Course Correction
The Effect of Liquid Housing Wealth on College Enrollment
Michael Lovenheim
Journal of Labor Economics, October 2011, Pages 741-771
Abstract:
This article uses short-run housing wealth changes to identify the effect of housing wealth on college attendance. I find that households used their housing wealth to finance postsecondary enrollment in the 2000s when housing wealth was most liquid; each $10,000 in home equity raises college enrollment by 0.7 of a percentage point on average. The effect is localized to lower-resource families, for whom a $10,000 increase in housing wealth increases enrollment by 5.7 percentage points. These estimates imply that the recent housing bust could significantly negatively affect college enrollment through reduction in the housing wealth of families with college-age children.
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Victor Lavy, Daniele Paserman & Analia Schlosser
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
We estimate the extent of ability peer effects and explore the mechanisms through which they operate. Using within-school variation in the proportion of low-ability students in Israeli schools, we find that the proportion of low-ability peers has a negative effect on the performance of regular students. An exploration of the underlying mechanisms show that, relative to regular students, low-ability students report higher levels of satisfaction with their teachers. However, a higher proportion of low-ability students has detrimental effects on teachers' pedagogical practices and on the quality of inter-student and student-teacher relationships, and increases the level of violence and classroom disruptions.
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Peter Jensen & Astrid Würtz Rasmussen
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using a unique and very rich PISA dataset from Denmark, we show that the immigrant concentration in the school influences reading and math skills for both immigrant children and native children. Overall, children in schools with a high immigrant concentration score lower on reading and math test scores. The negative effects associated with attending a school with a high immigrant concentration are fairly robust across estimation methods. IV estimates, taking into consideration that parental sorting across neighborhoods might bias the OLS estimates, indicate that immigrant concentration in schools is still important in determining children's math test scores. The estimates are less precise regarding the effect of immigrant concentration on reading test scores. The immigrant concentration in the school has a stronger effect for native children than for immigrant children, but the differences are more pronounced for the math test.
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A Community College Instructor Like Me: Race and Ethnicity Interactions in the Classroom
Robert Fairlie, Florian Hoffmann & Philip Oreopoulos
NBER Working Paper, September 2011
Abstract:
This paper uses detailed administrative data from one of the largest community colleges in the United States to quantify the extent to which academic performance depends on students being of similar race or ethnicity to their instructors. To address the concern of endogenous sorting, we use both student and classroom fixed effects and focus on those with limited course enrolment options. We also compare sensitivity in the results from using within versus across section instructor type variation. Given the computational complexity of the 2-way fixed effects model with a large set of fixed effects we rely on numerical algorithms that exploit the particular structure of the model's normal equations. We find that the performance gap in terms of class dropout and pass rates between white and minority students falls by roughly half when taught by a minority instructor. In models that allow for a full set of ethnic and racial interactions between students and instructors, we find African-American students perform particularly better when taught by African-American instructors.
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Does the Lack of a Profit Motive Affect Hiring in Academe? Evidence from the Market for Lawyers
Rex Pjesky & Daniel Sutter
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, October 2011, Pages 1053-1084
Abstract:
The comparative performance of academic and economic markets continues to be debated. One factor potentially distinguishing academic markets is the profit motive. Profit and competition have been shown to curb discrimination in markets, and the absence of profit discipline could result in myriad forms of prejudice in academic hiring. We explore the role of the profit motive in the performance of academic markets by comparing the pedigree of employees of top law schools and top law firms. Top law schools are much more likely to employ graduates of top ranked law schools than elite law firms, and the difference exists at both the junior and senior levels. We find no evidence that the graduates of top 5 law schools outperform grads of less prestigious schools in publications or citations. In the absence of a profit motive, academic hiring appears more likely to indulge a preference for pedigree, and by implication, this may explain other scholarly prejudices in the academy.
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John Heywood, Xiangdong Wei & Guangliang Ye
Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using panel data, we demonstrate a 50% increase in research productivity following a dramatic increase in the piece rate paid for articles by a major Chinese University. The increased productivity comes exclusively from those who were already research active.
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Private Schools and Residential Choices: Accessibility, Mobility, and Welfare
Eric Hanushek, Sinan Sarpça & Kuzey Yilmaz
B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, August 2011
Abstract:
Private schools free households from a strict link between residential location decisions and the tax-school quality bundles they consume. In order to study the impact of private schools on educational outcomes, we develop a general equilibrium model that simultaneously incorporates locational choice built on access and locational choice built on tax-school quality attributes of jurisdictions. We conclude that private school choice enhances the welfare of all households - both those attending private schools and those attending public schools - while also working to reduce the amount of housing and school segregation in equilibrium. Investigation of alternative school policies indicates that greater choice, including using targeted school vouchers, can improve welfare and achievement. Finally, we demonstrate how the fiscal burden arising from some households paying less taxes than they consume in public services varies significantly with the structure of school choice options.
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Sandra Martin-Chang, Odette Gould & Reanne Meuse
Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, July 2011, Pages 195-202
Abstract:
Although homeschooling is growing in prevalence, its educational outcomes remain unclear. The present study compared the academic achievements of homeschooled children with children attending traditional public school. When the homeschooled group was divided into those who were taught from organized lesson plans (structured homeschoolers) and those who were not (unstructured homeschoolers), the data showed that structured homeschooled children achieved higher standardized scores compared with children attending public school. Exploratory analyses also suggest that the unstructured homeschoolers are achieving the lowest standardized scores across the 3 groups.
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Peter Nurnberg, Morton Schapiro & David Zimmerman
NBER Working Paper, September 2011
Abstract:
In this paper we utilize data on the head-to-head loss rate for students accepted at Williams College, but who opt to enroll elsewhere. For example, we employ data that measure the fraction of students admitted to Williams and to Amherst (or Harvard or Yale, etc.) but who opt to attend Amherst (or Harvard or Yale, etc.) instead of Williams. We then model this head-to-head loss rate using data from a variety of sources. A better understanding of the head-to-head loss rate can assist an institution in the competition for high quality students. Importantly, it can also shed light on the degree to which some part of the loss rate might be due to "intangible" differences between the schools being compared. These intangibles (positive or negative) might grant a school greater success (or failure) in the market for students than an objective accounting of its characteristics might suggest. Such an advantage (or disadvantage) is closely aligned with the business concept of "goodwill." We present preliminary evidence on how a quantitative measure of educational goodwill can be computed.
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Economics of Corruption in Doctoral Education: The Dissertations Market
Ararat Osipian
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstaract:
This paper addresses the issue of "dissertations for sale" in Russia. The tasks of this anthropological study include establishing the problem of corruption in doctoral education, identification of the dissertations suppliers, study of the specific services they offer, analysis of their prices on different services, and generalizations of findings in the context of the educational system. All of these tasks address the supply side of the dissertations market. This paper identifies a total of 169 firms that offer dissertations for sale in Russia. It concludes that the cost of the dissertations market extends far beyond its monetary expression. Fake doctorates undermine the credibility of real, earned doctorates, and erode the gold standard of quality in research and scholarship.
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Subjective and objective evaluations of teacher effectiveness: Evidence from New York City
Jonah Rockoff & Cecilia Speroni
Labour Economics, October 2011, Pages 687-696
Abstract:
A substantial literature documents large variation in teacher effectiveness at raising student achievement, providing motivation to identify highly effective and ineffective teachers early in their careers. Using data from New York City public schools, we estimate whether subjective evaluations of teacher effectiveness have predictive power for the achievement gains made by teachers' future students. We find that these subjective evaluations have substantial power, comparable with and complementary to objective measures of teacher effectiveness taken from a teacher's first year in the classroom.
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The Changing Economic Advantage from Private Schools
Francis Green et al.
Economica, forthcoming
Abstract:
Private schooling is an important feature of education systems across the world. Despite its relatively small size, the British private school sector has a long history and plays a prominent role in society. We provide evidence showing that private schools have been successful in transforming their ability to generate the academic outputs that are most in demand in the modern economy: the private/state school wage differential has risen significantly over time, and a significant factor has been faster rising educational attainment for privately-educated individuals.
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Devora Davis & Margaret Raymond
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two quasi-experimental methods-fixed effects (FE) and virtual control records (VCR)-were used to measure charter schooling in 14 states and two districts. The new VCR method uses all available observable charter student characteristics and prior performance to create a composite comparison record. A head-to-head comparison of the FE and VCR methods used the same charter students to test the FE control (e.g., the charter student's own traditional public school experience) and the VCR for equivalence. The comparison produced highly similar estimates; charter coefficients were identical in sign and significance and of the same general magnitudes. In an analysis of the sampling fractions included in each method using all available tested charter students, the VCR method was found to produce more generalizable results. In the policy analysis, charter school quality was found to be demographically and geographically uneven with only 19 percent of charter schools outperforming their local markets.
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Problem-Based Learning in K-12 Education: Is it Effective and How Does it Achieve its Effects?
Clarice Wirkala & Deanna Kuhn
American Educational Research Journal, October 2011, Pages 1157-1186
Abstract:
Enthusiasm for problem-based learning (PBL) is widespread, yet there exists little rigorous experimental evidence of its effectiveness, especially in K-12 populations. Reported here is a highly controlled experimental study of PBL in a middle school population. Between- and within-subject comparisons are made of students learning the same material under three instructional conditions: lecture/discussion, characteristic small-group PBL, and solitary PBL. Assessments of comprehension and application of concepts in a new context 9 weeks after instruction showed superior mastery in both PBL conditions, relative to the lecture condition, and equivalent performance in the two PBL conditions, the latter indicating that the social component of PBL is not a critical feature of its effectiveness.
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Xiaoli Wen et al.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using data from a nationally representative sample, this study examined Head Start children's school outcome differences by the end of Kindergarten between children who attended Head Start program for two years and the ones who attended for one year. Propensity scores were used to match children who experienced different durations of the program on a series of demographic characteristics in order to achieve a precise estimation of the effects of program duration. The results showed that in comparison to a demographically comparable group of children who attended the Head Start program for one year, the children who experienced two years of intervention services had statistically significantly higher performance on all six academic and social outcome measures by the end of Kindergarten, which included PPVT, Woodcock-Johnson Reading Skills, Woodcock-Johnson Math Reasoning Skills, teacher-reported composite academic skills, preschool learning behaviors, and social skills. Policy and practice implications are discussed.
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Some Economic Guidelines for Design of a Charter School District
H.M. Levin
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
As the number of charter schools has grown nationally, there is increasing discussion of the consolidation of such schools into charter districts in which all schools would be charter schools from which parents would have the freedom to choose the school that they wished their student to attend. A major question is how such a charter school district would be organized to support its schools and who would perform the different functions required. It is argued that three economic guidelines need to be an important determinant of the solution to this question: the presence of economies of scale; transaction costs; and externalities. The article describes the application of these guidelines to the formation of a charter school district and suggests the different possibilities for addressing a range of important roles by schools, their districts and intermediate organizations and markets.