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Making Schools Safer and/or Escalating Disciplinary Response: A Study of Police Officers in North Carolina Schools Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-04-19 Lucy C. Sorensen, Yinzhi Shen, Shawn D. Bushway
The “defund the police” movement has recently called for the removal of police—or school resource officers (SROs)—from schools. This call is driven by concerns that SROs may heighten student contact with criminal justice or lead to disproportionately harsh disciplinary consequences. This study uses linked disciplinary, academic, juvenile justice, and adult conviction data from North Carolina to estimate
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Disproportionate Burden: Estimating the Cost of FAFSA Verification for Public Colleges and Universities Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-04-12 Alberto Guzman-Alvarez, Lindsay C. Page
Verification is a federally mandated process that requires selected students to further attest that the information reported on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate and complete. In this brief, we estimate institutional costs of administrating the FAFSA verification mandate and consider variation in costs by institution type and sector. Using data from 2014, we estimate
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Paying for Whose Performance? Teacher Incentive Pay and the Black–White Test Score Gap Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-04-12 Andrew J. Hill, Daniel B. Jones
Teacher performance pay is often introduced with the goal of reducing gaps in test scores across groups, yet little is known about how well they achieve this aim. We ask, “Do test score-based teacher incentives impact the Black–White test score gap?” Using student–teacher matched data and a difference-in-differences approach in which the performance of a teacher’s students before and after the policy
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How the Political Economy of Knowledge Production Shapes Education Policy: The Case of Teacher Evaluation in Federal Policy Discourse Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-04-05 Sarah Reckhow, Megan Tompkins-Stange, Sarah Galey-Horn
Using congressional testimony on teacher quality from 2003 to 2015 and analysis of 60 elite interviews, we show how the political economy of knowledge production influences idea uptake in education policy discourse. We develop and assess a conceptual framework showing the organizational and financial infrastructure that links research, ideas, and advocacy in politics. We find that congressional hearing
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Improving Racial Equity in Community College: Developing a Plan, Implementing the Vision Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-03-22 Eric R. Felix
California policymakers passed the Student Equity Policy, requiring all community colleges to develop a “student equity plan” that identified outcome disparities for select student groups, including racial/ethnic students. Through an instrumental case study, I examined Huerta College because their equity plan stood out for its focus on addressing Latinx transfer inequity. I spent two years interviewing
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Just Out of Reach? Unrestrained Supply, Constrained Demand, and Access to Effective Schools in and Around Detroit Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-03-22 Danielle Sanderson Edwards
Research concerning family preferences for schooling indicates that they value proximity to home as much as academic quality when choosing schools. However, preferences for proximity likely represent inability to access schools farther away from home, especially for disadvantaged students. I test whether distance and district boundaries constrain access to high-performing and effective schools for
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Unmeasured Confounding and Racial or Ethnic Disparities in Disability Identification Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-03-01 Paul L. Morgan
Students who are Black or Hispanic are now reported to be less likely to be identified as having disabilities than similarly situated students who are White. Although repeatedly replicated, this finding is often characterized as in error. I use a new statistical technique, the E-value, to quantify the likelihood that unmeasured confounding explains observed associations between race or ethnicity and
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Does Online Course-Taking Increase High School Completion and Open Pathways to Postsecondary Education Opportunities? Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-03-01 Carolyn J. Heinrich, Jennifer Darling-Aduana
Recent increases in high school graduation rates have been linked anecdotally to online course-taking for credit recovery. Online course-taking that supports high school completion could open opportunities for postsecondary education pursuits. Alternatively, poorer quality online instruction could diminish student learning and discourage persistence toward graduation and further education. Using quasi-experimental
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Does Free Community College Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Elizabeth Bell
In this article, I utilize a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effects of Tulsa Achieves—a prevalent and understudied type of tuition-free college program. In contrast to concerns regarding tuition-free community college suppressing bachelor’s degree attainment, I find that Tulsa Achieves increased the likelihood of transferring to 4-year colleges by 13 to 14 percentage points and increased
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Do Teacher Assistants Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From School Funding Cutbacks in North Carolina Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 Steven W. Hemelt, Helen F. Ladd, Calen R. Clifton
This article examines the influence of teacher assistants and other personnel on outcomes for elementary school students during a period of recession-induced cutbacks in teacher assistants. Using panel data from North Carolina, we exploit the state’s unique system of financing its local public schools to identify the causal effects of teacher assistants, controlling for other staff, on measures of
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The Effect of Serving “Breakfast After-the-Bell” Meals on School Absenteeism: Comparing Results From Regression Discontinuity Designs Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-16 J. Jacob Kirksey, Michael A. Gottfried
With the rise in the availability of absenteeism data, it is clear that students are missing a staggering amount of school. Policymakers have focused efforts on identifying school programs that might reduce absenteeism. This study examined whether implementing the program “Breakfast After-the-Bell” (BAB) might reduce school absenteeism. Exploring longitudinal statewide datasets (Colorado and Nevada)
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The Hidden Costs of Corroboration: Estimating the Effects of Financial Aid Verification on College Enrollment Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 Jason C. Lee, Madison Dell, Manuel S. González Canché, Alex Monday, Amanda Klafehn
Every year, the U.S. Department of Education selects hundreds of thousands of low-income students to provide additional documentation to corroborate their financial aid eligibility in a process known as verification. Although many are concerned about the potential deleterious effects of being selected, to date, studies are limited to descriptive analyses. To fill this gap in the literature, we use
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Do Interactions With School Resource Officers Predict Students’ Likelihood of Being Disciplined and Feelings of Safety? Mixed-Methods Evidence From Two School Districts Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 F. Chris Curran, Samantha Viano, Aaron Kupchik, Benjamin W. Fisher
School resource officers (SROs) are common in schools, yet consequences of their presence are poorly understood. This study leveraged mixed-methods data from student surveys and group interviews across 25 schools to examine how the frequency of interactions and trust/comfort between students and SROs relate to disciplinary outcomes and feelings of safety. We found no evidence that, in this context
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Kindergarten Cop: A Case Study of How a Coalition Between School Districts and Law Enforcement Led to School Resource Officers in Elementary Schools Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 Samantha Viano, F. Chris Curran, Benjamin W. Fisher
Adopting school resource officers (SROs) is a popular response to school shootings. Using the advocacy coalition and multiple streams frameworks, we explore how school districts in one county formed a coalition with the Sheriff’s Department, adopting SROs in elementary schools following the Sandy Hook shooting. We describe how this coalition was bound together by shared beliefs on school safety and
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Experimental Estimates of the Student Attendance Production Function Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-01-25 Long Tran, Seth Gershenson
Student attendance is both a critical input and intermediate output of the education production function. However, the malleable classroom-level determinants of student attendance are poorly understood. We estimate the causal effect of class size, class composition, and observable teacher qualifications on student attendance by leveraging the random classroom assignments made by Tennessee’s Student/Teacher
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New Evidence on Teacher Turnover in Early Childhood Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2021-01-18 Daphna Bassok, Anna J. Markowitz, Laura Bellows, Katharine Sadowski
This brief provides a systemwide look at early childhood teacher turnover using data from all publicly funded, center-based early childhood programs in Louisiana, including subsidized child care, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten. It provides new evidence on the prevalence of turnover and explores whether teachers who leave differ from those who stay on a widely used measure of teacher–child interaction
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Can Re-Enrollment Campaigns Help Dropouts Return to College? Evidence From Florida Community Colleges Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Justin C. Ortagus, Melvin Tanner, Isaac McFarlin
In this study, we develop and implement a text messaging re-enrollment campaign to encourage former community college students to return to college. Former students are randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups that either receives information to simplify the re-enrollment process or receives both information and a one-course tuition waiver. We find that providing information and a one-course
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Performance-Based Aid, Enhanced Advising, and the Income Gap in College Graduation: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Christopher Erwin, Melissa Binder, Cynthia Miller, Kate Krause
Income gaps in college enrollment, persistence, and graduation raise concerns for those interested in equal opportunity in higher education. We present findings from a randomly assigned scholarship for low-income students at a medium-sized public 4-year university. The program focused solely on the first four semesters of enrollment and tied aid disbursements to modest academic benchmarks and enhanced
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What Explains the Race Gap in Teacher Performance Ratings? Evidence From Chicago Public Schools Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-12-09 Matthew P. Steinberg, Lauren Sartain
Racial gaps in teacher performance ratings have emerged nationwide across newly implemented educator evaluation systems. Using Chicago Public Schools data, we quantify the magnitude of the race gap in teachers’ classroom observation scores, examine its determinants, and describe the potential implications for teacher diversity. Between-school differences explain most of the race gap and within-school
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The Effect of Developmental Math on STEM Participation in Community College: Variation by Race, Gender, Achievement, and Aspiration Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-11-30 Elizabeth S. Park, Federick Ngo
We use regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of placing into developmental math on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) participation in community colleges and whether these relationships differ for underrepresented racially minoritized (URM), women, STEM-oriented, and STEM-aspiring students. Results show that lower math placement was a deterrent to both math progression
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The Effect of the Community Eligibility Provision on the Ability of Free and Reduced-Price Meal Data to Identify Disadvantaged Students Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-11-16 Cory Koedel, Eric Parsons
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a policy change to the federally administered National School Lunch Program that allows schools serving low-income populations to classify all students as eligible for free meals, regardless of individual circumstances. This has implications for the use of free and reduced-price meal (FRM) data to proxy for student disadvantage in education research and
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The Relationship Between Inclusion, Absenteeism, and Disciplinary Outcomes for Students With Disabilities Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-11-16 Kaitlin P. Anderson
Students with disabilities (SWDs) are more likely to be suspended or expelled than their general education peers and more likely to be chronically absent. This study uses 5 years of student-level data for all Michigan special education students to examine the relationship between educational setting, absenteeism, and disciplinary outcomes. Using within-student variation in an educational setting, I
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A Promise Kept? The Impact of the El Dorado Promise Scholarship on Student Achievement Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-11-16 Jennifer Ash, Elise Swanson, Gary Ritter
We examine whether the El Dorado Promise, a guaranteed college scholarship program for students in the El Dorado School District (EDSD), affected elementary and middle school achievement using a quasi-experimental matching design. We first match the EDSD with similar districts to create a pool of potential comparison students then match students on prior achievement and demographics. The Promise leads
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Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-10-19 Denisa Gándara, Amy Li
Promise programs are proliferating across the United States, with wide variation in their design. Using national data on 33 Promise programs affecting single, 2-year colleges, this study examines program effects on first-time, full-time college enrollments of students by race/ethnicity and gender classification. Results suggest Promise programs are associated with large percent increases in enrollments
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Exploring Influences of Policy Collisions on Transfer Student Access: Perspectives From Street-Level Bureaucrats Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-10-12 Dustin M. Grote, David B. Knight, Walter C. Lee, Bevlee A. Watford
States and institutions increasingly rely on articulation agreements to streamline vertical transfer, although the effectiveness of those policies on transfer student outcomes remains unclear. To better understand this effectiveness, we explored a partnership between the College of Engineering at a mid-Atlantic research university and two community colleges located within the same state. We interviewed
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Performance-Based Funding in American Higher Education: A Systematic Synthesis of the Intended and Unintended Consequences Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-09-14 Justin C. Ortagus, Robert Kelchen, Kelly Rosinger, Nicholas Voorhees
This systematic synthesis examines the intended and unintended consequences of performance-based funding (PBF) policies in higher education. Within this synthesis, we focus particularly on evidence from research studies with strong causal inference designs in an effort to understand the impacts of these policies. PBF adoption is generally associated with null or modest positive effects on the intended
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Improving Preservice Teachers’ Feelings of Preparedness to Teach Through Recruitment of Instructionally Effective and Experienced Cooperating Teachers: A Randomized Experiment Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-09-14 Matthew Ronfeldt, Emanuele Bardelli, Matthew Truwit, Hannah Mullman, Kevin Schaaf, Julie C. Baker
New studies show that the instructional effectiveness of preservice candidates and their cooperating teachers are positively related. However, we neither know if these relationships are causal nor, assuming they are, if it is possible to significantly increase the instructional effectiveness of the cooperating teacher pool. In this study, we randomly assign districts to receive recommendation lists
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The Relationship Between School Turnaround and Student Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-09-09 Christopher Redding, Tuan D. Nguyen
School turnaround has emerged as a predominant strategy to improve chronically low-performing schools, although the approach remains controversial. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 35 studies to examine the relationship between school turnaround and various student outcomes. We find that school turnaround is associated with improved attendance, standardized test scores, and graduation rates
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Elusive Longer-Run Impacts of Head Start: Replications Within and Across Cohorts Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-08-24 Remy Pages, Dylan J. Lukes, Drew H. Bailey, Greg J. Duncan
Using an additional decade of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults (CNLSY), this study replicated and extended Deming’s evaluation of Head Start’s life cycle skill formation impacts in three ways. Extending the measurement interval for Deming’s adulthood outcomes, we found no statistically significant impacts on earnings and mixed evidence of impacts on
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Mathematics Coaching for Conceptual Understanding: Promising Evidence Regarding the Tennessee Math Coaching Model Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-07-20 Jennifer Lin Russell, Richard Correnti, Mary Kay Stein, Ally Thomas, Victoria Bill, Laurie Speranzo
Rigorous college-and-career readiness standards require significant shifts in typical mathematics instruction. Many schools and districts employ coaches to support instructional changes. Although there is evidence that coaching programs can support teaching improvement, research has yet to identify high-leverage coaching practices. In collaboration with a network of state leaders and coaches, our research
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“Name and Shame”: An Effective Strategy for College Tuition Accountability? Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-07-15 Dominique J. Baker
Due to concerns about college affordability, in 2011, the Department of Education began producing two annual public lists of institutions with the highest change in tuition and fees and average net price within sector (top 5% and at least US$600 increase). This study investigates the effect of this low-stakes federal accountability tool on institutional behavior. I use a frontier regression discontinuity
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Experimental Evidence on Teachers’ Racial Bias in Student Evaluation: The Role of Grading Scales Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-06-22 David M. Quinn
A vast research literature documents racial bias in teachers’ evaluations of students. Theory suggests bias may be larger on grading scales with vague or overly general criteria versus scales with clearly specified criteria, raising the possibility that well-designed grading policies may mitigate bias. This study offers relevant evidence through a randomized Web-based experiment with 1,549 teachers
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Learning From Cluster Randomized Trials in Education: An Assessment of the Capacity of Studies to Determine What Works, For Whom, and Under What Conditions Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-06-15 Jessaca Spybrook, Qi Zhang, Ben Kelcey, Nianbo Dong
Over the past 15 years, we have seen an increase in the use of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) to test the efficacy of educational interventions. These studies are often designed with the goal of determining whether a program works, or answering the what works question. Recently, the goals of these studies expanded to include for whom and under what conditions an intervention is effective. In this
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School Closures in Chicago: What Happened to the Teachers? Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-06-01 Helen Lee, Lauren Sartain
In 2013, the Chicago Board of Education closed 47 elementary schools, directly affecting 13,000 students and 900 teachers. The closures created employment uncertainty for closed-school teachers, and this article investigates the labor market consequences for teachers. We employ a difference-in-differences approach that compares the exit rates of closed-school teachers with teachers in schools that
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Helping Parents Navigate the Early Childhood Education Enrollment Process: Experimental Evidence From New Orleans Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-06-01 Lindsay Weixler, Jon Valant, Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal, Alica Gerry
Enrolling in publicly funded early childhood education involves searching for programs, applying, verifying eligibility, and registering with the program. Many families do not complete this process, despite demonstrated interest. In this study, we assessed support for families as they verify eligibility as a means for increasing enrollment completion rates. Working with district administrators, we
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Peeking Into the Black Box of School Turnaround: A Formal Test of Mediators and Suppressors Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-04-06 Gary T. Henry, Lam D. Pham, Adam Kho, Ron Zimmer
A growing body of research evaluates the effects of turnaround on chronically low-performing schools. We extend this literature by formally testing factors that may either mediate or suppress the effects of two turnaround initiatives in Tennessee: the Achievement School District (ASD) and local Innovation Zones (iZones). Using difference-in-differences models within a mediational framework, we find
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Long-Run Changes in Underrepresentation After Affirmative Action Bans in Public Universities Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-04-06 Mark C. Long, Nicole A. Bateman
Affirmative action was banned in California, Texas, Washington, and Florida in the 1990s. Following this early wave, additional states banned the practice, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma. In response to concerns about underrepresented minorities’ falling college enrollment in flagship public universities, administrators and policymakers took a variety of
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What Happens When You Combine High School and College? The Impact of the Early College Model on Postsecondary Performance and Completion Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-03-23 Julie A. Edmunds, Fatih Unlu, Jane Furey, Elizabeth Glennie, Nina Arshavsky
Early colleges are a new model of schooling in which the high school and college experiences are merged, shortening the total amount of time a student spends in school. This study uses a lottery-based experimental design to examine the impact of the model on longer term outcomes, including attainment of a postsecondary credential and academic performance in 4-year institutions. Results show that a
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Trends in Student Social-Emotional Learning: Evidence From the First Large-Scale Panel Student Survey Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-03-23 Martin R. West, Libby Pier, Hans Fricke, Heather Hough, Susanna Loeb, Robert H. Meyer, Andrew B. Rice
A growing number of school systems use self-report surveys to track students’ social-emotional development as a tool to inform policy and practice. We use the first large-scale panel survey of social-emotional learning (SEL) to simulate how four constructs—growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness—develop from Grade 4 to Grade 12 and how these trends vary by gender, socioeconomic
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Teacher Coaching in a Simulated Environment Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-02-24 Julie Cohen, Vivian Wong, Anandita Krishnamachari, Rebekah Berlin
This article evaluates whether providing coaching between practice sessions in teacher education courses leads to more rapid development of skills and changes in teachers’ beliefs about student behavior, using mixed-reality simulations as a practice space and standardized assessment platform. We randomly assigned 105 prospective teachers to different coaching conditions between simulation sessions
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An Honors Teacher Like Me: Effects of Access to Same-Race Teachers on Black Students’ Advanced-Track Enrollment and Performance Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2020-02-10 Cassandra M. D. Hart
Using rich administrative data from North Carolina and school-course fixed effects models, this study explores whether the availability of same-race instructors in advanced-track sections of courses affects Black high school students’ enrollment in, and performance in, advanced-track courses. The availability of at least one Black instructor at the advanced level is associated with a 2 percentage point
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Policy Implementation, Principal Agency, and Strategic Action: Improving Teaching Effectiveness in New York City Middle Schools Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-12-23 Julie Cohen, Susanna Loeb, Luke C. Miller, James H. Wyckoff
Ten years ago, the reform of teacher evaluation was touted as a mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness. In response, virtually every state redesigned its teacher evaluation system. Recently, a growing narrative suggests these reforms failed and should be abandoned. This response may be overly simplistic. We explore the variability of New York City principals’ implementation of policies intended
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Pledging to Do “Good”: An Early Commitment Pledge Program, College Scholarships, and High School Outcomes in Washington State Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-12-16 Dan Goldhaber, Mark C. Long, Trevor Gratz, Jordan Rooklyn
Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington each have programs designed to address college enrollment gaps by offering a promise of state-based college financial aid to low-income middle school students in exchange for making a pledge to do well in high school, be a good citizen, not be convicted of a felony, and apply for financial aid to college. Using a triple-difference specification, we estimate the effects
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Improving Indicators of College Readiness: Methods for Optimally Placing Students Into Multiple Levels of Postsecondary Coursework Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-11-04 Daniel M. Leeds, Christine G. Mokher
Over half of community college students place into developmental education, resulting in significant financial costs. We extend previous research demonstrating that using placement tests to assign students into developmental courses results in frequent misplacement. We use Florida data to explore the extent to which students are misplaced into their first college course by more than one level. Results
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Tenure-Track Appointment for Teaching-Oriented Faculty? The Impact of Teaching and Research Faculty on Student Outcomes Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-10-28 Di Xu, Sabrina Solanki
This article presents new quasi-experimental evidence regarding the effectiveness of teaching-oriented faculty with tenure-track appointment, a model pioneered at the University of California (UC) system. Using data from six cohorts of students at a UC campus, we examine the impact of initial course-taking with three distinct types of instructors—tenure-track research faculty, tenure-track teaching
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Customized Nudging to Improve FAFSA Completion and Income Verification Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-10-28 Lindsay C. Page, Benjamin L. Castleman, Katharine Meyer
Informational and behavioral barriers hinder social benefit take-up. We investigate the impact of mitigating these barriers through providing personalized information on benefits application status and application assistance on filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the gateway to college financial aid. Through a multidistrict experiment, we assess the impact of this outreach
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The Impact of English Learner Reclassification on High School Reading and Academic Progress Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-09-30 Angela Johnson
This study estimates the causal impact of 8th grade English learner (EL) reclassification on high school English language arts (ELA) standardized test scores, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) reading, and on-track to graduate status. I apply a regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California. The estimated effects of eighth grade reclassification on 9th
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High School Course Access and Postsecondary STEM Enrollment and Attainment Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-09-30 Rajeev Darolia, Cory Koedel, Joyce B. Main, J. Felix Ndashimye, Junpeng Yan
We study the effects of access to high school math and science courses on postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrollment and degree attainment using administrative data from Missouri. Our data include more than 140,000 students from 14 cohorts entering the 4-year public university system. The effects of high school course access are identified by exploiting plausibly
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The Effects of Full-Day Prekindergarten: Experimental Evidence of Impacts on Children’s School Readiness Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-09-16 Allison Atteberry, Daphna Bassok, Vivian C. Wong
This study is a randomized control trial of full- versus half-day prekindergarten (pre-K) in a school district near Denver, Colorado. Four-year-old children were randomly assigned an offer of half-day (4 days/week) or full-day (5 days/week) pre-K that increased class time by 600 hours. The full-day pre-K offer produced substantial, positive effects on children’s receptive vocabulary skills (0.275 standard
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Using a Text-as-Data Approach to Understand Reform Processes: A Deep Exploration of School Improvement Strategies Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-08-26 Min Sun, Jing Liu, Junmeng Zhu, Zachary LeClair
Although program evaluations using rigorous quasi-experimental or experimental designs can inform decisions about whether to continue or terminate a given program, they often have limited ability to reveal the mechanisms by which complex interventions achieve their effects. To illuminate these mechanisms, this article analyzes novel text data from thousands of school improvement planning and implementation
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Making the Cut: The Effectiveness of Teacher Screening and Hiring in the Los Angeles Unified School District Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-08-13 Paul Bruno, Katharine O. Strunk
Many schools and districts have considerable discretion when hiring teachers, yet little is known about how that discretion should be used. Using data from a new teacher screening system in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), we find that performance during screening, and especially performance on specific screening assessments, is significantly and meaningfully predictive of hired teachers’
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Teacher Labor Market Responses to Statewide Reform: Evidence From Michigan Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-08-06 Eric Brunner, Joshua M. Cowen, Katharine O. Strunk, Steven Drake
We examine the effect of Michigan’s 2011 reforms to teacher evaluation and tenure policies on teacher retention. Our data are drawn from administrative records containing the population of public school employees from 2005–2006 through 2014–2015. To identify the causal effects of these reforms on teacher attrition, we utilize a difference-in-differences (DD) strategy that compares the exit rates of
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A Matter of Time: Variations in High School Course-Taking by Years-as-EL Subgroup Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-08-05 Angela Johnson
English learners (ELs) lag behind their peers in academic achievement and attainment, partly due to limited exposure to academic content. Prior studies that examine high school course-taking find significant course access gaps between ELs and non-ELs but provide little information on the relation between course-taking and time spent as an EL. This study improves upon previous research by addressing
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To Switch or Not to Switch? The Influence of School Choice and Labor Market Segmentation on Teachers’ Job Searches Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-07-08 Huriya Jabbar, Andrene Castro, Emily Germain
Informal and institutional barriers may limit teacher movement between charter schools and traditional public schools (TPSs). However, we know little about how teachers choose schools in areas with a robust charter school sector. This study uses qualitative data from 123 teachers to examine teachers’ job decisions in three cities with varying charter densities: San Antonio, Detroit, and New Orleans
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The Impacts of Principal Turnover Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-06-10 Brendan Bartanen, Jason A. Grissom, Laura K. Rogers
Nationally, 18% of principals turn over each year, yet research has not yet credibly established the effects of this turnover on student and teacher outcomes. Using statewide data from Missouri and Tennessee, we employ a difference-in-differences model with a matched comparison group to estimate arguably causal effects. We find that principal turnover lowers school achievement by .03 SD in the next
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Strengthening the Research Base That Informs STEM Instructional Improvement Efforts: A Meta-Analysis Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-06-03 Kathleen Lynch, Heather C. Hill, Kathryn E. Gonzalez, Cynthia Pollard
We present results from a meta-analysis of 95 experimental and quasi-experimental pre-K–12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional development and curriculum programs, seeking to understand what content, activities, and formats relate to stronger student outcomes. Across rigorously conducted studies, we found an average weighted impact estimate of +0.21 standard deviations
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School Performance, Accountability, and Waiver Reforms: Evidence From Louisiana Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-06-03 Thomas S. Dee, Elise Dizon-Ross
States that receive federal waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act were required to implement reforms in designated “Focus Schools” that contribute to achievement gaps. We examine the performance effects of such “differentiated accountability” reforms in Louisiana. These Focus School reforms emphasized school-needs assessments and aligned technical assistance. These reforms may have also been uniquely
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Corequisite Mathematics Remediation: Results Over Time and in Different Contexts Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-05-20 A. W. Logue, Daniel Douglas, Mari Watanabe-Rose
Traditional mathematics remediation is based on the theory that traditional mathematics remedial courses increase students’ subsequent academic performance. However, most students assigned to these courses do not pass them and thus cannot graduate. An alternative approach, corequisite remediation, assigns students instead to college-level quantitative courses with additional academic support, often
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Enhancing Engagement With Faculty and Staff to Facilitate Student Success: An Evaluation of a Parent Intervention Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-05-13 Denise Deutschlander
Many low-income and first-generation students who enroll in college experience less desirable outcomes during their first year. Researchers have increasingly investigated the important role of college knowledge and engagement with faculty and staff for student success. Through a randomized controlled trial intervention, this study leverages the relationship between parents and students to encourage
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The Financial Benefits and Burdens of Performance Funding in Higher Education Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (IF 3.196) Pub Date : 2019-03-25 Lori Prince Hagood
Performance funding in higher education is intended to incentivize increased degree production at American colleges and universities by linking state funds directly to institutional outcomes. However, many critics suggest that such funding arrangements create systems of “winners and losers” by rewarding some institutions over others. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, this article explores
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