Demanding Education
The G.I. Bill, Standardized Testing, and Socioeconomic Origins of the U.S. Educational Elite Over a Century
Ran Abramitzky et al.
NBER Working Paper, November 2024
Abstract:
We compile, transcribe, and standardize historical records for 2.5 million students at 65 elite (private and public) U.S. colleges. By combining these data with more recent survey and administrative data, we assemble the largest dataset on the socioeconomic backgrounds of students at American colleges spanning the last 100 years. We document the following: First, despite a large increase in the share of lower-income students in the overall college-going population, the representation of these students at elite private or public colleges has remained at similarly low levels throughout the last century. Second, the representation of upper-income students at elite colleges decreased after World War II, but this group has regained its high representation since the 1980s. Third, while there has been no increase in the economic diversity of elite private and public colleges, these colleges have become more racially and geographically diverse. Fourth, two major policy changes in the history of American higher education, namely the G.I. Bill after World War II and the introduction of standardized tests for admissions, had little success in increasing the representation of lower- and middle-income students at elite colleges.
High School Curricular Rigor and Cognitive Function among White Older Adults
Sara Moorman & Jooyoung Kong
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Most research on the strong relationship between education and cognitive aging has focused on years of schooling. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study -- a sample of White persons born in 1939 -- we explored whether greater curricular rigor in high school was also associated with better cognitive function in later life. We estimated multilevel structural equation models in data from 2,749 participants who attended 308 Wisconsin high schools, graduating in 1957. Independent of academic ability and performance and school-level financial and material resources, a more rigorous high school curriculum was associated with significantly better global cognitive functioning in 2020, when most participants were 81 years old. There was also a significant mediation via eventual degree attainment. The mediation was moderated such that men and participants from high socioeconomic status families benefited most from a rigorous curriculum. We discuss implications for modern educational policy.
Preferences, Selection, and the Structure of Teacher Pay
Andrew Johnston
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
I examine teacher preferences using a discrete-choice experiment, which I link to administrative data on teacher effectiveness. I estimate willingness-to-pay for a rich set of compensation elements and working conditions. Highly effective teachers usually have the same preferences as their peers, but they have stronger preferences for performance pay. I use the preference estimates to investigate the optimal compensation structure for three key objectives: maximizing teacher utility, maximizing teacher retention, and maximizing student achievement. Under each objective, schools underutilize salary and performance pay, while overutilizing retirement benefits. Restructuring compensation can significantly improve both teacher welfare and student achievement.
Does Monitoring Change Teacher Pedagogy and Student Outcomes?
Aaron Phipps
Journal of Labor Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In theory, monitoring can improve employee motivation and effort, particularly in settings lacking measurable outputs, but research assessing monitoring as a motivator is limited to laboratory settings. To address this gap, I leverage exogenous variation in the presence and intensity of teacher monitoring, in the form of unannounced in-class observations as part of D.C. Public Schools’ IMPACT program. As monitoring intensifies, teachers use more individualized teaching and emphasize higher-level learning. When teachers are unmonitored, their students have lower test scores and increased suspensions. This novel evidence validates monitoring as a potential tool for enhancing teacher pedagogy and employee performance more broadly.
How Do Income-Driven Repayment Plans Benefit Student Debt Borrowers?
Sylvain Catherine, Mehran Ebrahimian & Constantine Yannelis
NBER Working Paper, October 2024
Abstract:
The rapid rise in student loan balances has raised concerns among economists and policymakers. Using administrative credit bureau data, we find that nearly half of the increase in balances from 2010 to 2020 is due to deferred payments, largely driven by the expansion of income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which link payments to income. These plans help borrowers by smoothing consumption, insuring against labor income risk, and reducing the present value of future payments. We build a life-cycle model to quantify the welfare gains from this payment deferment and the channels through which borrower welfare increases. New, more generous IDR rules increase this transfers from taxpayers to borrowers without yielding net welfare gains. By lowering the average marginal cost of undergraduate debt to less than 50 cents per dollar, these rules may also incentivize excessive borrowing. We demonstrate that an optimally calibrated IDR plan can achieve similar welfare gains for borrowers at a much lower cost to taxpayers, and without encouraging additional borrowing, primarily through maturity extension.
Are child and adolescent students more uncivil after COVID-19?
Natalie Spadafora, Elizabeth Al-Jbouri & Anthony Volk
School Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The goal of the current work was to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic school shutdowns may have impacted classroom incivility in children and adolescents. Study 1 compared prepandemic (Fall 2019) to postpandemic school shutdown (Fall 2022) rates of classroom incivility in a sample of 308 adolescents (49.7% boys; 61.0% White) between the ages of 9 and 14 (M = 12.06; SD = 1.38). Classroom incivility was significantly higher postpandemic shutdowns, while bullying, emotional problems, and friendships remained stable. In Study 2, we surveyed 101 primary educators (95% females; 88.1% White). Findings suggested that young students lacked social skills and knowledge of classroom expectations, contributing to increased classroom incivility. Our results highlight the need to monitor ongoing levels of classroom incivility.
Early Algebra Affects Peer Composition
Quentin Brummet et al.
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although research indicates that individual students benefit when they enroll in early algebra classes, evaluations of broad-based algebra acceleration often report negative effects. Using a regression discontinuity design, we replicate the positive effects of eighth-grade algebra placement on student achievement found in prior studies. We then demonstrate that eighth-grade algebra placement positively affects the achievement level of students’ classmates, as well as the experience and value added of students’ math teachers. Peer composition effects may help to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the positive effects of algebra on individual students and negative effects of algebra acceleration since these estimated effects are large enough to plausibly explain the majority of the effects of eighth-grade algebra on student test scores.
Do the Effects Persist? An Examination of Long-Term Effects After Students Leave Turnaround Schools
Lam Pham et al.
American Educational Research Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Whole-school reforms have received widespread attention, but a critical limitation of the current literature is the lack of evidence around whether these extensive and costly interventions improve students’ long-term outcomes after they leave reform schools. Leveraging Tennessee’s statewide turnaround reforms, we use difference-in-differences models to estimate the effect of attending a turnaround middle school on student outcomes in high school, including test scores, attendance, chronic absenteeism, disciplinary actions, drop out, and high school graduation. We find little evidence to support improved long-run student outcomes -- mostly null effects that are nearly zero in magnitude. Our results contribute to a broad call for educational researchers to examine whether school reforms meaningfully affect student outcomes beyond short-term improvements in test scores.
Delaying high school start times impacts depressed mood among students: Evidence from a natural experiment
Ekaterina Sadikova et al.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, November 2024, Pages 2073–2082
Methods: We examined how gains in weekday sleep impact depression symptoms in 2,134 high school students (mean age 15.16 ± 0.35 years) from the Minneapolis metropolitan area. Leveraging a natural experiment design, we used the policy change to delay school start times as an instrument to estimate the effect of a sustained gain in weekday sleep on repeatedly measured Kandel-Davies depression symptoms. We also evaluated whether allocating the policy change to subgroups with expected benefit could improve the impact of the policy.
Results: Over 2 years, a sustained half-hour gain in weekday sleep expected as a result of the policy change to delay start times decreased depression symptoms by 0.78 points, 95%CI (-1.32,-0.28), or 15.6% of a standard deviation. The benefit was driven by a decrease in fatigue and sleep-related symptoms. While symptoms of low mood, hopelessness, and worry were not affected by the policy on average, older students with greater daily screen use and higher BMI experienced greater improvements in mood symptoms than would be expected on average, signaling heterogeneity. Nevertheless, universal implementation outperformed prescriptive strategies.
Is Online Education Working?
Duha Altindag, Elif Filiz & Erdal Tekin
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines the impact of instruction modality on student learning outcomes, with a focus on disparities observed pre- and post-pandemic. Using administrative data from a public university spanning seven pre-pandemic and five post-pandemic semesters, the analysis controls for endogenous sorting using fixed effects. The findings suggest that face-to-face (FtF) instruction results in better student performance, such as higher grades and a lower withdrawal rate. Additionally, students with greater exposure to FtF instruction are less likely to repeat courses, more likely to graduate on time, and achieve higher Grade Point Averages (GPA). The study also shows that the FtF advantage has been decreasing over time, and the differences are smaller post-pandemic. The results are consistent across student and instructor characteristics, except for Honors and graduate students, where the FtF advantage is either smaller or statistically insignificant.