The Right School
What Works and For Whom? Effectiveness and Efficiency of School Capital Investments Across The U.S.
Barbara Biasi, Julien Lafortune & David Schönholzer
NBER Working Paper, January 2024
Abstract:
This paper identifies which investments in school facilities help students and are valued by homeowners. Using novel data on school district bonds, test scores, and house prices for 29 U.S. states and a research design that exploits close elections with staggered timing, we show that increased school capital spending raises test scores and house prices on average. However, impacts differ vastly across types of funded projects. Spending on basic infrastructure (such as HVAC) or on the removal of pollutants raises test scores but not house prices; conversely, spending on athletic facilities raises house prices but not test scores. Socio-economically disadvantaged districts benefit more from capital outlays, even conditioning on project type and the existing capital stock. Our estimates suggest that closing the spending gap between high- and low-SES districts and targeting spending towards high-impact projects may close as much as 25% of the observed achievement gap between these districts.
Making the grade: The effect of teacher grading standards on student outcomes
Seth Gershenson, Stephen Holt & Adam Tyner
Contemporary Economic Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
One mechanism by which teachers might affect student learning is through the grading standards they set for their classrooms. However, the effects of grading standards on student outcomes are understudied. Using administrative data that links individual students and teachers in Algebra I classrooms from 2006 to 2016, we examine the effects of teachers' grading standards on student learning and attendance. High teacher grading standards increase both contemporaneous student achievement in Algebra I and performance in subsequent math classes. Heterogeneity analyses find that these impacts are positive and similar in size for students of different backgrounds, aptitudes, and school contexts.
Using National Data to Understand the Contextual Factors and Negative Experiences that Explain Racial Differences in the School Misbehavior of Ninth Grade Boys and Girls
CJ Appleton, Dara Shifrer & Cesar Rebellon
Journal of Early Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
The literature linking adulthood criminality to cumulative disadvantage and early school misbehavior demonstrates that understanding the mechanisms underlying student behavior and the responses of teachers and administrators is crucial in comprehending racial/ethnic disparities in actual or perceived school misbehavior. We use data on 19,160 ninth graders from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to show that boys’ and girls’ negative achievement and negative experiences with teachers relate more closely to school misbehavior than the contextual measures (e.g., negative peer climate, proportion Black) that have often been emphasized as most salient for misbehavior. Differences in negative achievement and experiences completely explain Black boys’, Latinx boys’, and Black girls’ heightened levels of school misbehavior relative to White youth, and Asian boys’ and girls’ lower levels of school misbehavior. In contrast, differences in negative achievement and experiences only partially explain Latinx girls’ higher levels of school misbehavior relative to White girls.
A Scalable Approach to High-Impact Tutoring for Young Readers: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Kalena Cortes et al.
NBER Working Paper, January 2024
Abstract:
This paper presents the results from a randomized controlled trial of Chapter One, an early elementary reading tutoring program that embeds part-time tutors into the classroom to provide short bursts of 1:1 instruction. Eligible kindergarten students were randomly assigned to receive supplementary tutoring during the 2021-22 school year (N=818). The study occurred in a large Southeastern district serving predominantly Black and Hispanic students. Students assigned to the program were over two times more likely to reach the program’s target reading level by the end of kindergarten (70% vs. 32%). The results were largely homogenous across student populations and extended to district-administered assessments. These findings provide promising evidence of an affordable and sustainable approach for delivering personalized reading tutoring at scale.
High Schools Tailored To Adults Can Help Them Complete a Traditional Diploma and Excel in the Labor Market
Rebecca Brough, David Phillips & Patrick Turner
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
More than 18 million adults in the US have no high school credential. Later on, these adults are less likely to earn full diplomas than GEDs, but diplomas are potentially more valuable. A network of high schools helps adults graduate by providing a tailored curriculum, coaching for non-academic barriers, onsite child care, and transportation. After 5 years, earnings increase by 38% more for graduates than applicants who do not enroll. We address selection by conditioning on 5 years of pre-application earnings and comparing to students who exit after positive shocks. Much of the wage gains can be accounted for by sectoral switching, and evidence on completion of credentials is consistent with a human capital explanation for the results.
Why college majors and selectivity matter: Major groupings, occupation specificity, and job skills
Deborah Weiss et al.
Contemporary Economic Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
We provide new approaches to examining the returns to college majors and institutional selectivity. Using unique resume data, we devise new groupings of majors and use these to construct five measures that characterize majors. Applying these measures to the National Survey of College Graduates, we find that majors that lead to jobs that are math-intensive or writing-intensive have higher earnings and also a higher return to selectivity. Majors that are occupationally specific also have higher earnings but have a lower return to institutional selectivity. We find that the value of selectivity relative to major increases as selectivity rises.
Wages, Talent, and Demand for NCAA Sport After the Alston v. NCAA Antitrust Case
Shane Sanders
Journal of Sports Economics, February 2024, Pages 169-185
Abstract:
From the “landmark” Alston v. NCAA antitrust decision, we examine whether the legally hypothesized fan wage-repugnance effect implies procompetitive benefits in NCAA sports output markets via increased output demand from student-athlete wage restriction. In Alston v. NCAA, the Courts took this benefit as given but failed to recognize the empirically-verified relationship between league talent and fan demand. We assume a legally-hypothesized wage-repugnance line exists and present a theoretical output-demand model functionally dependent upon allocations in a wage-constrained labor-input market. Even given fan repugnance, wage restrictions do not necessarily generate procompetitive benefits. For families of model parameterizations, wage restrictions impose anticompetitive harm.
Dynamic Decision-Making under Rolling Admissions: Evidence from US Law School Applications
Yao Luo & Yu Wang
Journal of Law and Economics, August 2023, Pages 433–463
Abstract:
Admission processes in many higher-education markets are inherently dynamic. We study the timing of students’ applications and schools’ admissions under rolling admissions using unique data on US law schools. Our results show that law schools employ nonstationary admission standards within application cycles: applications submitted earlier enjoy a considerable advantage relative to later applications.
The Effects of Marijuana Legalization on NCAA Men's Basketball Recruiting
Brent Evans, Christopher Clark & Joshua Pitts
Journal of Sports Economics, February 2024, Pages 200-216
Abstract:
Over the past two decades, attitudes toward marijuana usage have softened. This shift in sentiment coincided with reduced punishments, decriminalization, and in some states, legalization. We find evidence of unexpected consequences of marijuana legalization. Using difference-in-difference estimation, we show that legalization correlates with recruiting outcomes in NCAA D1 sports. Specifically, legalization appears to improve basketball recruiting outcomes for in-state colleges but hurts recruiting outcomes for football programs. Since collegiate athletics are directly correlated with revenues and may affect the number of general applications that a university receives, our results reveal a channel through which marijuana laws could impact post-secondary education.