School transportation may increase student outcomes by providing a reliable and safe means of getting to and from school. Little evidence of the effects of such policies exists. In this paper, I provide some of the first causal evidence of transportation impacts on student attendance and achievement using a rich panel of student-level enrollment and address data for Michigan public school students and a unique dataset of district transportation policies for the largest 50 districts in Michigan. I exploit the walking distance cutoffs that determine transportation eligibility using a regression discontinuity design. I find that transportation eligibility increases attendance rates and lowers the probability of chronic absence. These effects are largest for economically disadvantaged students, who experience 0.5 to 1 percentage point increase in attendance rates and a 2 to 4 percentage point decrease in the probability of being chronically absent. These results are compelling evidence that school-provided transportation increases attendance for students most at-risk to miss school. However, I find no effect of school transportation on student achievement outcomes. Given the high costs of school transportation, targeting additional transportation services to chronically absent students as an attendance intervention may be more efficient than increasing bus services for all students.
{"title":"Another One Rides the Bus: The Impact of School Transportation on Student Outcomes in Michigan","authors":"D. Edwards","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00382","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00382","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 School transportation may increase student outcomes by providing a reliable and safe means of getting to and from school. Little evidence of the effects of such policies exists. In this paper, I provide some of the first causal evidence of transportation impacts on student attendance and achievement using a rich panel of student-level enrollment and address data for Michigan public school students and a unique dataset of district transportation policies for the largest 50 districts in Michigan. I exploit the walking distance cutoffs that determine transportation eligibility using a regression discontinuity design. I find that transportation eligibility increases attendance rates and lowers the probability of chronic absence. These effects are largest for economically disadvantaged students, who experience 0.5 to 1 percentage point increase in attendance rates and a 2 to 4 percentage point decrease in the probability of being chronically absent. These results are compelling evidence that school-provided transportation increases attendance for students most at-risk to miss school. However, I find no effect of school transportation on student achievement outcomes. Given the high costs of school transportation, targeting additional transportation services to chronically absent students as an attendance intervention may be more efficient than increasing bus services for all students.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42635313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Using a dataset that includes every private donation made to a large public university from 1938 to 2012 and demographic information on all alumni, we examine the effects of public research funding on individual donations. Our dataset allows us to examine crowding effects on a small time scale and extensive donor characteristics. We estimate effects on the total number of donations (extensive margin) and on the average size of a donation (intensive margin). National Science Foundation research grants have a positive (crowd-in) effect on the extensive margin and a negative (crowd-out) effect on the intensive margin. We find no evidence of these effects from other sources of federal research funding. Previous donors and in-state residents respond differently to grants than do new donors and out-of-state residents, respectively.
{"title":"Research Grants Crowding Out and Crowding In Donations to Higher Education","authors":"Grant Gannaway, Garth Heutel, Michael Price","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00381","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00381","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Using a dataset that includes every private donation made to a large public university from 1938 to 2012 and demographic information on all alumni, we examine the effects of public research funding on individual donations. Our dataset allows us to examine crowding effects on a small time scale and extensive donor characteristics. We estimate effects on the total number of donations (extensive margin) and on the average size of a donation (intensive margin). National Science Foundation research grants have a positive (crowd-in) effect on the extensive margin and a negative (crowd-out) effect on the intensive margin. We find no evidence of these effects from other sources of federal research funding. Previous donors and in-state residents respond differently to grants than do new donors and out-of-state residents, respectively.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"498-521"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41712752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract We combine phone-survey data from 2,200 students collected in July–August of 2020 with student-level administrative data from 54 schools in four northwestern provinces of Cambodia to investigate the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for grade 9 students. These students were particularly vulnerable to dropping out of school prematurely due to the crisis. We find that most students kept studying during the crisis, returned to school to participate in the lower-secondary graduation exam after schools reopened, and transitioned to high school thereafter. However, we also find that students' exposure to the economic downturn had substantial implications: The likelihood that the father experienced income losses due to the crisis is negatively associated with a student's propensity to study during school closure, participation and performance in the final exam, and with the likelihood to transition to high school. In contrast, the likelihood that the mother experienced income losses is positively associated with student studying during the crisis, with participation in the final exam, and with transition to high school—potentially because mothers used the time at home to encourage their children to study.
{"title":"COVID-19 Crisis, Economic Hardships, and Schooling Outcomes","authors":"Esther Gehrke, Friederike Lenel, Claudia Schupp","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00378","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00378","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We combine phone-survey data from 2,200 students collected in July–August of 2020 with student-level administrative data from 54 schools in four northwestern provinces of Cambodia to investigate the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for grade 9 students. These students were particularly vulnerable to dropping out of school prematurely due to the crisis. We find that most students kept studying during the crisis, returned to school to participate in the lower-secondary graduation exam after schools reopened, and transitioned to high school thereafter. However, we also find that students' exposure to the economic downturn had substantial implications: The likelihood that the father experienced income losses due to the crisis is negatively associated with a student's propensity to study during school closure, participation and performance in the final exam, and with the likelihood to transition to high school. In contrast, the likelihood that the mother experienced income losses is positively associated with student studying during the crisis, with participation in the final exam, and with transition to high school—potentially because mothers used the time at home to encourage their children to study.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"522-546"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41817953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Despite a growing recognition of the significance of student transportation for promoting equitable school choice, to date, there has been limited understanding of the implementation of school transportation policies, particularly in choice-heavy settings. Moreover, little is known about the challenges associated with managing student transportation in large school districts or how school and district administrators working in distinct contexts respond to these challenges. This brief draws on interview data collected from district administrators, charter school leaders, charter authorizers, and stakeholders in three choice-rich school districts with distinct transportation policies and public transit infrastructures—Detroit, New Orleans, and New York City—to identify the common challenges associated with implementing student transportation policies and administrators’ responses to them. The brief includes a discussion of the implications of high transportation costs, logistical complexity, and student safety challenges as well as non-uniform transportation provision and transportation policies for equitable access to charter schools. It ends with a review of some potential policy alternatives that policymakers should consider when designing transportation policies or working to improve existing transportation practices.
{"title":"Student Transportation in Choice-Rich Districts: Implementation Challenges and Responses","authors":"Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00377","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Despite a growing recognition of the significance of student transportation for promoting equitable school choice, to date, there has been limited understanding of the implementation of school transportation policies, particularly in choice-heavy settings. Moreover, little is known about the challenges associated with managing student transportation in large school districts or how school and district administrators working in distinct contexts respond to these challenges. This brief draws on interview data collected from district administrators, charter school leaders, charter authorizers, and stakeholders in three choice-rich school districts with distinct transportation policies and public transit infrastructures—Detroit, New Orleans, and New York City—to identify the common challenges associated with implementing student transportation policies and administrators’ responses to them. The brief includes a discussion of the implications of high transportation costs, logistical complexity, and student safety challenges as well as non-uniform transportation provision and transportation policies for equitable access to charter schools. It ends with a review of some potential policy alternatives that policymakers should consider when designing transportation policies or working to improve existing transportation practices.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"351-364"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44952460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper analyzes the effect of providing extra school funding on student achievement under the homogenous school funding system in South Korea. This study exploits an administrative cutoff rule that determines the provision of school funding and uses a regression discontinuity design to identify a causal impact of extra school funding. The analysis finds that a 20 percent increase in per pupil funding for underperforming schools reduced the number of below-average students in mathematics, English, social studies, and science by 19.7 percent, 17.0 percent, 16.1 percent, and 18.1 percent compared with the control-side means. The research findings suggest that additional funding for underperforming schools to promote vertical equity would improve students’ academic outcomes if it is distributed directly to underperforming schools and used to provide new academic programs to students.
{"title":"The Effect of Extra School Funding on Students’ Academic Achievements under a Centralized School Financing System","authors":"Hosung Sohn, Heeran Park, Haeil Jung","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00375","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper analyzes the effect of providing extra school funding on student achievement under the homogenous school funding system in South Korea. This study exploits an administrative cutoff rule that determines the provision of school funding and uses a regression discontinuity design to identify a causal impact of extra school funding. The analysis finds that a 20 percent increase in per pupil funding for underperforming schools reduced the number of below-average students in mathematics, English, social studies, and science by 19.7 percent, 17.0 percent, 16.1 percent, and 18.1 percent compared with the control-side means. The research findings suggest that additional funding for underperforming schools to promote vertical equity would improve students’ academic outcomes if it is distributed directly to underperforming schools and used to provide new academic programs to students.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"1-24"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42078949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract During and for many years after the 2008–10 Great Recession, financial crises in districts across the country triggered varying state involvement in those districts’ finances and governance, up to and including complete takeover. While these actions were most prominent in a handful of states, all states have laws that enable them to intervene in school districts’ finances. These laws shape important governance relationships as well as the allocation of educational resources, yet we know very little about them. Accordingly, this policy brief reports our identification of 449 state statutory provisions across the country, which together contain 1049 potential interventions; our analysis of those provisions included identifying patterns, trends, and potential interactions with other areas of education policy. At a national level and disaggregated by state, we present what potential state interventions into school district finances already exist, which is a necessary foundation to understand which interventions a district could be subject to in the near future, and how states can both contextualize their policy approaches and best address districts’ financial conduct and fiscal challenges going forward.
{"title":"Balancing State and Local Power over School Districts’ Finances","authors":"Kristine Bowman, Dirk F. Zuschlag","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00374","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract During and for many years after the 2008–10 Great Recession, financial crises in districts across the country triggered varying state involvement in those districts’ finances and governance, up to and including complete takeover. While these actions were most prominent in a handful of states, all states have laws that enable them to intervene in school districts’ finances. These laws shape important governance relationships as well as the allocation of educational resources, yet we know very little about them. Accordingly, this policy brief reports our identification of 449 state statutory provisions across the country, which together contain 1049 potential interventions; our analysis of those provisions included identifying patterns, trends, and potential interactions with other areas of education policy. At a national level and disaggregated by state, we present what potential state interventions into school district finances already exist, which is a necessary foundation to understand which interventions a district could be subject to in the near future, and how states can both contextualize their policy approaches and best address districts’ financial conduct and fiscal challenges going forward.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"17 1","pages":"564-577"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46378035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
piatarola@fsu.edu INTRODUCTION This presidential essay, much like the times in which it was initially written, centers on the human experience and the Divine Providence through which our lives are shaped and our interactions with others take purpose. While past presidents of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) have reflected upon the trajectory of the organization, of the state of research, of policy, of the interaction of research and policy, I reflect upon a fundamental shift in the world that we as an organization, as members of AEFP, and as human beings, experienced over the past two years—driven by a global pandemic, jarring social unrest, and direct threats to our democratic institutions. We now breathe a bit freer, though no doubt more cautiously. And, now is the time to reflect on where we are.
{"title":"Nothing as Expected: The Year that Was…","authors":"Patrice Iatarola","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00370","url":null,"abstract":"piatarola@fsu.edu INTRODUCTION This presidential essay, much like the times in which it was initially written, centers on the human experience and the Divine Providence through which our lives are shaped and our interactions with others take purpose. While past presidents of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) have reflected upon the trajectory of the organization, of the state of research, of policy, of the interaction of research and policy, I reflect upon a fundamental shift in the world that we as an organization, as members of AEFP, and as human beings, experienced over the past two years—driven by a global pandemic, jarring social unrest, and direct threats to our democratic institutions. We now breathe a bit freer, though no doubt more cautiously. And, now is the time to reflect on where we are.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"17 1","pages":"201-205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47577613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Computer-based testing (CBT) is becoming an increasingly popular format of assessment in educational settings. If students face a digital divide in terms of access to computers at school and at home, CBT may exacerbate measured student achievement gaps. In this paper, we use the rollout of CBT in South Carolina starting in 2015 to investigate its effect on measured student performance. We link student-level test scores and poverty measures to the share of students taking CBT in a grade of a school and show that CBT has a significant negative impact on test scores of multiple subjects. The negative impact is not uniform across student subgroups but rather particularly large for students in poor households. There is little evidence that the effect fades as students and schools become more experienced with computerized testing. These results suggest that the testing mode change might have distributional consequences. However, we do find a smaller effect in schools where technology is more readily available, implying that school-level investments could mitigate the effect.
{"title":"Pencils Down? Computerized Testing and Student Achievement","authors":"John M. Gordanier, Orgul D. Ozturk, Crystal Zhan","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00373","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Computer-based testing (CBT) is becoming an increasingly popular format of assessment in educational settings. If students face a digital divide in terms of access to computers at school and at home, CBT may exacerbate measured student achievement gaps. In this paper, we use the rollout of CBT in South Carolina starting in 2015 to investigate its effect on measured student performance. We link student-level test scores and poverty measures to the share of students taking CBT in a grade of a school and show that CBT has a significant negative impact on test scores of multiple subjects. The negative impact is not uniform across student subgroups but rather particularly large for students in poor households. There is little evidence that the effect fades as students and schools become more experienced with computerized testing. These results suggest that the testing mode change might have distributional consequences. However, we do find a smaller effect in schools where technology is more readily available, implying that school-level investments could mitigate the effect.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"232-252"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43024111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Economic downturns can cause major funding shortfalls for U.S. public schools, often forcing districts to make difficult budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. In this brief, we synthesize the empirical literature on the widespread teacher layoffs caused by the Great Recession. Studies find that teacher layoffs harmed student achievement and were inequitably distributed across schools, teachers, and students. Research suggests that specific elements of the layoff process can exacerbate these negative effects. Seniority-based policies disproportionately concentrate layoffs among teachers of color, who are more likely to be early career teachers. These “last-in first-out” policies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged students because these students are more likely to be taught by early career teachers. The common practice of widely distributing pink slips warning about a potential job loss also appears to increase teacher churn and negatively impact teacher performance. Drawing on this evidence, we outline a set of policy recommendations to minimize the need for teacher layoffs during economic downturns and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable job cuts does not continue to be borne by students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
{"title":"The Inequitable Effects of Teacher Layoffs: What We Know and Can Do","authors":"M. Kraft, Joshua Bleiberg","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00369","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Economic downturns can cause major funding shortfalls for U.S. public schools, often forcing districts to make difficult budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. In this brief, we synthesize the empirical literature on the widespread teacher layoffs caused by the Great Recession. Studies find that teacher layoffs harmed student achievement and were inequitably distributed across schools, teachers, and students. Research suggests that specific elements of the layoff process can exacerbate these negative effects. Seniority-based policies disproportionately concentrate layoffs among teachers of color, who are more likely to be early career teachers. These “last-in first-out” policies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged students because these students are more likely to be taught by early career teachers. The common practice of widely distributing pink slips warning about a potential job loss also appears to increase teacher churn and negatively impact teacher performance. Drawing on this evidence, we outline a set of policy recommendations to minimize the need for teacher layoffs during economic downturns and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable job cuts does not continue to be borne by students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"17 1","pages":"367-377"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42187440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Evidence that student learning declines or stagnates during summers has motivated an interest in programs providing intensive summer instruction. However, existing literature suggests that such programs have modest effects on achievement and no impact on measures of engagement in school. In this quasi-experimental study, we present evidence on the impact of a comprehensive and mature summer learning program that serves low-income middle school students and features unusual academic breadth, including a robust and well-designed social-emotional learning curriculum. Our results indicate that this program led to substantial reductions in unexcused absences, chronic absenteeism, and suspensions and a modest gain in English language arts test scores. We find evidence that the gains in behavioral engagement are dynamic, growing over time and with additional summers of participation.
{"title":"The Dynamic Effects of a Summer Learning Program on Behavioral Engagement in School","authors":"Jaymes Pyne, E. Messner, T. Dee","doi":"10.1162/edfp_a_00368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00368","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Evidence that student learning declines or stagnates during summers has motivated an interest in programs providing intensive summer instruction. However, existing literature suggests that such programs have modest effects on achievement and no impact on measures of engagement in school. In this quasi-experimental study, we present evidence on the impact of a comprehensive and mature summer learning program that serves low-income middle school students and features unusual academic breadth, including a robust and well-designed social-emotional learning curriculum. Our results indicate that this program led to substantial reductions in unexcused absences, chronic absenteeism, and suspensions and a modest gain in English language arts test scores. We find evidence that the gains in behavioral engagement are dynamic, growing over time and with additional summers of participation.","PeriodicalId":46870,"journal":{"name":"Education Finance and Policy","volume":"18 1","pages":"127-155"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48136975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}