Remedial
Kevin Beaver & John Paul Wright
Intelligence, July-August 2011, Pages 193-197
Abstract:
Research has consistently revealed that average IQ scores vary significantly across macro-level units, such as states and nations. The reason for this variation in IQ, however, has remained at the center of much controversy. One of the more provocative explanations is that IQ across macro-level units is the result of genetic differences, but empirical studies have yet to examine this possibility directly. The current study partially addresses this gap in the literature by examining whether average IQ scores across thirty-six schools are associated with differences in the allelic distributions of dopaminergic polymorphisms across schools. Analysis of data drawn from subjects (ages 12-19 years) participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provides support in favor of this perspective, where variation in school-level IQ scores was predicted by school-level genetic variation. This association remained statistically significant even after controlling for the effects of race.
--------------------
Sa Bui, Steven Craig & Scott Imberman
NBER Working Paper, May 2011
Abstract:
In this paper we determine how the receipt of gifted and talented (GT) services affects student outcomes. We identify the causal relationship by exploiting a discontinuity in eligibility requirements and find that for students on the margin there is no discernable impact on achievement even though peers improve substantially. We then use randomized lotteries to examine the impact of attending a GT magnet program relative to GT programs in other schools and find that, despite being exposed to higher quality teachers and peers that are one standard deviation higher achieving, only science achievement improves. We argue that these results are consistent with an invidious comparison model of peer effects offsetting other benefits. Evidence of large reductions in course grades and rank relative to peers in both regression discontinuity and lottery models are consistent with this explanation.
--------------------
Examining Charter Student Achievement Effects Across Seven States
Ron Zimmer et al.
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Since their inception, charter schools have been a lighting rod for controversy, with much of the debate revolving around their effectiveness in improving student achievement. This paper adds to the knowledgebase of charter school effectiveness by examining charter schools in seven states using a consistent research approach and by conducting a number of sensitivity analyses to examine the robustness of our results. In most locations, we find that students perform similarly in charter schools and traditional public schools.
--------------------
Stephanie Moller et al.
Youth & Society, June 2011, Pages 656-680
Abstract:
Researchers who examine the link between high school achievement and educational outcomes include measures of achievement that conflate high school effects with achievement effects established prior to high school. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, this article disaggregates achievement into achievement prior to high school (in the eighth grade) and changes in achievement during high school. The authors find that the prestige of the colleges that students attend is largely solidified by the time students enter high school. They also find that among high socioeconomic status (SES) students, lower achievers can enhance the prestige of the colleges they will attend by moving up the achievement distribution during high school. However, even if their gains are well above average, the prestige of the colleges they are predicted to attend will not surpass students who enter high school at the top or middle of the eighth-grade achievement distribution. These findings are similar for low-SES students. In contrast, the effects of achievement for middle-SES students are largely solidified by high school.
--------------------
The Long-Run Impacts of Early Childhood Education: Evidence From a Failed Policy Experiment
Philip DeCicca & Justin Smith
NBER Working Paper, May 2011
Abstract:
We investigate short and long-term effects of early childhood education using variation created by a unique policy experiment in British Columbia, Canada. Our findings imply starting Kindergarten one year late substantially reduces the probability of repeating the third grade, and meaningfully increases in tenth grade math and reading scores. Effects are highest for low income students and males. Estimates suggest that entering kindergarten early may have a detrimental effect on future outcomes.
--------------------
What determines the return to education: An extra year or a hurdle cleared?
Matt Dickson & Sarah Smith
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
The 1973 Raising of the School Leaving Age from 15 to 16 has been used to identify returns to years' schooling. However, because the first set of "high stakes" exams are taken in the UK at age 16, the reform affected the proportion with qualifications, as well as schooling length. In order to shed light on whether the returns reflect the extra length of schooling or the increase in qualifications, we exploit another institutional rule-the Easter Leaving Rule-which we argue only affected the probability of obtaining qualifications (and not the length of schooling). We find sizeable returns to academic qualifications-increasing the probability of employment by 40 percentage points-and our results suggest that qualifications drive most of the returns to education.
--------------------
Class Reproduction by Four Year Olds
Jessi Streib
Qualitative Sociology, June 2011, Pages 337-352
Abstract:
While scholars know that young children are active if inadvertent participants in social reproduction, little has been said about how young children engage in class reproduction. Through observing in a preschool classroom with a class diverse student body, I show that preschoolers are already class actors, performing class through their linguistic styles. Upper-middle-class children speak, interrupt, ask for help, and argue more often than working-class children. Upper-middle-class children's classed linguistic style effectively silences working-class students, gives them less power, and allows them fewer opportunities to develop their language skills. The children's linguistic class performances have immediate consequences and potential future implications for class reproduction.
--------------------
Ran Abramitzky & Victor Lavy
NBER Working Paper, May 2011
Abstract:
This paper uses a novel dataset to test the important theoretical prediction that the level of investment in schooling is increasing in the rate of return to education. We exploit a unique episode where different Israeli kibbutzim shifted from equal sharing to productivity-based wages in different years, resulting in sharp increases in the return to education. We use a difference-in-differences approach comparing educational outcomes of high school students in kibbutzim that reformed early (the treatment group) and late (the control group), before and after the early reforms (but before the late reforms). The treatment group is shown to be nearly identical to the control group in observable characteristics and pre-reform mean outcomes. We find that students in kibbutzim that reformed early increased their investment in education, as reflected by outcomes such as whether they graduated high school and their average matriculation scores. This effect is stronger for males, and is mainly driven by students whose parents have lower levels of education. It is also stronger for students in kibbutzim that reformed to a greater degree. We use various falsification tests to support our identification strategy and to show that our results are not driven by other factors such as differential time trends or differential exit rates. Our findings support the prediction that education is highly responsive to changes in returns, especially for students from weaker backgrounds.
--------------------
Suing for your supper? Resource allocation, teacher compensation and finance lawsuits
David Sims
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite a large literature examining the effect of litigation on education finance and student achievement, there is relatively little recent evidence about how extra resources generated by litigation are spent. This paper uses national data to examine the effects of high court finance rulings from 1991-2002 on school districts' education spending: including the categories of capital, plant, and support expenses as well as the teacher wage bill. It also decomposes the latter change into a quantity effect from teacher hiring and a price effect due to increased wages. I find that the largest spending increase comes from salary increases to teachers, with other large increases for hiring more instructors and increasing support spending. Further evidence suggests that the higher salaries are manifest more in an increased experience premium rather than higher salaries for new teacher hires. This evidence helps rationalize the role teachers unions play in supporting, and sometimes originating finance lawsuits.
--------------------
Gregory Price, William Spriggs & Omari Swinton
Review of Black Political Economy, June 2011, Pages 103-130
Abstract:
This paper considers the returns to earning a baccalaureate degree from a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) relative to a non-HBCU for black Americans. With data from the National Survey of Black Americans, we use propensity score matching estimators to estimate the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU on direct labor market outcomes, and on psychological outcomes that indirectly increase wages. We find that the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU relative to a non-HBCU is positive with respect to labor market and psychological outcomes across three decades. As our direct labor market outcome measure reflects permanent earnings, our results suggest that as HBCUs afford graduates relatively superior long-run returns they continue to have a compelling educational justification, as the labor market outcomes of their graduates are superior to what they would have been had they graduated from a non-HBCU.
--------------------
Heterogeneity in Schooling Rates of Return
Daniel Henderson, Solomon Polachek & Le Wang
Economics of Education Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper relaxes the assumption of homogeneous rates of return to schooling by employing nonparametric kernel regression. This approach allows us to examine the differences in rates of return to education both across and within groups. Similar to previous studies we find that on average blacks have higher returns to education than whites, natives have higher returns than immigrants and younger workers have higher returns than older workers. Contrary to previous studies we find that the average gap of the rate of return between white and black workers is larger than previously thought and the gap is smaller between immigrants and natives. We also uncover significant heterogeneity, the extent of which differs both across and within groups. Finally, we uncover the characteristics common amongst those with the smallest and largest returns to education.