Generating Hypotheses and Upper-Bound Effect Sizes Using a Large Number of School Characteristics and Student Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Using a “naïve” specification, this paper estimates the relationship between 36 high school characteristics and 24 student outcomes controlling for students' pre-high school characteristics. The goal of this exploration is not to generate casual estimates, but rather to: (a) compare the size of the relationships to determine which inputs seem most promising and to identify which student outcomes appear most susceptible to being affected; (b) obtain likely upper-bound effect sizes that are useful information for power analyses used to establish minimum sample sizes for more robust designs capable of revealing causal impacts; and (c) illustrate how small effects over many outcomes (which are cumulatively important) can be easily missed. I find that most of the 36 inputs appear to have affected more outcomes than one would expect by chance, but that the apparent effects were generally small. Further, I find a higher frequency of large and significant apparent effects on educational achievement and attainment outcomes than labor market and other outcomes for young adults.     

Labor Market Returns for Graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Latinos have become the largest minority group in American postsecondary education, a majority of whom attend two- or four-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). However, little is known about labor market outcomes as result of attending these institutions. Using a unique student-level administrative database in Texas, and accounting for college selectivity, we examine whether attending an HSI influences labor market outcomes ten years after high school graduation for Latino students in Texas. We find no difference in the earnings of Hispanic graduates from HSIs and non-HSIs. This analysis represents one of the first to examine the labor market outcomes for Latino students in this sector of education accounting for critical factors that include a student’s high school and community context.     

Average vs. distributional effects: Evidence from an experiment in Rwanda

Programs and policies in education overwhelmingly focus on improving the average academic achievement for students. However, educational interventions focused on literacy improvement can impact readers at different levels of the reading score distribution differently, and the distributional differences may be more pronounced by sex. In this paper, I explore data from a field experiment in a district in Rwanda that was intended to make classroom reading pedagogy more effective and engage students, families, and communities in reading activities outside of school to improve students’ reading outcomes.I study the distributional effects of the intervention on students on two higher-order reading outcomes – Kinyarwanda fluency and Kinyarwanda text comprehension, measured for students who met a basic literacy threshold. I find that a) the set of interventions had a positive and significant, albeit modest effect on students at or above the 25th percentile of the reading distributions b) the program had positive and significant effects on reading outcomes for girls only, and these effects differed along the reading achievement distribution. This work underscores the importance of tailoring programs and policies to the needs of different types of learners.     

The effects of school quality on long-term health

In this paper I estimate the relationship between school quality and mortality. Although many studies have linked the quantity of education to health outcomes, the effect of school quality on health has yet to be examined. I construct synthetic birth cohorts and relate the quality of education they attained to their mortality rates. I find that there is a statistically significant relationship between the mortality–schooling gradients, which depict the return to a year of schooling, and the length of school term and relative teacher wage. For instance, increasing the relative teacher wage by one standard deviation results in about 1.9 less deaths per 1000 people per extra year of education. My results suggest that one way to improve the health of the population is to improve school quality.     

New forms of government school provision – an international comparison

Driven by a desire to improve academic outcomes and transform ‘failing’ schools, governments around the world have often turned to the development of new forms of state-funded school. This paper looks at three such instances of the introduction of new forms of schooling, within three urban localities (academy schools in London; charter schools and small schools of choice in New York City; and Schools of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro). It considers the extent to which these types of school did improve academic outcomes for their students and draws comparisons across each case study in order to understand their similarities and differences. It concludes that although the quasi-marketisation of school systems through the introduction of new (often private) providers might improve outcomes, this is not the only means by which improvement can be attained; and that instead the introduction of new forms of school may be successful because this enables certain other changes to happen. It highlights the limited nature of impact evidence available in all instances, which restricts our ability to properly evaluate the effect of new school types on outcomes.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF CRITICAL MASS: The Role of Latino Representation in the Success of Urban Community College Students

The community college has historically functioned as a primary access point to postsecondary education for Latino students. This study, an investigation conducted through an analysis of the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project, focuses on Latino students enrolled in urban “minority-majority” community colleges, where Latino students have a high representation. The specific interest of this research is the role and effect of the level of representation of Latino community college students on their academic outcomes. The relationship between the level of representation of Latinos, and the levels of academic success are analyzed in concert with other variables, such as, the level of representation of Latino faculty on campus, student age, attitude, academic integration, English ability and aspiration. Findings indicate a relationship between academic success of Latino community college students and the proportion of Latino students and faculty on campus. The findings thus suggest that a critical mass of Latinos may be a positive influence encouraging “minority” students to higher academic performance.     

Improving the Quality of Constructive Peer Feedback

This article presents some simple strategies that instructors can use to improve the quality of the feedback students provide each other during a peer review activity. Briefly, I recommend that emphasis be placed solely on the provision of constructive comments, and that in order to qualify as constructive, a comment must: (1) identify a specific problem, (2) explain why it is a problem, and (3) provide a concrete solution for the problem.     

Are federal student loan accountability regulations effective?

Within the education sector, accountability regulations have been used with the intended purpose of improving student outcomes. In higher education, one such regulation aims to improve the ability of borrowers to repay their student loans by placing sanctions on institutions with excessive student loan defaults. This paper examines whether student loan accountability regulations were able to (1) lower student loan defaults, and (2) address the broader objective of improving repayment ability, by exploiting a change to the period in which the regulation’s performance measure was monitored. I find that the change to the regulation resulted in less student loan defaults at for-profit colleges. I also find that this reduction in student loan defaults resulted in a short-term improvement in repayment ability at for-profit, but not nonprofit, institutions.     

The effects of attending a diverse college

The question of whether there are benefits to be obtained from having a diverse student body is a key issue in the debate over affirmative action. This paper estimates the effects of college racial diversity on post-college earnings, civic behavior, and satisfaction with the college attended. I use the Beginning Postsecondary Students survey, which allows me to control for exposure to racial diversity prior to college. Moreover, I use two techniques from Altonji, Elder, and Taber (2005) to address the issue of selection on unobservables. The first is a sensitivity analysis showing how the coefficient on diversity changes when different values of the correlation are imposed in a system of equations that consists of a selection equation and an outcome equation. The second is estimation based upon an assumption that selection on unobservables equals selection on observables, which, along with the OLS results, gives estimates of bounds on the effect. Single-equation estimates suggest a possible positive effect of diversity on satisfaction with the racial climate at the college attended and a negative effect on community service, but I do not find an effect on other outcomes. Moreover, the estimates are very sensitive to the assumptions made about selection on unobservables.     

需求分析理论下大学英语选修课模块教学改革研究

为了真正提高大学英语教学效果,激发学生学习兴趣,需求分析的核心地位应该得到高度重视。教师应该切实去了解学生的英语学习需求,根据其需求建立多元化和有特色的大学英语选修课模块教学课程体系。大学英语必修课与选修课两者相辅相成,有利于更大程度上满足学生的学习需求。     

High School Course-Taking and Post-Secondary Institutional Selectivity

Race shapes many aspects of students’ high school experiences that are relevant to the college admissions process. We examine the racially-specific effects of high school course of study on college selectivity. Using NELS 1988–1994, we test how race and track interactively predict the prestige of the first post-secondary institution attended. We find support for a “redemptive equity model” of college prestige for Latinos, who attend more selective colleges than White students, net of background and academic variables. Asian American students also attend more selective institutions than White students. Results for African-American students are more complicated, in that the colleges they attend are not significantly different from those of Whites, on average. When we exclude students who attend historically Black colleges and universities, however, African-American students attend significantly more prestigious universities than Whites, net of other factors. We also find racially-specific effects of high school course of study, with Latinos, Asian Americans, and African-Americans appearing to benefit more from taking more rigorous academic courses than Whites.     

(Em)Powered by Science? Estimating the Relative Labor Market Returns to Majoring in Science in High School in India

Despite widespread belief that majoring in science in high school has a greater payoff in the Indian labor market than majoring in business/humanities, there is no hard evidence to substantiate this thought. Here I provide the first evidence of the causal effect of majoring in science on individuals’ labor market outcomes relative to majoring in business/humanities using microdata from India. Estimating the causal effect, however, is a formidable task since selection into high school major is nonrandom and exclusion restrictions are unavailable. I circumvent these difficulties by employing an econometric technique that does not rely on valid exclusion restriction for identification. I find that majoring in science has a negative causal effect on individuals’ employment probability. Conditional on being employed, however, majoring in science has a positive causal effect on individuals’ earnings and probability of being engaged in a professional occupation. These findings suggest, in contrast to conventional wisdom, the labor market effects of majoring in science in high school in India is not a plain tale of ‘science premium’ - while majoring in science might lead to relatively better labor market outcomes for those who are able to find employment, finding employment itself is more difficult for science majors.     

57例显微镜下泪小管断裂吻合手术临床分析

目的：探讨在显微镜下泪小管断裂断端的寻找方法及泪小管断裂吻合联合泪道引流管置管术的疗效,提高泪小管吻合术的成功率。方法：选择2006年1月至2013年5月收治泪小管断裂57例患者,采用在显微镜直视下寻找的方法,找到泪小管鼻侧断端和泪囊侧断端,置入硬膜外管作为泪小管内支撑物,吻合泪小管断端,留置引流管3-6个月,拔管后3-12个月随访观察疗效。结果：治愈53例,拔管后泪道冲洗均通畅,无溢泪现象,4例主观感觉有少许溢泪症状,但冲洗泪道试验通畅,行泪道扩张冲洗2-3次后症状消失,无眼睑内外翻或泪小管撕裂等症状。结论：在显微镜下行泪小管断端吻合术,较容易寻找到泪小管鼻侧断端,手术成功率高,恢复泪道排泪功能效果肯定。     

Early to rise? The effect of daily start times on academic performance

Local school districts often stagger daily start times for their schools in order to reduce busing costs. This paper uses data on all middle school students in Wake County, NC from 1999 to 2006 to identify the causal effect of daily start times on academic performance. Using variation in start times within schools over time, the effect is a two percentile point gain in math test scores – roughly fourteen percent of the black–white test score gap. I find similar results for reading scores and using variation in start times across schools. The effect is stronger for students in the lower end of the distribution of test scores. I find evidence supporting increased sleep as a mechanism through which start times affect test scores. Later start times compare favorably on cost grounds to other education interventions which result in similar test score gains.     

Drop Out and “Disconnected” Young Adults: Examining the Impact of Neighborhood and School Contexts

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) this study compares if and how neighborhood effects on the likelihood to drop out and be “disconnected” from school and work in young adulthood change when schools are taken into account. As widely documented, I find that neighborhood socioeconomic status is associated with dropping out, but this effect is mediated by schools with high numbers of Latino or Black students. I find neighborhood socioeconomic status is not associated with being disconnected, yet, attending schools with high numbers of Black students is. This research draws attention for the need to account for neighborhood and school effects simultaneously to better understand contextual effects and to more carefully conceptualize how neighborhood and schools work together to produce these outcomes disproportionately impacting racial and ethnic minorities.     

One Brief,Shining Moment? The Impact of Neo‐liberalism on Science Curriculum in the Compulsory Years of Schooling

The past 20 years or so have seen ongoing concern for the nature of science education in the Anglophone developed world. A particular focus of this concern has been the need to find new ways to frame science curricula that will engage students, yet it is proving difficult to achieve this goal. In this article I argue that the impact on science curriculum of a societal shift to neo‐liberalism and an attendant policy shift to outcomes‐based education should be explicitly acknowledged; further, that the forms of curriculum that emerge from neo‐liberalism are unlikely to provide the engaging and inclusive science education needed today. To illustrate the impact of the neo‐liberal societal shift on science curriculum I compare an exemplary, inclusive and innovative science curriculum document from the 1980s with its outcomes‐based successor from the 1990s. I show that in this case the shift to the outcomes‐based form significantly restricted the possibilities for framing science education to respond to the local community, restricting a vision of science as a social institution; further, it framed each learner as an individual to the exclusion of community while reducing options for framing learning to meet individual needs. I argue that it is important for the future disciplinary well‐being of science, and for the well‐being of society on the whole, that both science and its scientists be seen as socially located. Science curriculum documents must initiate and support this perspective.     

Resampling and Distribution of the Product Methods for Testing Indirect Effects in Complex Models

Recent advances in testing mediation have found that certain resampling methods and tests based on the mathematical distribution of 2 normal random variables substantially outperform the traditional z test. However, these studies have primarily focused only on models with a single mediator and 2 component paths. To address this limitation, a simulation was conducted to evaluate these alternative methods in a more complex path model with multiple mediators and indirect paths with 2 and 3 paths. Methods for testing contrasts of 2 effects were evaluated also. The simulation included 1 exogenous independent variable, 3 mediators and 2 outcomes and varied sample size, number of paths in the mediated effects, test used to evaluate effects, effect sizes for each path, and the value of the contrast. Confidence intervals were used to evaluate the power and Type I error rate of each method, and were examined for coverage and bias. The bias-corrected bootstrap had the least biased confidence intervals, greatest power to detect nonzero effects and contrasts, and the most accurate overall Type I error. All tests had less power to detect 3-path effects and more inaccurate Type I error compared to 2-path effects. Confidence intervals were biased for mediated effects, as found in previous studies. Results for contrasts did not vary greatly by test, although resampling approaches had somewhat greater power and might be preferable because of ease of use and flexibility.     

Evaluating Non-Cognitive Skills among Students Switching Into and Out of Charter Schools in North Carolina

Despite several charter schools specifically targeting improving students’ noncognitive skills, the majority of charter school literature focuses on cognitive learning outcomes. Using behavioral measures as proxies for noncognitive outcomes, I find that North Carolina charter schools have no effect on tardiness or unexcused absences but are slightly improving total absences, suspensions, and disciplinary infractions. These positive results were driven primarily by charter schools that had been operating for at least five years. My results suggest that charter schools should be evaluated on a wider selection of outcomes than just standardized test scores.     

Contextual Effects on Student Achievement: School Leadership and Professional Community

This paper contains empirical evidence of a positiverelationship between faculty relations and studentachievement in mathematics in U.S. high schools. Thefindings are based on composite measures ofprofessional community and transformational leadershipwhich were defined and constructed through comparisonsof theoretical models from studies of the socialorganization of schools. I find that the effects oftransformational leadership and professional communityare interdependent. However, these two processes arenot equally dependent on each other. Professionalcommunity only has a positive effect on studentachievement in mathematics in schools whose teachersexperience above average transformational leadership. I also find that these effects are strongest in lowersocioeconomic status (SES) schools. Thus, I confirmfindings from in-depth studies and studies ofpurposeful samples that the social organization ofteachers and administrators within schools can affectstudent achievement.     

Parent involvement and views of school success: The role of parents' Latino and White American cultural orientations

We examined ethnicity and cultural orientation as predictors of parents' views of and involvement in children's education, using data gathered from the Latino (n = 74) and non‐Latino (17 White and 13 ethnic minority) parents of children in an elementary school's dual‐language program. Parents completed a questionnaire that assessed Latino and White American cultural orientations, importance of children's academic and social success, and self‐ and significant other involvement in children's education. Results indicated that Latino (and other ethnic minority) parents valued academic and social success equally and more strongly than did Whites and that Whites valued social success more strongly than academic success. Latinos also reported greater involvement of significant others. These differences were largely accounted for by cultural orientations. Educational practices that take into account differences in cultural orientations and the involvement of significant others thus seem more likely to improve academic outcomes than do efforts intended to promote the valuing of education. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.