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2. Graduation of High School Students in British Columbia from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019: A Focus on Special Needs Status. Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series. Catalogue No. 11F0019M. No. 476
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Statistics Canada, Allison Leanage, and Rubab Arim
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Using British Columbia Ministry of Education administrative school data within the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform, this study compared the proportions of high school graduates among Grade 12 students with and without special needs across nine cohorts from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019 before and after controlling for several sociodemographic characteristics. Two major strengths of this study were the use of longitudinal administrative education data integrated with income tax data from the T1 Family File and the further disaggregation of the special education needs categorization. Students with special needs in all different categories (excluding those with gifted status) were less likely to have graduated across all nine cohorts compared with students without special needs, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and academic achievement, suggesting that students with special needs may face other types of barriers in completing high school. Yet there was diversity among students with special needs, with the highest proportions of graduation among students with learning disabilities or those with sensory needs and the lowest among students with intellectual disabilities. A larger share of females than males graduated high school among students without special needs. However, sex differences were less consistent among students with special needs status (including students with gifted status). As expected, the proportions of graduation were significantly higher at age 19 compared with at age 18 or younger, with the differences being slightly higher among students with special needs (excluding those with gifted status; 5 to 10 percentage points) compared with those without special needs (3 to 7 percentage points). The largest age differences were observed among students with autism spectrum disorder, behavioural needs or mental illness, and those with physical needs across all nine cohorts.
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- 2024
3. Departmentalized Instruction and Elementary School Effectiveness. Working Paper No. 298-0424
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Ben Backes, James Cowan, and Dan Goldhaber
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Departmentalized instruction, in which teachers specialize in one or more core subjects and instruct multiple groups of students in a day, has become increasingly prominent in elementary schools. Using 8 years of data from Massachusetts and a difference-in-differences design, we estimate the effects of departmentalization on student achievement. We find that departmentalization has positive effects in English language arts (ELA) and science and mixed evidence of positive effects in math. These positive effects are not driven by teacher productivity improvements: Consistent with prior findings on teacher specialization, teachers are less effective when specializing in math and no more effective in ELA than when teaching self-contained classrooms. Rather, consistent with the theoretical underpinnings for specialization, departmentalized schools tend to assign teachers to their stronger subjects.
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- 2024
4. Shaping the STEM Teacher Workforce: What University Faculty Value about Teacher Applicants. Working Paper No. 295-0324
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Dan Goldhaber, Roddy Theobald, Amy Roth McDuffie, David Slavit, Jennifer Dechaine-Berkas, John M. Krieg, and Emma Dewil
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Who ends up in the teacher workforce is greatly influenced by who is admitted into teacher education programs (TEPs). To better understand how the preferences of teacher education faculty might shape admissions of STEM teacher candidates, we surveyed faculty who teach content or methods courses to STEM teacher candidates across five universities. Faculty reported that they most value information collected from individual interviews with applicants and data on the number of STEM courses taken in college and their performance in these courses, and least value data on university admissions tests, high school GPA, and teacher licensure test scores. When we investigate faculty members' revealed preferences through a conjoint analysis, we find that faculty most value applicants who have worked with students from diverse backgrounds and applicants from a marginalized racial or ethnic community, and least value whether they received high grades in math and/or science courses. Finally, we find significant variation in these perceptions across respondents in different faculty roles, who teach different courses, and from different institutions: for example, Arts and Sciences faculty tend to value TEP applicants' performance in college STEM courses relatively more than STEM education faculty, while STEM education faculty tend to value applicants' race and ethnicity relatively more than Arts and Sciences faculty.
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- 2024
5. MCAS, NAEP, and Educational Accountability. White Paper No. 266
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Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and Cara Candal
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In 1993, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts dramatically overhauled its K-12 education system and created a new school finance formula, building an educational accountability structure to ensure every child has access to a high-quality education. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) established academic standards in core subjects, mandated assessments to measure student outcomes on those standards, and established a system for holding schools accountable when students failed to meet basic expectations. This system has helped Massachusetts' public schools become the highest performing in the country. Student outcomes in all tested subjects and across demographic groups have improved steadily over time, but disparities in achievement and attainment exist between the Commonwealth's most privileged students and their less privileged counterparts, many of whom are black or Hispanic. Without the MERA and its requirement to assess every student and publish aggregate academic outcomes, policymakers may not understand the extent of disparity or how to address it as student outcomes data are integral to understanding where Massachusetts' public schools have been, where they are going, and how they can get there. This paper illustrates the importance of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act and how it has positively impacted students over time. It explains why the current accountability system evolved as it did and why preserving the most important aspects of that system is critical if the state is going to fulfill its constitutional obligation to educate all children to a high common standard.
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- 2024
6. Analysis of an In-School Mental Health Services Model for K-12 Students Requiring Intensive Clinical Support: A White Paper Report on Tier 3 School-Based Mental Health Programming
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Dettmer, Amanda M.
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Emotional, behavioral, and mental health challenges make it difficult for many children and adolescents to engage and succeed at school. Research indicates that at least 20% of all children and adolescents have been diagnosed with one more mental health disorders. Behavioral problems, anxiety, and depression are the most diagnosed mental health issues, and they often co-occur. Moreover, these conditions are being diagnosed at increasingly younger ages. In the past several years there has been a rise in the number of adolescents and young adults with serious mental health issues such as major depression and suicidal ideation, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health problems for children and adolescents. Schools offer promise for providing intensive clinical support to the most at-risk students, and schools are necessary environment to explore the implementation of multi-modal youth mental health services. This paper provides an analysis of an intensive, in-school mental health services model developed and implemented by Effective School Solutions (ESS), a New Jersey based provider of high acuity school based mental health services for K-12 students. We analyze this multi-modal model for its effectiveness in improving educational outcomes for over 3,000 students identified as requiring intensive clinical mental health support across the 2021-22 school year. This analysis reveals that those students receiving High- versus Low-fidelity programming (i.e., multiple sessions per week for at least half of the school year versus for less than half of the school year) had better educational outcomes. Students receiving High-fidelity programming had greater improvements in grade point average (GPA) and greater reductions in absences across the school year. A higher number of in-school clinical sessions per week significantly predicted a greater increase in GPA and a greater reduction in total disciplinary incidents (including out of school suspensions) across the school year. This report provides initial promising evidence that in-school intensive mental health clinical services yield positive effects on students' educational outcomes. Though future research is needed to validate and extend these findings, schools may consider implementing such services onsite to meet students where they are and to optimize students' mental, behavioral, and educational well-being. [This white paper report was published by the Yale Child Study Center."]
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- 2023
7. Examining Racial (In)Equity in School-Closure Patterns in California. Working Paper
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Stanford University, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), Pearman, Francis A., II, Luong, Camille, and Greene, Danielle Marie
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This study investigates racial disparities in school closures both within California and nationally. Findings highlight an alarming pattern: Schools enrolling higher proportions of Black students are at significantly increased risk of closure relative to those enrolling fewer Black students, a pattern that is more pronounced in California than elsewhere in the United States. This study also finds that conventional explanations for school closures--such as declining enrollments, poverty rates, and achievement differences--cannot fully account for why schools enrolling larger shares of Black students have greater odds of closure. These findings underscore that school closures in California and elsewhere reflect racial inequalities that require adequate policymaking to ensure equitable and fair school-closure proceedings
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- 2023
8. Every Student Is Not Succeeding: ESSA, Titles I-IV, & Religious School Students. White Paper No. 262
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Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, Olson, Tom, Hellman, Ariella, and Fleming, Russell
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As the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides to public and private school students and schools wide-ranging academic and educational supports. This paper provides a historical review of: (1) the federal government's role in education; (2) the creation and passage of ESEA; and (3) ESEA's subsequent development and reauthorizations. The authors next describe ESEA's application to parentally placed private school students. The law makes it clear that private school students are to participate equitably in the benefits that ESEA confers. Upon identifying and describing the challenges to this equitable participation that private school students and stakeholders have faced under ESEA's most recent reauthorization (ESSA), the authors conclude by offering concrete recommendations on how ESEA's next reauthorization can effectively address these challenges.
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- 2023
9. The State of Things: Tracking BPS's Road to Improvement, 2022-23. White Paper No. 261
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Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and Candal, Cara Stillings
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In Spring 2022, Pioneer Institute published "The Boston Publics Schools' Road to Receivership," which detailed the findings of the 2019 state-commissioned, third-party report evaluating outcomes and operations in the Boston Public Schools (BPS). The report was scathing, citing years of declining enrollment, low test scores, financial mismanagement, and poor oversight and support of schools. When schools reopened in 2022 following the pandemic, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and other advocates for change publicly revisited the report's findings and opted to strengthen and renew an agreement with BPS that details the improvements the district needs to make and how the state will support its efforts. This article details aspects of the 2022 report in the context of news reports about the BPS and uncovers progress that has been made and has yet to be made on key issues. It concludes with broad recommendations for state and district action pertaining to some of the report's key findings. [For related report, "The Boston Public Schools' Road to Receivership. White Paper No. 247," see ED617699.]
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- 2023
10. The Impact of Learning Disabilities on Children and Parental Outcomes: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Working Papers. No. 23-7
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Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Rachel Cummings, and María José Luengo-Prado
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We document the characteristics of children and young adults identified in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics as having a learning disability and study whether legislative changes in diagnosis criteria have had a noticeable effect determining who receives a diagnosis. We further document that children and young adults identified as a having a learning disability experience less desirable outcomes early in life, including trouble with the police, drug use, violent behavior, incarceration, self-reported low levels of well-being, lower educational attainment, and less favorable labor market outcomes. We also find that the mothers of children diagnosed with learning disabilities are less likely than other mothers to participate in the labor market.
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- 2023
11. Student Engagement in a Brazilian Research University. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.3.2023
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University of California, Berkeley. Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), Carneiro, Ana Maria, and Fior, Camila
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Research universities enable students to have a unique learning environment and other experiences. This article aims to analyze student engagement in one research university in Brazil, the effects of student socioeconomic and academic characteristics and their associations with university structures (curriculum), and student trajectories. The data comes from the Student Experience in the Research University, an international survey administered in 2012 at the University of Campinas and longitudinal academic registers. The study used both Principal Component Analysis and also Multiple Linear Regression Models. Five modes of engagement were found: two related to curricular engagement (engagement with faculty and engagement outside the classroom), social and leisure engagement, curricular disengagement and co-curricular engagement. The main effects are associated with the disciplines. Regarding student trajectories, there was a negative association between academic engagement and dropout students and those still enrolled seven years after the survey application. The results align with other studies that associate disciplines with student engagement and student engagement with student success.
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- 2023
12. Scholastic Home Libraries. Topic Paper
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Scholastic Inc.
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This paper documents the impact of home libraries on academic achievement, economic success, and health. It summarizes research that shows how children without access to reading materials at home are more likely to suffer learning losses when out of school and how home libraries are one of schools' and communities' best tools to combat learning loss. In sum, the paper illustrates the importance of creating a literacy-rich home environment for all children and outlines the essential components of a student home library--a tangible, cost-effective way to afford every child access to a bright, successful future. [This report was prepared by Scholastic Research & Validation.]
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- 2023
13. The Transformative Ten: Instructional Strategies Learned from High-Growth Schools. White Paper
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NWEA and Nordengren, Chase
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This paper describes high quality teaching practices in two schools that produce exceptional growth for all kinds of students. These practices focus on making the most of instructional time and exposing students to high quality content in a variety of contexts. They prove teachers don't need to choose between differentiating to meet students' needs and giving them access to grade-level learning.
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- 2023
14. How to Measure a Teacher: The Influence of Test and Nontest Value-Added on Long-Run Student Outcomes. Working Paper No. 270-0423-2
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Backes, Ben, Cowan, James, Goldhaber, Dan, and Theobald, Roddy
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This paper examines how different measures of teacher quality are related to students' long-run educational trajectories. We estimate teachers' "test-based" and "nontest" value-added (the latter based on contributions to student absences, suspensions, grade progression, and grades) and assess how these predict various student postsecondary outcomes. We find that both types of value-added have positive effects on student outcomes. Test-based teacher quality measures have more explanatory power for outcomes relevant for students at the top of the achievement distribution, such as attending a more selective college, while nontest measures have more explanatory power for whether students enroll in college at all.
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- 2023
15. Does Regulating Entry Requirements Lead to More Effective Principals? Working Paper No. 213-0323-2
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR), Austin, Wes, Chen, Bingjie, Goldhaber, Dan, Hanushek, Eric, Holden, Kris, Koedel, Cory, Ladd, Helen, Luo, Jin, Parsons, Eric, Phelan, Gregory, Rivkin, Steven, Sass, Tim, and Turaeva, Mavzuna
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Anecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to investigate both variations in principal performance and the relationship between effectiveness and key certification factors. While principal effectiveness varies widely across states, there is little indication that regulation of the background and training of principals yields consistently effective performance. Having prior teaching or management experience is not related to our estimates of principal value-added.
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- 2023
16. Are Connections the Way to Get Ahead? Social Capital, Student Achievement, Friendships, and Social Mobility. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 23-01
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG), Peterson, Paul E., Dills, Angela K., and Shakeel, M. Danish
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Chetty et al. (2022) say county density of cross-class friendships (referred to here as "adult-bridging capital") has causal impacts on social mobility within the United States. We instead find that social mobility rates are a function of county density of family capital (higher marriage rates and two-person households), community capital (community organizations, religious congregations, and volunteering), and mean student achievement in grades 3-8. Our models use similar multiple regression equations and the same variables employed by Chetty et al. but also include state fixed effects, student achievement, and family, community, schoolbridging (cross-class high school friendships), and political (participation and institutional trust) capital. School-bridging capital is weakly correlated with mobility if adult-bridging is excluded from the model. R-squared barely changes when adult-bridging is incorporated into the model. When it is included, mobility continues to be significantly correlated with the achievement, family, and community variables but not with school-bridging and political ones. We infer that county mobility rates are largely shaped by parental presence, community life, and student achievement. To enhance mobility, public policy needs to enhance the lives of disadvantaged people at home, in school, and in communities, not just the social class of their friendships.
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- 2023
17. Academic Mobility in U.S. Public Schools: Evidence from Nearly 3 Million Students. Working Paper No. 227-0323-3
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Austin, Wes, Figlio, David, Goldhaber, Dan, Hanushek, Eric, Kilbride, Tara, Koedel, Cory, Lee, Jaeseok Sean, Luo, Jin, Ozek, Umut, Parsons, Eric, Rivkin, Steven, Sass, Tim, and Strunk, Katharine
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We use administrative panel data from seven states covering nearly 3 million students to document and explore variation in "academic mobility," a term we use to describe the extent to which students' ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their public schooling careers. On average, we show that student ranks are highly persistent during elementary and secondary education--that is, academic mobility is limited in U.S. schools as a whole. Still, there is non-negligible variation in the degree of upward mobility across some student subgroups as well as individual school districts. On average, districts that exhibit the greatest upward academic mobility serve more socioeconomically advantaged populations and have higher value-added to student achievement.
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- 2023
18. The Effects of Comprehensive Educator Evaluation and Pay Reform on Achievement. Working Paper No. 281-0323
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Hanushek, Eric, Luo, Jin, Morgan, Andrew, Nguyen, Minh, Ost, Ben, Rivkin, Steven, and Shakeel, Ayman
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A fundamental question for education policy is whether outcomes-based accountability including comprehensive educator evaluations and a closer relationship between effectiveness and compensation improves the quality of instruction and raises achievement. We use synthetic control methods to study the comprehensive teacher and principal evaluation and compensation systems introduced in the Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) in 2013 for principals and 2015 for teachers. Under this far-reaching reform, educator evaluations that are used to support teacher growth and determine salary depend on a combination of supervisor evaluations, student achievement, and student or family survey responses. The reform replaced salary scales based on experience and educational attainment with those based on evaluation scores, a radical departure from decades of rigid salary schedules. The synthetic control estimates reveal positive and significant effects of the reforms on math and reading achievement that increase over time. From 2015 through 2019, the average achievement for the synthetic control district fluctuates narrowly between -0.27 s.d. and -0.3 s.d., while the Dallas ISD average increases steadily from -0.28 s.d. in 2015 to -0.08 s.d. in 2019, the final year of the sample. Though the increase for reading is roughly half as large, it is also highly significant. [This research was supported by grants from the CALDER Research Network.]
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- 2023
19. Cognitive and Socioemotional Skills in Low-Income Countries: Measurement and Associations with Schooling and Earning. Policy Research Working Paper 10309
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World Bank, Development Research Group, Danon, Alice, Das, Jishnu, de Barros, Andreas, and Filmer, Deon
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This paper assesses the reliability and validity of cognitive and socioemotional skills measures and investigates the correlation between schooling, skills acquisition, and labor earnings. The primary data from Pakistan incorporates two innovations related to measurement and sampling. On measurement, the paper develops and implements a battery of instruments intended to capture cognitive and socioemotional skills among young adults. On sampling, the paper uses a panel that follows respondents from their original rural locations in 2003 to their residences in 2018, a period over which 38 percent of the respondents left their native villages. In terms of their validity and reliability, our skills measures compare favorably to previous measurement attempts in low- and middle-income countries. The following are documented in the data: (a) more years of schooling are correlated with higher cognitive and socioemotional skills; (b) labor earnings are correlated with cognitive and socioemotional skills as well as years of schooling; and (c) the earnings-skills correlations depend on respondents' migration status. The magnitudes of the correlations between schooling and skills on the one hand and earnings and skills on the other are consistent with a widespread concern that such skills are under-produced in the schooling system. [This report was prepared by the World Bank Group's Development Research Group, Development Economics. Funding was provided by RISE and World Bank's Strategic Research Program Fund.]
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- 2023
20. School Qualifications and Youth Custody. Occasional Paper. No.57
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Machin, Stephen, McNally, Sandra, and Ruiz-Valenzuela, Jenifer
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A very small number of young people enter youth custody between age 16 and 18 (about 4 in 1000 males), yet the consequences are severe. They spend an average of 7 months in youth custody and such incarceration has been related to negative outcomes in the longer term even if they can establish themselves in the labour market. In this paper, we evaluate whether there is a relationship between GCSE qualifications in English and maths and the probability of youth custody using administrative data in England. We are hindered in this because the majority of young people who end up in youth custody are not entered or fail their GCSEs in these subjects. Although regression results are consistent with educational achievement being a factor in why people end up in youth custody, they strongly suggest that both non-entry/low achievement and youth custody are correlated with severe vulnerabilities which are partially picked up by the explanatory variables available in administrative data (in particular indicators for special needs, disadvantage and being from some ethnic minority groups). Another interesting insight is that for many, problems only emerge (or at least become evident) in early or middle adolescence. [This paper forms part of a larger project funded by the Nuffield Foundation "Youth custody: Educational influences and labour market consequences."]
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- 2023
21. Persistent Teach for America Effects on Student Test and Non-Test Academic Outcomes. Working Paper No. 277-0123
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Backes, Ben, and Hansen, Michael
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This paper examines the impact of Teach For America (TFA) on following-year student test and non-test outcomes in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This paper measures the extent to which exposure to TFA is followed by improved student outcomes in the future. In particular, this paper measures days missed due to absences or suspensions, course grades in each core subject, and progression in math courses. We find that students taught by TFA math teachers go on to have higher grades in math courses in the following year and are less likely to miss school due to being absent or suspended. However, while students in TFA classrooms score higher on math and ELA assessments in a given year, these test score gains fade out by the following year.
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- 2023
22. Are Online and Paper Tests Comparable? Evidence from Statewide K-12 Tests
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Ben Backes and James Cowan
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We investigate two research questions using a recent statewide transition from paper to computer-based testing: first, the extent to which test mode effects found in prior studies can be eliminated in large-scale administration; and second, the degree to which online and paper assessments offer different information about underlying student ability. In contrast to the first test transition in Massachusetts, we find very small mode effects for a more recent transition, which may be attributable to an additional step matching on observable characteristics in the equating process. Second, we investigate the predictive evidence of validity for paper and online tests for predictions of future test scores and grades. We generally find minimal differences for the extent to which scores on paper tests can differentially predict future online versus paper test scores. Finally, online and paper test scores are similarly predictive of future grade point average. We conclude that the online test penalty can vary substantially by test and that extreme care should be taken when administering online tests to some students and paper tests to others.
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- 2024
- Full Text
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23. Students with Disabilities in AICE English General Paper Course: Effects of Academic Ability on Student Success
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Sara Faye Vogel Curry
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This study investigated the impact of AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education) English General Paper courses on the academic progress of 10th-grade students with disabilities, specifically their performance in Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) scores. The primary objective was to examine the correlation between ninth-grade FSA scores and 10th-grade AICE English General Paper scores among students with disabilities. The research sample included 67 students from a large public high school in Southern Florida, all with either Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans. A correlational quantitative approach was utilized to analyze the relationship between FSA and AICE scores. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between ninth-grade FSA scores and 10th-grade AICE English General Paper scores, indicating that students with higher FSA scores tend to perform better in AICE courses. The study holds implications for future studies and policy enhancements aimed at improving the educational experiences of students with disabilities in advanced coursework. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
24. Emotion, Cognitive Load and Learning Achievement of Students Using E-Textbooks with/without Emotional Design and Paper Textbooks
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Chi-Cheng Chang and Tseng-Chuan Chen
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This study aims to explore how e-textbooks with emotional design affect students' emotion, cognitive load and learning achievement. There were 147 freshman students in total: the experimental group I, II and control group consisted of 49, 47 and 51 students, using e-textbooks with emotional design, without emotional design and traditional paper textbooks. The results reveal the following: Students' emotion after using e-textbooks with emotional design is more positive than those using e-textbooks without emotional design and paper textbooks. Students' cognitive load after using e-textbooks with emotional design is significantly lower than those using etextbooks without emotional design. Students' learning achievement after using two types of e-textbooks is better than after using paper textbooks. Comparing all types of textbooks altogether, emotion has a significantly positive correlation with learning achievement, and both emotion and learnng achievement are significantly and negatively correlated with cognitive load. For the three types of textbooks, the relationship between emotion and learning achievement all becomes not significantly correlated. For two types of e-textbooks, cognitive load and learning achievement become not significantly correlated, disturbed by the digitalization of textbooks. Instructors are suggested to firstly adopt e-textbooks with emotional design, those without emotional design secondly, and paper textbooks rank last.
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- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. Are Online and Paper Tests Comparable? Evidence from Statewide K-12 Tests
- Author
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Ben Backes and James Cowan
- Abstract
We investigate two research questions using a recent statewide transition from paper to computer-based testing: first, the extent to which test mode effects found in prior studies can be eliminated; and second, the degree to which online and paper assessments offer different information about underlying student ability. We first find very small mode effects for a more recent transition in Massachusetts. Second, we investigate the predictive evidence of validity for paper and online tests for predictions of future test scores and grades. We generally find minimal differences for the extent to which scores on paper tests can differentially predict future online versus paper test scores. Finally, online and paper test scores are similarly predictive of future grade point average. We conclude that the online test penalty can vary substantially by test and that extreme care should be taken when administering online tests to some students and paper tests to others.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
26. Long-Lived Consequences of Rapid Scale-Up? The Case of Free Primary Education in Six Sub-Saharan African Countries. Policy Research Working Paper 10310
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World Bank, Development Research Group and Filmer, Deon
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Across six Sub-Saharan African countries, grade 4 students of teachers who were hired after a free primary education reform perform worse, on average, on language and math tests--statistically significantly so in language--than students of teachers who were hired before the reform. Teachers who were hired just after the reform also perform worse, on average, on tests of subject content knowledge than those hired before the reform. The results are sensitive to the time frames considered in the analysis, and aggregate results mask substantial variation across countries--gaps are large and significant in some countries but negligible in others. Analysis of teacher demographic and education characteristics--including education level or teacher certification--as well as teacher classroom-level behaviors reveals few systematic differences associated with being hired pre- or post-reform. [Additional support for the working paper from the Research in Improving Systems of Education (RISE) (United Kingdom) and the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP) Trust Fund.]
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- 2023
27. Effect of Homework on Academic Achievement: On-Line Compared to Traditional Pen and Paper
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Kirkham, Ross and Laing, Gregory K.
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This is a longitudinal study to investigate whether there is a correlation between the methods for completion of homework and the incentive levels with academic achievement. The method adopted in this study is the t-test statistical analysis to assess the relationship between the use of compulsory homework on achievement and the influence of intervening and moderating variables. The findings are as follows -- Cohort 1 which completed homework in the traditional pen and paper style (with a mean of 13.278) performed better than the Cohort 2 which completed homework online They also performed better than Cohort 2 which completed homework online (with a mean of 11.851). Cohort 3 that had no incentive and subsequently no compulsion to do the homework (with a mean of 11.851) performed better than Cohort 2 which completed homework online (with a mean of 9.658).
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- 2023
28. Autonomous Schools, Achievement and Segregation. Discussion Paper No. 1968
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Natalie Irmert, Jan Bietenbeck, Linn Mattisson, and Felix Weinhardt
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We study whether autonomous schools, which are publicly funded but can operate more independently than government-run schools, affect student achievement and school segregation across 15 countries over 16 years. Our triple-differences regressions exploit between-grade variation in the share of students attending autonomous schools within a given country and year. While autonomous schools do not affect overall achievement, effects are positive for high-socioeconomic status students and negative for immigrants. Impacts on segregation mirror these findings, with evidence of increased segregation by socioeconomic and immigrant status. Rather than creating "a rising tide that lifts all boats," autonomous schools increase inequality
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- 2023
29. Do Role Models Matter in Large Classes? New Evidence on Gender Match Effects in Higher Education. Discussion Paper. No. 1896
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Maurer, Stephan, Schwerdt, Guido, and Wiederhold, Simon
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We study whether female students benefit from being taught by female professors, and whether such gender match effects differ by class size. We use administrative records of a German public university, covering all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018. We find that gender match effects on student performance are sizable in smaller classes, but do not exist in larger classes. This difference suggests that direct and frequent interactions between students and professors are important for the emergence of gender match effects. Instead, the mere fact that one's professor is female is not sufficient to increase performance of female students.
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- 2023
30. A Tale of Two City Schools: Worcester Tech and Putnam Academy Become Models for Recovery. White Paper No. 254
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Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research and Donovan, William
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This report focuses highlights turnarounds at two Massachusetts schools, Worcester Technical High School and the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy in Springfield, that were once known for high dropout rates and low graduation rates. The report shows that these schools now excel due to new leadership, community investment, and committed teachers. The report analyzes how Worcester Tech and Putnam Academy -- schools with high numbers of low-income and special needs students -- leapt from the bottom of Massachusetts voc-tech rankings to become leaders among local schools. The Pioneer paper includes interviews with administrators and presents several recommendations that could help transform struggling voc-tech schools.
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- 2022
31. Teachers and School Climate: Effects on Student Outcomes and Academic Disparities. Working Paper No. 274-1022
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Backes, Ben, Cowan, James, Goldhaber, Dan, and Theobald, Roddy
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Student-teacher relationships are at the core of student experiences in schools and, arguably, fundamental to influencing student outcomes. Using a statewide, student-level school climate survey from Massachusetts, we investigate teachers' contributions to school climate, which we refer to as climate value added (VA), and how it varies by student race/ethnicity. We first show that climate VA contributes to student learning: Teachers whose students report positive feelings about climate also contribute more to student test scores and to an aggregate of nontest student outcomes (student absences, suspensions, and grade progression). And teachers identified by students of color as contributing to better school climate have outsize effects on learning gains for these students. Differences in teachers' climate effects across racial/ethnic groups are largest on topics aligned with cultural competency, school participation, and comfort with faculty. Lastly, we find that Black students assigned to Black teachers report better school climate than Black students assigned to other teachers.
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- 2022
32. Uneven Progress: Recent Trends in Academic Performance among U.S. School Districts. CEPA Working Paper No. 22-02
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Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA), Matheny, Kaylee T., Thompson, Marissa E., Townley-Flores, Carrie, and reardon, sean f.
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We use data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to describe district-level trends in average academic achievement between 2009 and 2019. Though on average school districts' test scores improved very modestly (by about 0.001 SDs/year), there is significant variation among districts. Moreover, we find that average test score disparities between non-poor and poor students and between White and Black students are growing; those between White and Hispanic students are shrinking. We find no evidence of achievement-equity synergies or tradeoffs: Improvements in overall achievement are uncorrelated with trends in achievement disparities. Finally, we find that the strongest predictors of achievement disparity trends are the levels and trends in within-district racial and socioeconomic segregation and changes in differential access to certified teachers.
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- 2022
33. How Well Do Professional Reference Ratings Predict Teacher Performance? Working Paper No. 272-1022
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Goldhaber, Dan, Grout, Cyrus, and Wolff, Malcolm
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Most research about how to improve the teacher workforce has focused on interventions designed to improve incumbent teachers, far less attention has been directed toward teacher hiring processes and whether districts can make better hiring decisions. Using data from Spokane Public Schools and Washington state, we describe the findings from a study analyzing measures of the predictive validity of teacher applicant quality measures obtained from professional references. We find that professional reference ratings of prospective teachers are significantly predictive of teacher quality as measured by inservice performance evaluations and teacher value added in math. These findings are driven by applicants with at least some teaching experience and vary by rater type (e.g., principal or university supervisor); the magnitude of the relationship between the ratings of applicants and teacher performance is much smaller and not statistically significant for applicants that do not have teaching experience. Overall, the evidence suggests that obtaining explicit ratings of teacher applicants from professional references is a low-cost way to contribute to the applicant information available to hiring officials and has potential for improving hiring outcomes.
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- 2022
34. Using Predicted Academic Performance to Identify At-Risk Students in Public Schools. Working Paper No. 261-0922
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Fazlul, Ishtiaque, Koedel, Cory, and Parsons, Eric
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Measures of student disadvantage--or risk--are critical components of equity-focused education policies. However, the risk measures used in contemporary policies have significant limitations, and despite continued advances in data infrastructure and analytic capacity, there has been little innovation in these measures for decades. We develop a new measure of student risk for use in education policies, which we call Predicted Academic Performance (PAP). PAP is a flexible, data-rich indicator that identifies students at risk of poor academic outcomes. It blends concepts from emerging "early warning" systems with principles of incentive design to balance the competing priorities of accurate risk measurement and suitability for policy use. PAP is more effective than common alternatives at identifying students who are at risk of poor academic outcomes and can be used to target resources toward these students--and students who belong to several other associated risk categories--more efficiently.
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- 2022
35. Indicators of Inclusion in Education: A Framework for Analysis. OECD Education Working Papers. No. 300
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Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (France), Directorate for Education and Skills, Cecilia Mezzanotte, and Claire Calvel
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Calls for increased monitoring and evaluation of education policies and practices have not, so far, included widespread and consistent assessments of the inclusiveness of education settings. Measuring inclusion in education has proven to be a challenging exercise, due not only to the complexity and different uses of the concept, but also to its holistic nature. Indeed, measuring inclusion implies analysing a variety of policy areas within education systems, while also considering the different roles of the system, the school and the classroom. This paper discusses the application of the input-process-outcome model to the measurement of inclusion in education, and key indicators that can be adopted by education systems and schools to this end. It makes considerations relevant to policy makers when designing indicators to measure inclusion, such as the extent of their application, the constraints related to data disaggregation and the relevance of intersectional approaches to inclusion.
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- 2023
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36. Are Effective Teachers for Students with Disabilities Effective Teachers for All? Working Paper No. 268-0622
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Wood, W. Jesse, Lai, Ijun, Filosa, Neil R., Imberman, Scott A., Jones, Nathan D., and Strunk, Katharine O.
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The success of many students with disabilities (SWDs) depends on access to high-quality general education teachers. Yet, most measures of teacher value-added measures (VAM) fail to distinguish between a teacher's effectiveness in educating students with and without disabilities. We create two VAM measures: one focusing on teachers' effectiveness in improving outcomes for SWDs, and one for non-SWDs. We find top-performing teachers for non-SWDs often have relatively lower VAMs for SWDs, and that SWDs sort to teachers with lower scores in both VAMs. Overall, SWD-specific VAMs may be more suitable for identifying which teachers have a history of effectiveness with SWDs and could play a role in ensuring that students are being optimally assigned to these teachers.
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- 2022
37. A Comprehensive Picture of Achievement across the COVID-19 Pandemic Years: Examining Variation in Test Levels and Growth across Districts, Schools, Grades, and Students. Working Paper No. 266-0522
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Goldhaber, Dan, Kane, Thomas J., McEachin, Andrew, and Morton, Emily
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In this paper, we use NWEA MAP test data to examine variation in students' achievement and growth during the pandemic across multiple dimensions. Consistent with prior evidence, we find that students' test scores in fall 2021, on average, were substantially below historic averages. Moreover, the average scores of students of color, students attending high poverty schools, and students in elementary school were more negatively impacted, and more so in math than reading. We present novel evidence on the distributions of test scores and growth in fall 2021 relative to pre-pandemic distributions, finding disproportionately larger declines for students with lower previous achievement levels across districts. However, between districts, there was considerable variation in the extent to which their fall 2021 achievement and growth distributions shifted from their historical distributions by subject, student subgroups, and baseline achievement levels. Therefore, accurately targeting students and choosing interventions for pandemic-related recovery will require careful assessment by districts of their students' achievement and growth in the 2021-22 school year (and into the future): assuming that students in a district reflect the national trends of achievement will often lead to incorrect conclusions about the degree to which they suffered pandemic-related learning losses and the amount of support they will need to recover. [This research received funding from the Kenneth C. Griffin Foundation.]
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- 2022
38. Social Policy Gone Bad Educationally: Unintended Peer Effects from Transferred Students. Discussion Paper No. 1851
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Genakos, Christos, and Kyrkopoulou, Eleni
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Policy makers frequently use education as a welfare policy instrument. We examine one such case, where students from large and financially constrained families, were given the opportunity to be transferred to university departments in their hometown as part of the social policy of the Ministry of Education in Greece. Multiple law changes meant that there was a large and quasi-random variability in the number of transferred students over time, which was orthogonal to the quality of receiving students. We construct a novel dataset by linking students' characteristics and pre-university academic performance with their university academic record until graduation for the top economics department. We present consistent evidence showing how a social policy that is meant to help poor families and to alleviate inequalities has gone bad educationally, by lowering the academic performance of receiving students. [This paper was produced as part of the Centre's Education & Skills Programme. Financial support was provided by Drasi II (2019/2020) AUEB.]
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- 2022
39. Going beyond Development: Faculty Professional Learning - An Academic Senate Obligation to Promote Equity-Minded Practices That Improve Instruction and Student Success. Position Paper. Adopted Spring 2021
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Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
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A focus on faculty professional learning, given the challenges that California community colleges and students face, must remain a high priority and continue to evolve. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has long been an advocate for the development of robust professional development policies as part of senate purview under Title 5 §53200, colloquially referred to as the 10+1. Indeed, as student populations within the California community colleges become more diverse, colleges seek to improve student success and close the opportunity gap for marginalized communities. The ASCCC has passed numerous resolutions in support of intentional learning opportunities to address diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism throughout the curriculum and college cultures. Such intentional learning must be a significant component of faculty professional learning and development. The goal and purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of faculty professional learning that is necessary to improve student success as well as the role local academic senates can play in such efforts. The paper will examine the issues from both a philosophical and practical point of view.
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- 2022
40. Equity-Focused Leadership: How School Leaders Can Accelerate Student Learning (and Keep Great Teachers). Closing the Representation Gap: A Series of Papers on Reshaping Educational Leadership for the Future
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New Leaders
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Research confirms that all students, including students of color and their white peers, benefit from seeing diverse teachers and school leaders working together to replace inequitable practices with school cultures anchored in respect, high expectations, and trusting relationships. This kind of leadership also creates the kind of conditions in which high-quality teachers want to stay in their roles, at their schools. School leaders who lead for equity are continuously learning and pushing themselves to grow into more effective change agents. This paper examines five proven equity-focused leadership actions that educators can start implementing in their schools. [For the executive summary of this series, "Closing the Representation Gap: A Series of Papers on Reshaping Educational Leadership for the Future," see ED625674.]
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- 2022
41. Achievement and Growth for English Learners. Working Paper
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NWEA, Center for School and Student Progress and Johnson, Angela
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This study reports achievement and growth from kindergarten to 4th grade for three groups of English Learners (ELs): (a) ever-ELs; (b) ELs consistently eligible for service; and (c) EL and Special Education dually-identified students. All three EL groups had lower test scores than never-ELs throughout K-4. In math, ELs grew more than never-ELs during academic years but lost more during summers. In reading, ELs grew less than never-ELs in K-1 and grew more in later grades, but ELs also lost more during summers. These findings suggest summer support is required to help ELs maintain and develop academic skills.
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- 2022
42. The Impact of Undergraduate Research on Student Outcomes: Examining High Impact Practices in TBR Community Colleges. Iteration 2. Series on Student Engagement and High Impact Practices. TBR Working Papers
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Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), Office of Policy and Strategy, Gorbunov, Alexander, Moreland, Amy, Tingle, Chris, and Deaton, Russ
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We investigate whether student participation in undergraduate research--a high impact practice at TBR community colleges--has an effect on (1) academic performance; (2) probability of graduation, university transfer, and student departure; and (3) time to completion, transfer, and departure. Using enrollment, graduation, and course-taking data on community college students from the Tennessee Board of Regents and National Student Clearinghouse, we track the 2017 freshmen cohort over twelve calendar semesters and examine their exposure to undergraduate research experiences and their key educational outcomes. We generate propensity scores with a machine learning algorithm and use a doubly robust inverse probability weighting estimator to mitigate the selection bias and compare outcomes of similar students among undergraduate research participants and nonparticipants. Overall, we find that undergraduate research participants demonstrate better academic performance, are more likely to graduate and transfer, are less likely to depart, and progress to transfer and departure slower than similar nonparticipants. The effects grow in size with an increase in frequency of undergraduate research experiences.
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- 2022
43. A New Framework for Identifying At-Risk Students in Public Schools. Working Paper No. 261-0122
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Fazlul, Ishtiaque, Koedel, Cory, and Parsons, Eric
- Abstract
We develop a new framework for identifying at-risk students in public schools. Our framework has two fundamental advantages over "status quo" systems: (1) it is based on a clear definition of what it means for a student to be at risk and (2) it leverages states' rich administrative data systems to produce more informative risk measures. Our framework is more effective than common alternatives at identifying students who are at risk of low academic performance and we use policy simulations to show that it can be used to target resources toward these students more efficiently. It also offers several other benefits relative to "status quo" systems. We provide an alternative approach to risk measurement that states can use to inform funding, accountability, and other policies, rather than continuing to rely on broad categories tied to the nebulous concept of "disadvantage."
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- 2022
44. Learning-Mode Choice, Student Engagement, and Achievement Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Working Paper No. 260-0122
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Darling-Aduana, Jennifer, Woodyard, Henry T., Sass, Tim R., and Barry, Sarah S.
- Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic initially resulted in an unanticipated and near-universal shift from in-person to virtual instruction in spring 2020. During the 2020-21 school year, schools began to re-open and families were faced with decisions regarding the instructional mode for their children. We leverage administrative, survey, and virtual-learning data to examine the determinants of family learning-mode choice and the effects of virtual education on student engagement and academic achievement. Family preference for virtual (versus face-to-face) instruction was most highly associated with school-level infection rates and appeared relatively uniform within schools. We find that students who were assigned a higher proportion of instructional days in virtual mode experienced higher rates of attendance, but also negative student achievement growth compared to students who were assigned a higher proportion of instructional days in face-to-face mode. Students belonging to marginalized groups experienced more positive associations with attendance but were also more likely to experience lower student achievement growth when assigned a greater proportion of instructional days in virtual mode. Insights from this study can be used to better understand family preference as well as to target and refine virtual learning in a post-COVID-19 society.
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- 2022
45. The Effect of Service Learning Participation on College Outcomes: An Empirical Investigation. Iteration 2. Series on Student Engagement and High Impact Practices. TBR Working Papers
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Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), Office of Policy and Strategy, Gorbunov, Alexander, Moreland, Amy, Tingle, Chris, and Deaton, Russ
- Abstract
Motivation for the study: The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) is implementing and expanding a suite of high impact practices (HIP) in its community colleges. Service learning, one of such HIPs, is incorporated into general education or degree programs' requirements via credit-bearing service learning components of different durations. While service learning participation and student results are examined periodically, this study contributes to the program evaluation by conducting a series of quantitative analyses that aim to assess whether a causal relationship exists between service learning experiences and key educational outcomes of first-time freshmen at community colleges. Objectives: To investigate whether participation in serving learning HIP affects: (1) the probability of earning a college credential, transferring to university, and student departure; (2) time to graduation, university transfer, and departure; and (3) academic performance. To examine if and how these effects, if any, differ by service learning duration and frequency of participation. Methods: Different types of propensity score analysis were used, including inverse probability of treatment weighting and matching and nonparametric regression, to estimate the effect of service learning participation on outcomes of interest in general and by duration level. In the final models, propensity scores were estimated using generalized boosted modeling. Dosage analysis was employed to examine the effect of frequency of service learning participation. The following modeling techniques were used for different outcomes: logistic and OLS regression, and event history analysis (Cox regression model). Results: Service learning participation increases the probability of graduation and university transfer, decreases the probability of student departure, expedites progression to graduation, delays progression to university transfer and departure, and is associated with a higher final GPA. The estimated results differ by duration level and frequency of service learning experience. Conclusion: Service learning, as implemented at TBR colleges, is an efficacious HIP, which contributes to both community college freshmen student success and institutional performance.
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- 2021
46. The Effect of Early Childhood Programs on Third-Grade Test Scores: Evidence from Transitional Kindergarten in Michigan. Working Paper 32236
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Jordan S. Berne, Brian A. Jacob, Tareena Musaddiq, Anna Shapiro, and Christina Weiland
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Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is a relatively recent entrant into the U.S. early education landscape, combining features of public pre-K and regular kindergarten. We provide the first estimates of the impact of Michigan's TK program on 3rd grade test scores. Using an augmented regression discontinuity design, we find that TK improves 3rd grade math scores by 0.29 standard deviations relative to a counterfactual that includes other formal and informal learning options. This impact is notably large relative to the prior pre-K literature. Estimates for English Language Arts (ELA) are imprecise but suggestive of a positive effect as well.
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- 2024
47. From Immediate Acceptance to Deferred Acceptance: Effects on School Admissions and Achievement in England. Discussion Paper No. 1815
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Terrier, Camille, Pathak, Parag A., and Ren, Kevin
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Countries and cities around the world increasingly rely on centralized systems to assign students to schools. Two algorithms, deferred acceptance (DA) and immediate acceptance (IA), are widespread. The latter is often criticized for harming disadvantaged families who fail to get access to popular schools. This paper investigates the effect of the national ban of the IA mechanism in England in 2008. Before the ban, 49 English local authorities used DA and 16 used IA. All IA local authorities switched to DA afterwards, giving rise to a cross-market difference-in-differences research design. Our results show that the elimination of IA reduces measures of school quality for low-SES students more than high-SES students. After the ban, low-SES students attend schools with lower value-added and more disadvantaged and low-achieving peers. This effect is primarily driven by a decrease in low-SES admissions at selective schools. Our findings point to an unintended consequence of the IA to DA transition: by encouraging high-SES parents to report their preferences truthfully, DA increases competition for top schools, which crowds out low-SES students.
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- 2021
48. The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings. CEPA Working Paper No. 21-09
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Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) and Reardon, Sean F.
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Has the gap in average standardized test scores between students from high- and low-income families widened, narrowed, or remained stable over the last 3 decades? The question is important both because the achievement gap is measure of how (un)equally educational opportunities are distributed in the US, and because the disparity in educational outcomes is a leading indicator of the degree of economic mobility. If the gap is widening, it suggests that children's educational experiences and opportunities in early and middle childhood -- in their homes, neighborhoods, childcare and preschool programs, and K-12 schools -- are becoming increasingly unequal, a sign that the growing economic inequality in the US has led to a parallel growth in educational inequality. A narrowing gap, however, would suggest the opposite: changes in early childhood or K-12 schooling have been equity-enhancing, even in the face of increased economic inequality among families. And because test scores and the skills they measure are valued in college admissions and the labor market, the trend in the test score gap may predict the trend in economic mobility several decades later.
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- 2021
49. Toward a Practical Set of STEM Transfer Program Momentum Metrics. CCRC Working Paper No. 127
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Columbia University, Community College Research Center, Fink, John, Myers, Taylor, Sparks, Daniel, and Jaggars, Shanna
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Nearly two decades into the "completion agenda" in higher education, many community colleges have adopted collegewide reforms designed to improve stubbornly flat rates of student success and address persistent equity gaps. The longer-term effects of such collegewide reforms may take years to observe. In the meantime, college leaders need to know whether changes they make in the short run are associated with longer-term student success. Measuring the progress and effects of institutional reform is particularly vital in economically important STEM fields. Drawing on administrative records from transfer-intending community college starters across three states, this study develops and explores potential indicators of early STEM program momentum. We find that a relatively simple set of STEM momentum metrics--notably early completion of calculus or non-math STE coursework specified in statewide STEM transfer pathways and, to a lesser degree, the prerequisites to such courses--are reliable indicators of subsequent STEM transfer and bachelor's degree attainment. Our findings provide support for the use of the STEM momentum metrics to formatively evaluate reforms aimed at strengthening STEM transfer outcomes and closing equity gaps in STEM bachelor's degree attainment.
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- 2021
50. Career Readiness in Public High Schools: An Exploratory Analysis of of Industry Recognized Credentials. Working Paper No. 257-0921
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Eagan, Joshua, and Koedel, Cory
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We use statewide administrative data from Missouri to document the prevalence of Industry Recognized Credential (IRC) programs in public high schools and understand the characteristics of students who complete IRCs. We show that 9 percent of Missouri students complete an IRC during their senior year of high school. IRC completers have lower achievement and are more likely to be disadvantaged along several measurable dimensions relative to their peers who complete analog college-ready programs, on average. Noting these average relationships, there is substantial heterogeneity among individual IRCs in terms of the types of students served: some IRCs attract students with high test scores who mostly go on to attend college, whereas others serve low-scoring students who mostly forego college. There is strong gender segregation across individual IRCs that aligns with gender segregation across occupations in the labor market.
- Published
- 2021
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