lived on 159 floors in 12 residence halls. Across a variety of statistical models that sought to reduce selection bias, students with a first-generation roommate have lower retention and graduation rates than students with a continuing-generation roommate. Students with a first-generation roommate also have more modest social networks within the university dining halls, but no significant relationships are observed for first-semester or first-year GPA. The link between the proportion of first-generation floormates and success outcomes is rarely significant and yields inconsistent results across analyses.
Reaching the Finish Line: Can Coaching Help Students Graduate?
Kelly Lack & Hannah Acheson-Field
Research in Higher Education, February 2025
Abstract::
Many students who enter college do not finish, reflecting numerous academic, financial, and social barriers to postsecondary completion. Success Boston Coaching (SBC) provides students in the Greater Boston area with coaching during their first 2 years of college to help them overcome barriers to postsecondary completion and connect them to supports at their campuses and in their communities. We estimate the differences between SBC and comparison students with respect to students’ postsecondary completion rates 4, 5, and 6 years after they initially enroll in postsecondary education. Using administrative outcome data from the National Student Clearinghouse and 11 institutions of higher education in the Greater Boston area, we follow coached students and a matched group of similar noncoached students up to 6 years after their initial enrollment. Relative to noncoached students, SBC students had associate’s degree completion rates that were 85 percent higher after 4 years, 44 percent higher after 5 years, and 63 percent higher after 6 years. SBC students also completed bachelor’s degrees within 5 years at a 12 percent higher rate than their noncoached peers. Results suggest that coaching that offers comprehensive, personalized, and regularly occurring support to students is associated with higher completion rates, especially for students pursuing associate’s degrees. Additional efforts to directly remove barriers that students face may help more students graduate.
Does the United States Spend Enough on Public Schools?
Patrick Bayer, Peter Blair & Kenneth Whaley
Duke University Working Paper, January 2025
Abstract:
The United States ranks low among peer countries on the ratio of teacher spending to per capita GDP. Is this (in)efficient? Using a spatial equilibrium model we show that spending on schools is efficient if an increase in school spending funded through local taxes would leave house prices unchanged. By exploiting plausibly exogenous shocks to both school spending and taxes, paired with 25 years of national data on local house prices, we find that an exogenous tax-funded increase in school spending would significantly raise house prices. These findings provide causal evidence that teacher spending in the U.S. is inefficiently low.
Educating for Democracy? Going to College Increases Political Participation
Andreas Videbæk Jensen
British Journal of Political Science, February 2025
Abstract:
It is a long-standing view that educational institutions sustain democracy by building an engaged citizenry. However, recent scholarship has seriously questioned whether going to college increases political participation. While these studies have been ingenious in using natural experiments to credibly estimate the causal effect of college, most have produced estimates with high statistical uncertainty. I contend that college matters: I argue that, together, prior effect estimates are just as compatible with a positive effect as a null effect. Furthermore, analyzing two-panel datasets of young US voters, using a well-powered difference-in-differences design, I find that attending college leads to a substantive increase in voter turnout. Importantly, these findings are consistent with the statistically uncertain but positive estimates in previous studies. This calls for updating our view of the education-participation relationship, suggesting that statistical uncertainty in prior studies may have concealed that college education has substantive civic returns.
School Honor Cultures and Violence: The Role of Cultural Orientation and Dispersion
Andrew Krajewski et al.
Justice Quarterly, February 2025, Pages 154-178
Abstract:
We examine whether adolescents attending schools with honor-oriented cultures are more likely to engage in violence, net of their own honor attitudes. Studies typically estimate a culture’s strength by averaging the residents’ attitudes, but this cannot adequately account for variation among residents. Recent research in cultural sociology suggests that a culture’s orientation and dispersion are influential. Using data from the Second International Self-Reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), we disentangle the honor orientation and homogeneity of school cultures and examine their additive and multiplicative effects on violent offending. We find that adolescents who attend schools with stronger honor-oriented cultures are more likely to engage in violence, irrespective of their own honor attitudes. This relationship is stronger in schools with greater homogeneity. These results suggest that accounting for the honor orientation of school cultures as well as their level of dispersion is important for understanding cultural processes.
The Benefits from Bundling Demand in K-12 Broadband Procurement
Gaurab Aryal et al.
NBER Working Paper, February 2025
Abstract:
We study a new market design for K-12 school broadband procurement that switched from school-specific bidding to a system that bundled schools into groups. Using an event study approach, we estimate the program reduced internet prices by 37% per Mbps per month while increasing bandwidth by 500%. These benefits occurred by mitigating exposure risk in broadband procurement – the risk that providers win too few contracts to cover fixed infrastructure costs. Using a bounds approach, we show robustness of our estimates and document that participants saved at least as much as their federal subsidies and experienced substantial welfare gains.