Who benefits from selective education? Evidence from elite boarding school admissions

Existing research finds minimal gains from attending elite US secondary schools. This paper estimates the causal effect of attending a selective public boarding school, an institutional model increasingly used by states to serve academically gifted students. Regression discontinuity estimates using multiple admissions thresholds show math score gains and college application and enrollment patterns that shift away from less competitive colleges. Effects are concentrated among minorities, students with lower prior individual achievement, from rural neighborhoods, or lower-achieving sending schools. The opportunity to attend selective boarding schools reduces the tendency of disadvantaged or under-represented students to attend a less selective college by at least one-quarter.     

Sorting or mixing? Multi-track and single-track schools and social inequalities in a differentiated educational system

In the Dutch stratified secondary educational system, schools vary in how many tracks are offered. While the tendency in the Netherlands is for schools to become smaller, a relevant policy question is whether multi-track school settings promote equality of educational opportunity. Comparing single-track schools at the pre-university and pre-vocational levels with multi-track schools offering the same exams, and using relative geographical distance as an instrument of school choice, the analyses showed that single-track pre-university schools enhance the probability of obtaining a pre-university diploma without delay, but more strongly so for students from disadvantaged backgrounds (who have a lower chance of going to such schools). The single-track pre-vocational schools were associated with a lower likelihood of achieving a diploma at a level higher than pre-vocational education. Multi-track schools within a varied system will not automatically enhance equal opportunities, as middle-class children will also benefit from the additional options that multi-track schools provide.     

高中生综合素质评价研究的知识图谱与前景展望(1999-2021)

借助可视化软件CiteSpace,绘制我国1999—2021年高中生综合素质评价研究的知识图谱,可以发现,我国高中生综合素质评价研究大致经历了前期酝酿、初步探索、深入论证3个阶段,主要聚焦“综合素质”“普通高中”“高考改革”“高中学生综合素质评价”“学生评价”等热频关键词,取得了许多有价值的成果,但遗憾的是,在一些重要理论问题上人们仍然没有达成共识,在高校招生录取如何参考使用高中生综合素质评价问题上仍然没有取得实质性突破。未来,高中生综合素质评价将加强学理研究,澄清综合素质评价的诸多理论问题;拓展研究视角,提升高中生综合素质评价的科学性;同时,聚焦高校招生“参考使用”高中生综合素质评价的有效突破点,实现大数据等现代信息技术与学生综合素质评价的耦合,探索高中生综合素质评价“扎根中国,融通中外”的主要路径,有效规避高中生综合素质评价的公平性风险等。     

Turning around schools (and neighborhoods?): School improvement grants and gentrification

Most funding intended to close gaps in K-12 education targets schools, rather than students directly. We investigate whether household sorting in response to changes in K-12 school funding inhibits spending from reaching targeted students with a case study in Metro-Nashville Public Schools of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, which invested $7 billion in the nation’s lowest-achieving schools between 2009 and 2016. Using a boundary-discontinuity difference-in-differences design and home sales data, we estimate that households were willing to pay more than three times the average per-pupil grant award to live in SIG school zones. Neighborhoods zoned for SIG schools experienced moderate income and racial integration following funding receipt. However, evictions in these neighborhoods increased by 35%, and non-white enrollment at SIG schools declined by 15%. Our findings illustrate a major limitation of place-based public good provision: sorting may displace the initially targeted population.     

生源紧张形势下高职院校招生宣传对策探究

学生是学校的主体,生源质量和数量是学校生存和发展的前提条件。尤其是高职院校,在高校持续扩招、生源紧张、竞争激烈的情况下,如何通过有效的招生宣传手段和模式使招生工作变被动为主动,既能实现招生预期目标,又能提高生源质量,优化学校专业结构,促进学校的快速发展是招生工作的关键。高职院校还需要通过建立一支专业过硬的招生队伍在实践中不断摸索和总结经验。     

综合素质评价在高中招生录取中的困境与突破

综合素质评价是新一轮考试招生制度改革的重要举措,它对推进学生全面发展与个性发展、高中学校特色发展、落实素质教育具有重要意义。然而,综合素质评价结果纳入高中招生录取时困难重重:责任方遭遇评价指标科学性不够、操作困难,评价结果可靠性、公平性备受质疑的困境;使用方遭遇综合素质评价在招生录取中发挥作用有限的困境;管理方遭遇政策实施者偏离政策原本意图,综合素质评价制度体系失衡、合法地位未确立的困境。为此,应转变传统考试评价观念,确立综合素质评价育人新理念;转换传统评价思路,基于学生的不同背景进行整体评价;明晰政策规定,让综合素质评价与中考招生录取“硬挂钩”;加快综合素质评价配套制度建设,加强对政策的解释宣传。     

Strategic interaction among public school districts: Evidence on spatial interdependence in school inputs

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among public school districts in Massachusetts. The open enrollment program in Massachusetts is unique in testing the strategic competition thesis because it allows students to attend public schools located outside their home district. For each student who transfers out, funds are deducted from the sending district's local aid distribution and added to the receiving district's local aid. Thus, school districts no longer have the assurance of a ready supply of students and funding, instead they have to compete with neighboring districts, and enact strategies that will help retain as well as attract more students. A spatial econometric framework is applied to disentangle the correlation due to strategic interaction from the one that is simply due to spatially correlated error shocks. The results show that public school districts respond positively to the expenditure decisions of neighboring districts, thereby acting strategically when setting their own spending levels.     

Effects of COVID-19 on school enrollment

We estimate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-reported school enrollment using a sample of 16-to-18-year-old youth from the January 2010 to the December 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS). The pandemic reduced the likelihood of students reporting that they were enrolled in high school by about 1.8 percentage points in April 2020 vs. in the same month in prior years, although enrollment rebounded back to typical levels by October 2020. Adverse effects on school enrollment were magnified for older vs. younger students, males vs. females, and among adolescents without a college-educated household member vs. adolescents from more educated households. Greater school responsiveness to the pandemic and high school graduation exit exams appear to have protected students from disengaging from school.     

Increasing Access to Higher Education Among Low-Income Students: The Washington State Achievers Program

The purpose of this study was to assess how a comprehensive precollege intervention and developmental program among low-income high school students contributed to college enrollment outcomes measured in 2006. Our focus was on the Fifth Cohort of the Washington State Achievers (WSA) Program, which provides financial, academic, and college preparation support to 500 high school students who come from the lowest 35% of Washington state income levels. One important feature of the WSA Program is that it provided funding for complete high school curriculum reform among 16 Washington high schools that have a high prevalence of low-income students. The data set contained three groups of students from these 16 high schools: Funded Achievers who were part of the WSA Program and received funding for college; Nonfunded Achievers who were part of the WSA Program and but did not receive funding for college; and Nonrecipients who were neither part of the WSA Program nor received funding for college. Results from generalized multinomial logistic models found two trends (a) early and continuous financial support for college along with being active in the WSA Program nearly guarantees enrollment in college and increases enrollment in 4-year and highly selective colleges; and (b) even in the absence of financial support for college there are still quantifiable and positive effects on college-going for just participating in the WSA Program and receiving its abundant nonfinancial resources and support. These results persist even with strong controls for selection, background, academic, financial, aspiration, and school-level variables.     

The Influence of Dual Enrollment on Academic Performance and College Readiness: Differences by Socioeconomic Status

I examine the influence of dual enrollment, a program that allows students to take college courses and earn college credits while in high school, on academic performance and college readiness. Advocates consider dual enrollment as a way to transition high school students into college, and they further claim that these programs benefit students from low socioeconomic status (SES). However, few researchers examine the impact of dual enrollment on academic performance and college readiness, in particular, whether SES differences exist in the impact of dual enrollment. Even fewer researchers consider the extent to which improved access to dual enrollment reduces SES gaps in academic performance and college readiness. I find that participation in dual enrollment increases first-year GPA and decreases the likelihood for remediation. I conduct sensitivity analysis and find that results are resilient to large unobserved confounders that could affect both selection to dual enrollment and the outcome. Moreover, I find that low-SES students benefit from dual enrollment as much as high-SES students. Finally, I find that differences in program participation account for little of the SES gap in GPA and remediation.     

普通高中多样化发展的现实困境与未来之路——基于黑龙江省部分地区的实地调研

普通高中多样化发展是高中教育在普及背景下,满足学生多样化、个性化发展,办"人民满意的教育"的迫切需要。普通高中多样化发展过程中面临着多样化本质认识不清、高中类型单一、政策指引不明、经费投入缺乏、综合高中规模小、招生困难、师资薄弱、学籍管理矛盾、未来出路受制约等现实困境。丰富高中选修课程、保障学生课程选择权、提升综合高中发展空间等是普通高中多样化发展的未来之路。     

Effects of differentiated school vouchers: Evidence from a policy change and date of birth cutoffs

This paper studies the effects of an increase in school choice by examining a 2008 reform that made the value of Chile’s (previously flat, universal) school voucher a step function of student income. This policy increased the number of private schools that low income children could access free of charge. I identify the impact of the policy by combining its introduction with variation from a date of birth enrollment cutoff. I show that the differentiated voucher lowered, but only slightly, the probability that students used public schools. Students more likely to move to private schools experienced better school characteristics but no increase in test scores. Further analysis suggests a rise in test scores for students most likely to stay in public schools. These results suggest that the effects of the policy on test scores were caused by responses from public schools, instead of by the re-sorting of students into private schools.     

中职生的升学选择及影响因素研究——基于全国10660名中职生的调查

基于中等职业教育基础性转向的政策背景,通过对全国10660位中职生的问卷调查,研究了影响我国中职生升学的若干因素。研究发现：中职生具有很高的升学意愿,且以本科为主要期望学历;毕业班和学习自我效能感强的中职生更可能选择升学;学生干部身份和学校生涯教育质量会影响中职生升学意愿;家庭对中职生升学与否的影响主要体现在经济、文化和社会资本,但影响方式和程度与普高生存在差异;对省域中职升学政策的了解和认同会促进学生升学,而对就业市场和本科招生政策的了解和认同会削弱中职生升学意愿。基于此,未来应从职教本科办学规模、高等职业教育招考机制、央地项目设置、公共财政兜底、生涯教育和升学指导等方面优化中职升学环境。     

Public or private? The influence of immigration on native schooling choices in the United States

This study examines whether rising enrollments of foreign-born students in US public schools caused a movement among native children from public schools to private schools, something the literature has labeled native flight to private school. Using data from the National Center of Educational Statistics School District Demographic System, estimates of native flight are constructed using enrollment data on native and foreign-born, school-age children from 1990, 2000, and 2010. Concern regarding omitted variables bias necessitates the use of an instrumental variables technique. An instrument for the foreign-born enrollment is created using information about the ethnic composition of school districts in 1980 to predict the enrollment patterns of foreign-born students in later years. Two-stage least squares estimates confirm the presence of native flight. Flight to private school among white native students is occurring in smaller school districts in non-traditional immigrant receiving states, while flight among native minorities and Hispanics is located in school districts that reside in traditional immigrant receiving states.     

School and community factors involved in Chilean students’ perception of school safety

Identifying and understanding predictors of school safety perceptions is important due to its consequences for students. However, it is not clear what school‐related factors most contribute to explaining students’ perception of school safety, and how they relate to community‐related factors such as neighborhood safety. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors associated with Chilean elementary and middle school students’ perceptions of school safety. We used a sample of 5,455 students from low socioeconomic status public schools, and analyzed the predictive value of peer physical and verbal victimization; teacher and school staff victimization; teacher's social support; and perception of safety in the students’ neighborhoods on perceptions of school safety. Findings showed that although different forms of school violence, particularly peer physical victimization and physical and sexual victimization from teachers and school staff, contribute to students’ perception of school safety, the highest contribution came from students perceiving their neighborhoods as unsafe. In contrast, teacher social support contributed to increased levels of perceived school safety. We discuss the need for school‐based interventions that address physical victimization and engage teachers in prosocial and less punitive approaches to foster a positive and safe school climate, and in fostering school–community partnerships.     

对综合高中“叫停”的思考

综合高中是肩负着巨大的使命才在我国出现的,并且在一定程度上缓解了当时普高招生的压力,也使中职学校的生源得以增加。然而,随着我国对职业教育职业性的重视以及普高优势教育资源的出现,综合高中的地位越来越尴尬,最终被叫停。笔者认为,综合高中的叫停问题是职业教育的一种制度安排,同时这一问题还暗含着办学效益和效用的博弈,它还可能影响到中职生源和普高生源,甚至产生＂劣币驱逐良币＂的现象。因此,我们需要对综合高中的叫停问题进行思考,并考虑其转型问题。     

Local unemployment and the timing of post-secondary schooling

Using Danish administrative data on all high school graduates from 1984 to 1992, I show that local unemployment has both a short- and a long-run effect on school enrollment and completion. The short-run effect causes students to advance their enrollment, and consequently their completion, of additional schooling. The long-run effect causes students who would otherwise never have enrolled to enroll and complete schooling. The effects are strongest for children of parents with no higher education.     

Educational aspirations of high school graduates in British Columbia

In the last two years student enrollment in post secondary educational institutions in British Columbia has developed an erratic, and largely unpredictable, pattern. University enrollment, particularly in the humanities, has stabilized, while technical and vocational institutions are attracting increasing numbers of students. In an attempt to open new insights into this phenomenon, a study of the educational plans and aspirations of graduating high school seniors in the province's 144 high schools was initiated.Data were gathered from 18,899 students in a total population of 27,593, a response rate of almost 70%. Subjects identified age, sex, high school program, grade point average, various socio-economic characteristics, and their intentions regarding post secondard education, if they intended to continue, when, and where.The results produced a considerable amount of new evidence which, in part, provided answers to many previously unexplored questions. For example, while 90% of high school graduates indicated their intention to continue in tertiary education, only 50% stated that this step was imminent. The comprehensive community college proved to be more popular than the university in areas where colleges existed. Socioeconomic factors appeared to be closely related to students intentions.Further follow-up studies related to this project are being carried out. It is apparent that an entirely new field of insight into the current problems of post secondary education is being developed.     

破解高职院校招生困境的思考

高职院校招生已经连续三年出现全国性生源不足问题。产生这种现象既有高考录取率大幅提高的原因,也有社会舆论环境误导的原因。要认真分析并针对出现困难的原因,做好顶层设计,采取综合配套的改革措施;实行本科与高职分类招生考试;加大高职向中职招生的比例;加强社会宣传与引导,帮助考生确立正确的人才观、求学观和务实的就业观。