Brian McCall's Economics of Education Blog

Is College Still a Good Investment?

2011-10-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

If you had $102,000 where would be the best place to invest-- Stocks, bonds or a college degree. ? The Brookings Blog article "Where is the Best Place to Invest $102,000 -- In Stocks, Bonds, or a College Degree?" by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney shows that the best investment is a college degree, even for those graduating high school during the current recession. In fact, on average, college degrees give an average yearly return of 15.2 percent! Hat tip to Steve DesJardins for pointing me to this article.

Cash for Passing AP Exam

2011-10-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

The National Math and Science Initiative pays students $100 for scoring 3 or higher on the AP exam as well as rewarding teachers according to the number of students in their class who pass the exam. The NY times article "Incentives for Advanced Work Let Pupils and Teachers Cash In" reports the experience of a teacher at South High Community School in Boston who saw enrollment in his AP statistics course soar (one requirement imposed by the National Math and Science Initiative is that enrollment barriers be removed) with 43 passing the exam earning the teacher a $7300 bonus.

National History Day Video

2011-09-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice video on U-Tube, that highlights last June's National History Day. Thanks to Alison Armentrout for providing the link.

With Bad Economy, Careers on Hold for Recent College Graduates

2011-09-03T04:05:00.000-07:00

Many college graduates are unable to find jobs that are the beginning of a career path. With the poor economy their careers are on hold as they are unable to find jobs related to their desired career. As reported in the NY Times article, "Career Limbo: Waiting It Out" these recent graduates are waiting for the economy to turn around before seeking a job in their desired school. Research by Till Von Wachter, Phil Oreopoulos and Andrew Heisz, "Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession" has shown that the negative effects on wages of graduating in a recession persist after the recession has ended.

Poorly Performing Teachers fired in D.C.

2011-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Over 200 poorly performing teachers were laid of in the D.C. public schools last week. This was the result of the IMPACT program that was put into place by the former superintendent of schools Michelle Rhee. As reported in the Washington Post article, "206 D.C. teachers fired for poor performance" over 600 hundred teachers were rated as highly effective making them eligible for bonuses of up to $25,000.

Teaching to the test?

2011-07-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Given that standardized tests are now ubiquitous after No Child Left Behind and value added approaches based on tests scores are used to gauge performance, many teachers feel intense pressure to "teach to the test", especially as the time for standardized testing draws near. However, as discussed in the LA Times article "Highly rated instructors go beyond teaching to the standardized test", some highly rated teachers still find novel ways to keep students engaged in topics such as math by giving them "hands on" learning experiences.

Is College Affordable for the Middle Class?

2011-06-13T07:52:00.001-07:00

Over the last decade the price of college has soared while incomes for the middle class have remained flat. Since the middle class does not typically qualify for federal support such as Pell grants the question arises of whether or not college is affordable for the middle class. The CNN Money article "Surging college costs price out middle class" reports that while four-year degrees are still a good investment, many middle class families are opting to send the children instead to two-year colleges.

Wisconsin has the highest public high school graduation rates.

2011-05-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Department of Education recently released the report "Public School Graduates and Dropouts from the Common Core of Data 2008-09." Wisconsin had the highest high school graduation rate (AFGR) at 90.7% while Mississippi had the lowest at 62.0%.

Price weighs heavily in college choice

2011-05-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Many high school seniors who plan to attend college next fall have had to recently decide what university they will attend among those institutions that they have been admitted to. A large number of colleges and universities require students who have been accepted to decide whether or not they will attend by May 1st. As the NY Times article "The Price Tag of a ‘Safety’ School Enhances Its Allure" reports, price may weigh heavily in a student's decision. Private universities and out-of-state public universities are typically more expensive than in-state public universities which leads many students to accept the admission offer at their in-state institution even when they have also been admitted to more prestigious, but more expensive, institutions.

More grim news for California colleges

2011-04-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

The LA times article "California community colleges to slash enrollment, classes" reports that the California's community college system faces an $800 million shortfall and may have to cut enrollment by 400,000 students and eliminate thousands of classes.

Unions push to organize charters in Chicago

2011-04-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

In the past two years unions have organized 12 of the 85 charters in Chicago and they hope to organize all of them reports the NY times article "Unions Move In at Chicago Charter Schools, and Resistance Is Swift." The impact of such unions on teachers and students will ultimately depend on the type of contracts that are instituted. Hopefully contracts won't become as unwieldy as the Chicago Public School's contract.

More proposed cuts to University of California system

2011-03-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Governor Jerry Brown has proposed cutting the University of California System's budget by $500m million dollars. As reported in "UC regents hear grim predictions about the system's future" some Chancellors predict that quality at the campuses may be compromised and course offering will be cut. This will also likely result in large increases in tuition and fees in order to fill the budget shortfall.

Are Most High School Students College Ready? Not in NY

2011-02-09T09:08:00.001-08:00

Education officials in New York have released a report showing that the majority of students who leave high school in the state are not college ready according to their scores on the state's Regent Exams. As reported in the NY times article "Most New York Students Are Not College-Ready" only 23% of high school students who graduate in New York City are college ready. This does not bode well for President Obama's goal of sharply increasing the college graduation rate in the United States.

Freshman more Stressed

2011-01-28T04:55:00.000-08:00

The Higher Education Research Institute's "The American Freshman" report presents findings from the CIRP Freshman survey showing that freshman in 2010 are more stressed out than in previous years. As the figure from the report shows, there has been a general downward trend in emotional health over the last two decades with a moderate downturn in the last year

How to increase Pretige, Raise Tuition

2011-01-15T04:01:00.000-08:00

Officials in Missouri have suggested that by raising tuition at the University of Missouri, the school's prestige may increase. As reported in the Associated Press article "Missouri Tuition Hike could mean Prestige Boost" University of Missouri officials said that some out-of-state students and parents may equate a college's price tag with academic excellence and so could see the increased cost as a reflection of the university's prestige. Of course if the increased tuition revenues are just used to plug revenue shortfalls from other sources, the tuition increase may simply be preventing a decline in academic quality and prestige at the University.

Feds to raise nutrition standards for school meals

2011-01-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

To help counteract the childhood obesity problem in the US, the Federal government is proposing changes in the nutrition content of school meals. As reported in the CNN article "Feds to tighten school nutrition standards" saturated fat would be restricted to less than 10 percent of the total calories in school meals and Trans fat would be eliminated. The change comes on the heels of a new law enacted in December meant to encourage better eating habit by, among other things, giving the federal government control over food sold in vending machines and elsewhere on school grounds.

College Applications Rise in Britain despite tuition increase

2011-01-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

Early indications are that applications to universities will rise in Britain this year despite the increase in tuition. The BBC News article "University applications continue to rise" reports that applications are expected to increase by 2.5% this year despite the rise in tuition to £9000. Of course the real question is what the rise in applications would have been had the tuition increase not occurred.

No Room for Students at Community Colleges

2010-11-28T03:28:00.000-08:00

As unemployed workers seek to retrain at community colleges, state budget cuts are limiting the number of students that can enroll. As the Washington Post article "Workers seek new skills at community colleges, but classes are full" reports even as community college enrollments swelled because of the recession the majority of states cut their higher education budgets last year and most are planning to cut them next year as well. The result is that many individuals who want to learn new skills are prevented from doing so because of a lack of space at community colleges.

California School Districts Sued over Fees

2010-09-11T05:48:00.001-07:00

The ACLU brought suit against several public school districts for allegedly charging fees to students for textbooks etc. The LA times article "ACLU sues California for allowing school districts to charge fees" reports that the suit alleges that more than 30 districts, including the Beverly Hills and Long Beach school districts "require students and their families to pay for basic supplies that are supposed to be provided at no cost". Given current financial conditions of CA public schools one obvious question is, what is the alternative? No books?

Narrowing of DC Achievement Gap Stalls

2010-08-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

While considerable progress has been made in narrowing the black-white gap in reading and achievement math achievement since 2007, recent results show that the gap actually increased slightly between 2009 and 2010. The Washington Post article "Progress slows in closing achievement gaps in D.C. schools" reports that the gap in secondary math proficiency increased by slightly less than 2 percentage points between 2009 and 2010 with secondary reading scores show a similar pattern. We will have to wait until 2011 to see whether or not this is just a one year "blip" in the narrowing trend.

Teachers tampering with tests

2010-06-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

With pay now being linked to test performance in many school districts and adequate yearly progress for NCLB being harder to achieve with the raising of the bar in many states, the incentives for teachers to tamper with tests has increased. The NY times article "Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Test Scores" reports some recent incidents of test tampering including teachers looking over the shoulders of students and point out the right answers and principals erasing wrong answers and filling in the correct answer on state tests.

Current Issue of Economics of Education Review

2010-06-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the articles in the August 2010 issue of Economics of Education Review

1. Low-income students and highly selective private colleges: Geography, searching, and recruiting
by Catharine B. Hill and Gordon C. Winston.
2. What’s the value of an acceptance letter? Using admissions data to estimate the return to college
by Björn Öckert
3. Early decision and college performance
by Elizabeth J. Jensen & Stephen Wu.
4. Educational disparity and the persistence of the black-white wage gap in the U.S.
by Melanie O'Gorman.
5. Faculty employment at 4-year colleges and universities
by Liang Zhang and Xiangmin Liu.
6. Does price matter? Overseas students in UK higher education
by Kwok Tong Soo and Caroline Elliott.
7. Skipping class in college and exam performance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity classroom experiment
by Carlos Dobkin, Ricard Gil and Justin Marion.
8. Birth order, family size and educational attainment
by Monique de Haan.
9. Measuring efficiency of Tunisian schools in the presence of quasi-fixed inputs: A bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach
by Hédi Essid, Pierre Ouellette and Stéphane Vigeant.
10. Redistributive taxation vs. education subsidies: Fostering equality and social mobility in an intergenerational model
by Andrea Schneider.
11. Returns to overeducation: A longitudinal analysis of the U.S. labor market
by Yuping Tsai.
12. Child care subsidies and child development
by Chris M. Herbst and Erdal Tekin.
13. School assignment, school choice and social mobility
by Simon Burgess and Adam Briggs.
14. The economic returns to field of study and competencies among higher education graduates in Ireland
by Elish Kelly, Philip J. O'Connell and Emer Smyth.
15. Teacher hiring practices and educational efficiency
by Linn Renée Naper.
16. Transforming public schools: Impact of the CRI program on child learning in Pakistan
by Muhammad Farooq Naseer, Manasa Patnam, Reehana R. Raza.

Alarming Dropout rates found in New Dept. of Education Report

2010-06-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

A new report released by the Department of Education found that 25% of high school students fail to graduate on time. For African Americans and Hispanics the percentage is about 40%. The report, "Public School Graduates and Dropouts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007–08: First Look" presents average freshman graduate rates (AFGR) by state. The state with the highest AFGR is Wisconsin at 89.6% while the state with the lowest AFGR is Nevada at 51.3%.

Pay for Performance in D.C. Schools

2010-06-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

The Washington DC's teacher union ratified a contract that bases pay on performance not seniority yesterday. As reported in the Washington Post article "D.C. teachers' union ratifies contract, basing pay on results, not seniority," a voluntary performance pay program which will be based on improvements in student test scores and other criteria begins this fall could add between $20,000 to $30,000 to D.C. teachers' salaries. The contract also allows principals to use job performance, instead of seniority, as the main determinant when reducing staff because of declining enrollment or program changes.

New York allowed to Increase the Number of Charter Schools

2010-05-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

The New York state legislature voted to increase the cap on the number of charter schools in the state from 200 to 460. As the NY times article "New York State Votes to Expand Charter Schools" reports this may increase New York's chances of receiving $700 million in Federal "Race to the Top" grant money. In New York City the number of charters would be capped at 214. Currently number of charters in NYC is about 100. The bill also increased the amount of oversight that charters would receive and increased regulations pertaining to the formation and operation of charter schools.

Cal State system may get a boost

2010-05-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

In recent years the California State university system has be cut beyond the bone. In 1984 the university system's share of the state budget was 11% while last year it had shrunk to 5.7%. The budget was cut 21% last year alone. As reported in the LA times article "Investing in Higher Education is a Win-Win," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to increase California State University's budget by about $365 million. While this won't make up entirely for the large one-time cut last year it is at least a step in the right direction.

Market for Teachers is Weakest in Years

2010-05-22T04:45:00.000-07:00

Over 3600 applicants for 8 positions. That is what occurred in the Port Washington District on Long Island. As the NY times article "Teaching Facing Weakest Market in Years" reports the situation is much the same in other school districts. Teach for America received 46,000 applicants for 4,500 slots. While many applicants will have to find alternative work, given the tight labor market conditions the average quality of the teachers that are lucky enough to be hired should be higher than usual.

New DOE report on Reading Test Scores

2010-05-22T04:34:00.001-07:00

The Department of Education released a report on reading test scores for 4th and 8th graders yesterday entitled "Reading 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment: Results at Grades 4 and 8" which looks at National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for 4th and 8th graders at 18 large urban school districts. Here is a summary of the results.

Call for Proposals by National Council on Teacher Quality

2010-04-28T04:44:00.000-07:00

The National Council on Teacher Quality is issuing a call for proposals for its second biennial research competition. This preeminent competition culminates in a national conference in March 2011 in Washington, D.C., when finalists will defend their paper before some of the nation’s top teacher quality scholars. The 2009 jury included Jane Hannaway, Eric Hanushek, Susan Moore Johnson and Michael Podgursky. See the site http://www.nctq.org/tr3/competition/competition2011.jsp for details.

Mass Layoffs Loom for Teachers

2010-04-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Unless additional money is forthcoming from the federal government, many school districts will be forced to layoff large numbers of school teachers. The NY times article "Districts Warn of Deeper Teacher Cuts" reports that hundreds of thousands of teacher jobs around the country may be eliminated. The Los Angeles school district is one of the school districts facing deep potential cuts in jobs where last month the Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines sent layoff notices to 5,200 of the district’s 80,000 employees.

New York City will no longer pay some teachers to do nothing

2010-04-17T06:58:00.001-07:00

New York City pays some $30 million a year to some 650 educators who do nothing. As reported in the Associated Press article "NYC to stop paying teachers to do nothing" these teachers go to reassignment centers or "rubber rooms" everyday and surf the Net, play scrabble or read. Educators can spend months or even years in these rubber rooms while awaiting disciplinary hearings. Under a new agreement with the United Federation of Teachers, most of the teachers will be given administrative or nonclassroom work while their cases are pending. Teachers accused of serious charges including violent felonies, however will be suspended without pay.

Is Reading is Fundamental doomed?

2010-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

A change in the way that the federal government is planning to allocate funds to increase literacy may severely hamper some non-profit organizations who are currently running literacy programs the best known of which is the Reading is Fundamental or RIF program. As is reported in the NY times article "U.S. Plan Threatens Free-Book Group", RIF stands to lose all of its federal financing, which accounts for roughly 75 percent of its annual revenues through this change. RIF is mainly involved with giving out free books to under-privileged children to enhance their literacy.

And the Winners Are

2010-03-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

Delaware and Tennessee were the only two states awarded some of the Department of Education's Race to the Top Funds. According to the New York Times article "U.S. Names Education Grant Winners" Delaware will be awarded approximately $100 million and Tennessee about $500 million. One prominent feature of Delaware’s proposal was a new state law that allows teachers rated as “ineffective” for three years to be removed from the classroom, regardless of whether they have tenure or not.

Kids Maths Scores Up, Reading Scores Flat

2010-03-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Children's Math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress or (NAEP) test have been increasing over time while reading scores are stagnant. The NY times article "Reading Scores Lagging Compared With Math" reports that Math scores increased 20 points for eighth graders and 27 points for fourth graders from 1990 to 2009. Readings scores however, changed little. Eighth graders scored 264 (500-point scale) in reading in 2009, compared with 263 in 2007. Fourth graders scored 221 on the 2009 test, which was the same average score as in 2007. Across the nation only 33 percent of fourth graders scored at or above the proficient level based on the most recent NAEP test.

State Education Profiles

2010-03-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

For state level information on measures such as student/teacher ratios in elementary & secondary education, total expenditures on elementary & secondary education etc. see the NCES website

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/stateprofiles/

It also has state level info on post-secondary education.

Proposed Increase in Pell Grants

2010-03-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Congressional Democrats announced legislation that would provide 36 billion in additional funding to Pell grants. The NY times article "Bill Proposes Increased Aid to the Needy for College" reports that the bill proposes to increase the maximum Pell grant to $5,975 in $2017 which is a $625 increase from what it currently is. The increase in Pell grants would be funded by eliminating subsidies to private banks who make student loans.

Obama announces plan to raise academic standards

2010-03-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

As reported by The Washington Post article "Obama proposes to raise academic standards by linking them to state benchmarks," President Obama announced his plan to require states' benchmarks for reading and mathematics to be such that students are college or career ready. State could verify that its benchmarks meet the expected level by either adopting standards developed through a consortium of states or by certifying, in a process to be developed with universities, that their existing standards are high enough. To insure compliance, $14.5 billion in annual education aid for students from poor families would be tied to states' action on standards. The plan is part of Obama's envisioned modifications to NCLB.

Obama's changes to NCLB would affect schools differently

2010-03-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Obama proposes to change how schools are treated under NCLB. As reported in the Washington Post article "Changes to No Child Left Behind would affect schools differently" the worst performing schools would be treated more harshly, the best performing schools would be rewarded and those in the middle would be left alone to innovate. For example, under the proposal Principals of schools in the lowest 5% of performing schools would almost surely be fired. Of course this carrot/stick approach stronger incentives for schools (especially at the bottom) to improve. How much improvement actually occurs remains to be seen.

On my reading List

2010-03-07T03:21:00.000-08:00

Students Choosing Colleges: Understanding the Matriculation Decision at a Highly Selective Private Institution by Peter Nurnberg, Morton Schapiro, and David Zimmerman, NBER Working paper #15772.

A Stitch in Time: The Effects of a Novel Incentive-Based High-School Intervention on College Outcomes by C. Kirabo Jackson, NBER working paper #15722.

Do Principals Fire the Worst Teachers? by Brian A. Jacob, NBER working paper #15715.

Grade Inflation at Unversity of Michigan

2010-03-07T03:01:00.000-08:00

As an example of grade inflation this graph shows grade inflation at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from 1951-2008. In 1951 the mean GPA at University of Michigan was 2.58. By 2008 it had risen to 3.27.

Rising Grades

2010-03-07T02:32:00.000-08:00

Over the last few decades average grade point average in U.S. colleges and universities have risen by 0.1 points per decade. The article "Grades on the Rise" in Inside Higher Education reports that in the 1950s the mean G.P.A. was 2.52. By 2006-07, it has risen to 3.11. These findings are based on data collected by Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke University professor who created GradeInflation.com to document grade inflation. The graph above was taken from this website and shows GPA trends broken done by public versus private schools

Results of an Evaluation of Head Start Program

2010-03-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

The results from a randomized assignment evaluation of Head Start was released in a report by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in January. The study is consistent with Head Start having a positive effect relative to the child staying home with the parents, but little effects relative to the alternatives chosen by the parents in the absence of access to Head Start. Some of the findings could be due to the considerable attrition from the study.

Hat tip: Jeff Smith (http://econjeff.blogspot.com/)

Finalists for Race to Top funds announced

2010-03-05T06:46:00.001-08:00

The Department of Education announced 15 finalists for the $4.35 billion race to the top funds. Here they are:

Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee

Guidance Counselors Provide Little Help

2010-03-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

The NY times article"Graduates Fault Advice of Guidance Counselors" reports about the results of a recent survey by the non-profit research organization Public Agenda found that guidance counselors provided little meaningful advice to high schools students. Many of the survey respondents reported that the best advice came from their teachers. Of course with student counselor ratios of nearly 300 to 1 (and as high as 1000 to 1 in California) it is not surprising that guidance counselors have a hard time providing adequate support to students.

Course difficulty - course grade tradeoff

2010-02-21T02:02:00.000-08:00

Having just looked at many graduate school applications myself this article in the Boston Globe "Praising the low grade for a harder course" resonated with me. It notes how many college students shy away from the harder courses in order to maintain a high GPA in order to get into graduate school. Of course professors know this strategy and may actually prefer a student with a lower GPA who had taken more difficult courses to a student who has a high GPA with easy courses. Although there is no formal weighted GPA when applying to graduated school professors do it implicitly.

Less Generous Financial Aid From Private Colleges

2010-02-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

Due to the weak economy, some of the elite colleges are planning to reintroduce student loans as part of their financial aid package in order to cut costs. As the AP article "Private Colleges Looking to Rein in Financial Aid" reports both Dartmouth and Williams college would no longer offer aid packages that allow students, irrespective of income, to attend college without taking out loans. More schools are expected to follow suit.

As more take the AP exams failure rates rise

2010-02-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

The Advanced Placement exam is being taken by more high school students but as reported by the NY times article "Expansion of A.P. Tests Also Brings More Failures" failure rates are rising. Although the absolute numbers of students scoring 3 or above has gone up, so as the fraction scoring 1 or 2 which is deemed as unacceptable by colleges. Between 2001 and 2009 the rate of high school students earning a 1 or 2 on the exam has increased from 39 to 43 percent.

Grade Deflation at Princeton

2010-01-31T03:34:00.000-08:00

The NY times article "Type-A-Plus Students Chafe at Grade Deflation" reports that a few years ago Princeton set out to control grade inflation. The school's effort has paid off, the GPA of the graduating class of 2009 was 3.39 as compared to the class of 2003, but some students are complaining that it puts them at a disadvantage in the job market compared to graduates of other universities. Certainly employers must adjust for the prestige of selective colleges, Princeton versus Rutgers, for example. However, unless employers had good information by university about the average GPAs of graduates then Princeton graduates may be at a disadvantage when compared to Yale or Harvard graduates. All schools reporting a graduate's class rank, however, could help solve the problem.

Renting College Textbooks

2010-01-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

The high price of college text books has led to a thriving rental market reports the recent Washington Post article, "College students rent textbooks to save money." Instead of buying textbooks and selling them back at the end of the semester many students are simply renting the textbooks. It isn't surprising that the rental price is lower than the price of buying the book. It would be interesting, however, to see whether it is lower than the price of the book less the sell back price.

December 2009 issue of Economics of Education Review

2010-01-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

The following articles appeared in the December 2009 issue of the Economics of Education Review.

"Effects of weight on children's educational achievement." by Robert Kaestner & Michael Grossman.
"Is identification with school the key component in the ‘Black Box’ of education outcomes? Evidence from a randomized experiment" by Jason M. Fletcher.
"Labour market effects of the polytechnic education reform: The Finnish experience." by Petri Böckerman, Ulla Hämäläinen & Roope Uusitalo.
"An empirical analysis of teacher spillover effects in secondary school: by Cory Koedel.
"Sexual orientation and outcomes in college." by Christopher S. Carpenter.
"Program participation of immigrant children: Evidence from the local availability of Head Start." by Matthew Neidell & Jane Waldfogel.
"Students’ academic self-perception." by Arnaud Chevalier, Steve Gibbons, Andy Thorpe, Martin Snell, Sherria Hoskins.
"Distance and intrastate college student migration." by James Alm & John V. Winters.
"The impact of internal migration on educational outcomes: Evidence from Turkey." by Ali Berker.
Does educational expansion encourage female workforce participation? A study of the 1968 reform in Taiwan." by Wehn-Jyuan Tsai, Jin-Tan Liu, Shin-Yi Chou & Robert Thornton.
"Do sheepskin effects help explain racial earnings differences?" by John D. Bitzan.

On my reading list

2010-01-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Good, the Bad and the Average: Evidence on the Scale and Nature of Ability Peer Effects in Schools by Victor Lavy, Olmo Silva, and Felix Weinhardt. NBER Working paper #15600

Improved outlook for college graduates?

2010-01-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal article "More Employers Plan to Increase Hiring of College Graduates" reports that the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)‘ index for college hiring increased from 87.2 in November to 98.2 in December. The index is based on the organization of career counselors’ survey of 122 employers. On another note, the NACE salary survey found that starting salary offers for new college graduates fell for the college Class of 2009. The average starting salary offer dipped 1.2 percent from the $49,224 offered to the Class of 2008 to $48,633.

More on Student Loan Default rates

2009-12-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a plot of national student loan default rates from the Federal Student Aid web site. There has been an increase in default rates since 2005. The state with the highest default rates is Arizona at 9.8%. The default rate at University of Michigan where I work is only 1.2%.

High student loan default rates at for-profit institutions

2009-12-14T07:17:00.001-08:00

The NY times article, "New Rules for Colleges on Defaults" reports that the average three-year default rates at for-profit post-secondary institutions exceeds 20 percent. Of the more than 300 institutions with three-year default rates above 30 percent more than 85 percent are for-profit.

On my reading list

2009-12-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

Accountability and Flexibility in Public Schools: Evidence from Boston's Charters and Pilots
Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua Angrist, Susan Dynarski, Thomas J. Kane, and Parag Pathak NBER Working Paper #15549

Why Have College Completion Rates Declined? An Analysis of Changing Student Preparation and Collegiate Resources
John Bound, Michael Lovenheim, and Sarah Turner NBER Working Paper #15566

Inference on a Generalized Roy Model, with an Application to Schooling Decisions in France
Xavier d'Haultfoeuille and Arnaud Maurel IZA DP #4606

Harvard suspends tuition program for law students

2009-12-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

Law students who pledge to work for non-profit organizations or the government for five years were able to get free tuition at Harvard for their third year of law school. However, as the NY Times article "Harvard Law School Suspends Program Giving Students Free Tuition" reports, due to the recession and the fact that more than twice as many students signed up as expected Harvard is suspending the program. Why not have a lottery that randomly chooses half the students? Then we could track those who get the free tuition and compare their outcomes to those who applied but did not receive free tuition.

The Digital Divide

2009-12-06T04:10:00.000-08:00

As elementary schools make more use of computers in the curriculum, it becomes more difficult for low income students to keep up since they are unlikely to have a computer with internet access at home. The Washington Post article "Lack of computer access hampers some students" reports that while public libraries offer access to the internet, it is not always easy for these students to get to the library. Perhaps individuals could donate their old laptop when buying a new one to help low income individuals (maybe Best Buy or Dell could run the program), like the charities that accept old car donations. Local governments could also subsidize internet access for low income families with school age children.

On my reading list

2009-12-03T03:26:00.000-08:00

Accountability and Flexibility in Public Schools: Evidence from Boston's Charters and Pilots by
Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua Angrist, Susan Dynarski, Thomas J. Kane, and Parag Pathak NBER Working paper #15549

How Consistent Are Class Size Effects? by Spyros Konstantopouos, IZA discussion paper #4566.

Community colleges attracting more bright students

2009-12-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

With the recession and rising costs more bright students are first going to community college before completing there BA degree at a four-year university. As the Washington Post article "The best and brightest take a detour" reports many community colleges offer honor's programs that are very attractive to bright students and provide a cheaper alternative route to a four year degree from a good university: spend first two years at community college and then transfer to four-year university. While 4-year completion rates are generally lower for those start at two-colleges, it may be less of an issue for high ability students who enroll in such honors programs.

Racial gap in joblessness for those with College Degrees

2009-12-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older is almost twice as high as that of white male college graduates 25 and older (8.4% vs 4.4%). NY times article "In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap" also reports on the Journal of Labor Economics paper by Giuliano, Levine & Leonard that finds that white, Asian and Hispanic managers hire more whites and fewer blacks than black managers did and the American Economic Review paper "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" by Bertrand and Mullainathan that found that job applicants with black sounding names got half as many call-backs as job applicants with white sounding names.

Charter Schools vs. Public Schools

2009-11-30T02:35:00.000-08:00

Two recent studies have investigated whether children do better at charter schools than public schools. The Washington Post aritcle "Charter schools: Two studies, two conclusions" reports that the study by Margaret Raymond found that charter schools do, at best, as well as public schools while a study by Caroline Hoxby using data from New York City found that charter schools performed better than public schools. Has Hoxby rightly points out, Raymond's study fails to account for the fact that different types of individuals select into charter schools which may bias her results. Hoxby's study uses the fact that since more children want to enroll in NYC charter schools than there is room for, selection is based on a lottery. This randomization allows one to eliminate potential selectivity bias. Raymond is director of Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes while Hoxby is a Stanford economist.

An Indirect Effect of the Recession on Schools

2009-11-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

One indirect effect of the recession on schools is the increase in children eligible for free and reduced price meals. The Washington Post article "Joblessness at home a burden on schools" reports that many Virginia counties have seen sizable increases in the percent of students who qualify. For example, in Fairfax county the fraction of students eligible for free and reduced price meals has risen from 20% to 25% in the last three years.

Parents Raise Money for Longer School Days

2009-11-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

The NY times article "To Pay for Longer School Days, Some Parents Try Raising Money" reports that for one Chicago public school, parents are trying to raise enough money so that the school their children attend can lengthen the school day by one hour. For this particular school, Disney II Magnet school the cost would be $100,000. Some other public schools in Chicago have managed to lengthen the school day through foundation grants.The Chicago school system has one of the shortest school days of any major city schools system. Charter and contract schools in Chicago, however, offer longer school days. An extra hour a day would bring the length of the school day to what it is currently in the Boston public schools. So an extra hour a day is more a matter of keeping up with the rest than moving ahead.

NY City to use student test scores in deciding tenure

2009-11-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

The NY Times article "Mayor Says Student Scores Will Factor Into Teacher Tenure" reports that Mayor Bloomberg announced that student test scores would be a factor in tenure decisions at NYC schools. The mayor also suggested that teacher's students' test scores should play a factor in layoff decisions rather than seniority. While such policies give teachers increased incentives to improve test scores, how much it improves overall teacher effort is unclear since they may simply shift their focus from subject matter unrelated to the tests to subject matter related to the tests.

On my reading list

2009-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent papers that I plan to read:

The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob, NBER working paper #15531.

Estimation of Treatment Effects Without an Exclusion Restriction: with an Application to the Analysis of the School Breakfast Program
by Daniel L. Millimet and Rusty Tchernis, NBER working paper #15539 .

Family Bonding with Universities
Jonathan Meer and Harvey S. Rosen, NBER working paper #15493.

Easier for Independent Students to Get Aid

2009-11-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

A story on the website denverpost.com, "Change in financial forms aids independent students," reports that it is easier now for students to submit Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA forms without parents now. Students generally have to either by 24 or older, be married, be a veteran, or have a legal dependent to be considered independent. Some additional groups who qualify for independent status in 2009-2010 are individuals who were in foster care; emancipated minors or minors in legal guardianship ; and individuals that have been verified as an unaccompanied youth who are homeless children or youth or are at risk of homelessness. If you are independent questions pertaining to your parent's income no longer show up on the online form.

Applications up at NY community colleges

2009-11-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

California is not the only state to see a surge in college applications. The NY times article "Two-Year Colleges, Swamped, No Longer Welcome All " is reporting that applications are up at community colleges in New York. From the same time last year applications to community colleges in New York are up 19%. Last month, however, the Governor of New York proposed mid-year budget cuts that would hit higher education particularly hard.

Cal States gets big increase in applications

2009-11-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

The LA times article "CSU applications up 53% from last year" reports that the California State university system saw a 53% increase in applications this year even though it raised tuition by a whopping 30%. It further plans to cut admissions by 40,000! Perhaps there is room to raise tuition even more.

Stimulus Package is a boon to education jobs

2009-10-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

AP press article "Officials: 250,000 teaching jobs aided by stimulus" reports that the Obama administration is estimating that the stimulus package has saved or created 250,000 jobs. Once the stimulus money runs out, and assuming another stimulus package is not forthcoming, how many of these jobs will remain?

Obama wants longer school days

2009-09-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

The recent AP article "Obama wants nation’s children to spend more time in school" reports that President Obama thinks that kids need more time in school to keep competitive in a global economy. Of course the question would be should the additional time be accomplished through more time per day or more days or both. If kids ability to assimilate knowledge declines as the length of the school day increases beyond some point then lengthening the school day may be less effective than increasing the number of school days per year.

Class sizes grow with California's budget woes

2009-09-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

If class size matters for achievement then we might expect to see achievement drop (or increase more slowly) in LA since they have been forced by tight budgets to increase class sizes. In some cases class sizes exceed 50. As reported by the LA times article "Budget cuts push some classrooms way over capacity" classes designed to hold 30 students may be now crammed with 45 or more students.

On my reading list

2009-09-09T03:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few recent NBER working papers in education that I plan to read.

Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India
Karthik Muralidharan and Venkatesh Sundararaman #15323

Do Universities Generate Agglomeration Spillovers? Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks Shawn Kantor and Alexander Whalley #15299

Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition
John Bound, Brad Hershbein, and Bridget Terry Long #15272

It's not only students who benefit from grade inflation

2009-09-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

The NY times article "Teacher Bonuses Total $27 Million, Nearly Double Last Year’s" reports that 97% of NYC schools received grades of A or B from the Department of Education up from 79% the previous year. About 90% of the high poverty schools who are eligible for a bonus will receive them. It is unclear how effective the program will be in improving the long term success of students. Certainly the teachers are happy at getting the additional money. It appears that the manner in which overall scores were computed differed from the previous year. It would be interesting to see how much of the change in grades is due to the change in the formula. All the data can be downloaded from the NYC Department of Education web page.

Cash for Passing AP Exams

2009-08-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

A program called reach gives students up to $1000 for passing an AP exam. The NY times article, "In Program Giving Cash, More Pass A.P. Tests" reports that the program was offered at 26 public schools and 5 catholic schools and that the number of students passing AP exams rose from 1,161 to 1,240. It would have been nice if they would have had a better research design so that the could more convincingly demonstrate the effectiveness of the cash incentive. Maybe they have one, but it was not discussed in the article.

Recession leading many become teacher

2009-08-01T07:15:00.001-07:00

The recession is causing many to switch careers. One occupation that people are switching to is teaching. The Washington Post article "Business Is Brisk for Teacher Training Alternatives" reports that enrollment in career switching teaching programs has risen up to 40% in some programs. While job for teachers in the short run is tight, this new supply of teachers may help ease the shortage of teachers which is expected to develop in the longer-run.

Unions targeting Charter Schools

2009-08-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

Another article on how unions are trying to unionize charter schools. This one is in NY times and is entitled "As Charter Schools Unionize, Many Debate Effect." See my post on 6/24/2009 for another article.

Big Cut in State Appropriation at University of California

2009-07-12T03:55:00.001-07:00

California's massive budget deficit has led to a more than $800 million dollar cut in University of California's state appropriation. As reported in the NY times article, "University of California Makes Cuts After Reduction in State Financing" furloughs will be imposed, student fees increased, various campus programs eliminated and hiring will be nearly frozen. Furloughs for highly paying faculty will be the equivalent of a 10% pay cut. Although other universities have suffered as the result of the current recession and drops in endowments, these deep cuts in the UC system's state appropriations may put it at a serious competitive disadvantage relative to its peer institutions.

Finding a job for teens is tough, especially in CA

2009-06-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

Teens have been hit particularly hard in the recession. As an article in the LA times "Teens and young adults find a harsh job market" reports, in California, with an overall unemployment rate of 11.2%, teenage unemployment was a 27.8%. With a minimum wage of $8.00 per hour in California it would be interesting to know whether and by how much teen unemployment could be lowered by reducing the minimum wage to the federal minimum wage, which will be increased to $7.25 in late July.

Unions target Charter schools

2009-06-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

The AP article "Unions seek bigger role in charter schools" talks about union attempts to organize charter schools in New York and Chicago. While the union will certainly help the (median) teacher, the big question is whether students will pay the price. Hopefully, the contracts are custom designed to the particular charter and allow for some flexibility.

Fees or Tax ?

2009-06-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

The BBC article "Call for student tax - not fees" reports on the proposal from the UK's National Union of Students to replace fees with an income tax that would be levied for twenty years after finishing school. Students who earn more would pay proportionately more for a college education. These repayments would be the equivalent of a loan with a variable repayment amount depending on income. Of course there is no reason why one should fix the length of the repayment plan. One could alternatively vary the amount of the repayment with income levels, and also adjust the length of the repayment period accordingly so that all individuals repay the total amount of loan but at different rates.

Lousy Job Market for College Graduates

2009-06-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

A recent Reuters story "Dismal job market for graduating U.S. students" reports on the poor job prospects for students graduating college this year. One consequence is the surge in Teach for America applications. Although not mentioned, graduate school applications are likely to increase as a result.

Will Stimulus lower rates of Remediation?

2009-05-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

The stimulus package has required states to improve the high school courses they offer so that high school graduates are less likely to have to take remedial classes in college. The NY Times article "New Push Seeks to End Need for Pre-College Remedial Classes" reports on some efforts by states to better align high school course curricula with the requirements necessary to succeed in college. Whether these efforts will succeed remains to be seen.

California May cut aid and hike fees

2009-05-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

The LA Times article "California could be the first state to cut student aid while hiking fees" reports on Schwarzenegger's plan to eliminate the Cal Grant program that would result in the loss of financial aid to over 100,000 incoming freshman. At the same time both University of California and the California State Universities are planning fee increases of around 10%. If this proposal passes and other aid cannot fill the void left by elimination of the Cal Grant program many low income students in California may find college unaffordable.

Community Colleges Offering Bachelor's Degrees

2009-05-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

The NY times article "Community Colleges Challenge Hierarchy With 4-Year Degrees" reports that some community colleges are beginning to offer 4-year degrees. In Florida 14 community colleges are authorized to offer 4 - year degrees and 12 of them do. This may help fill the needs of older, working, students who may not live near a 4-year university or college (or may be unable to afford one).

Kids with ADHD on medicine have higher test scores

2009-04-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

An article by the AP, "Study links ADHD medicine with better test scores," reports that kids with ADHD who take medicine have test scores in math that are on average 3 points higher and in English that are over 5 points higher on average than kids with ADHD that are not on medication. Both groups score lower on average than kids without ADHD. It is unclear from the article whether or not the results were based on randomization. Will have to look at the original study.

Preschools feeling the effects of down economy

2009-04-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

Preschools are starting to feel the effects of the recession in terms of applicants for fall enrollment. The NY times article "Scrambling to Enroll More Preschoolers" reports that many preschools who would normally be full at this time are reporting that they still have openings. Other schools are reporting that, while full, waiting lists are much shorter this year.

Large Gaps in Urban-Suburban High School Graduation Rates

2009-04-22T02:16:00.000-07:00

The NY Times article "Large Urban-Suburban Gap Seen in Graduation Rates" reports on the results of a study prepared for the Americas Promise Alliance and the Gates foundation which find large differences between high school graduation rates in cities and suburbs. The largest difference, between suburb and city, 42%, is found in Cleveland (80% in suburbs versus 38% in city). Indianapolis had the lowest high school graduation rate (30%). The good news, overall the 50 largest city average graduation rate did in increase between 1995 and 2005 by 4.4%.

Work-Study will get a boost

2009-04-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

An interesting article in NY times about work-study, "They'll Work for Education", shows some of the jobs students are working in the work-study program and how the work-study program will get a boost from the stimulus package.

On My Reading List

2009-04-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some papers from the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) which I plan to read and discuss on this blog in the coming days.

Magali Beffy, Denis Fougere and Arnaud Maurel "Choosing the Field of Study in Post-Secondary Education: Do Expected Earnings Matter?"

Steve Gibbons and Olmo Silva "Faith Primary Schools: Better Schools or Better Pupils?"

Tuomas Pekkarinen, Roope Uusitalo and Sari Kerr, "School Tracking and Devlopment of Cognitive Skills"

On my Reading List

2009-04-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some new papers from the NBER that I plan to read and discuss on this blog in the coming days.

Charter Schools in New York City: Who Enrolls and How They Affect Their Students' Achievement
Caroline M. Hoxby and Sonali Murarka #14852.

Early Admissions at Selective Colleges
Christopher Avery and Jonathan D. Levin #14844.

Learning about academic ability and the college drop-out decision
Todd R. Stinebrickner and Ralph Stinebrickner #14810 .

Colleges Asking Donors for Help With Financial Aid

2009-04-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

A recent NY Times articles "Colleges ask Donors to Help Meet Demand for Aid" reports that the strong demand for financial aid do to the downturn in the economy as lead some colleges to ask donors to help with financial aid. Of course since donors are also hurting financially it may be hard for them to help much.

Students Increasingly Sorted by Achievement

2009-04-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

A recent article in the Chronicle "Students Increasingly Sorted Among Colleges Based on Achievement, Study Finds" reports the findings of one of my colleagues (Michael Bastedo) and a graduate student in our program (Ozan Jaquette) that students are increasingly being sorted by achievement.

Determining financial aid

2009-04-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

In a recent NY times article "Dividing up the Pot" explains how some schools determination of financial aid (namely B.C.) may differ from the government's determination via FASFA. Also there is a link to a college cost calculator.

Incentives to Work in Tough Schools

2009-01-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

The BBC News article "Cash for Working in Tough Schools" gives teachers £10,000 to work in tougher schools. The money is awarded if the teacher stays in the same school for 3 years. Will the compensating differential be enough? Time will tell.

Will Obama Push for Early Childhood Education

2008-12-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

The recent article in the NY times "Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education" reports on how many advocates of early childhood education are hoping that Obama lives up to his campaign promises and puts early education high on his agenda. Much of the evidence on the importance of early childhood education comes from the work of James Heckman an economist at U of Chicago.

2008-11-29T01:58:00.000-08:00

A recent article in the NY times entitled "Beyond the Ivied Halls, Endowments Suffer" reports that many universities with substantial endowments who have suffered are considering selling off their private equity holdings. One problem they face is that the market for these holdings is thin especially given the current economic conditions. The NY times article mentions that private equity is being bought at 50 cents on the dollar nowadays, so universities who sell may face substantial losses. However, some of the private equity holdings require owners to pay in (capital calls) so some cash strapped universities may still find it in their best interests to sell.

Tough times for students and schools

2008-09-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

A New York times article "Hard Times Hitting Students and Schools" reports that with the economic downturn many more students are eligible for free lunch programs. Schools are also being squeezed by high energy and food prices.

Are the High Gasoline Prices Really Leading to Increased On-line Enrollment?

2008-07-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

The New York Times article "High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom" reports that there is a surge in on-line enrollments due to the high gasoline prices. While that may be true, many other factors have also changed in the past year (e.g. economy, in general, is doing worse, tuition has risen etc.). The question then is whether high gasoline prices remains the main factor, once all the other changes have been properly accounted for.

Swapping Tenure for Pay in D.C.

2008-07-03T04:24:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post article "Rhee Seeks Tenure-Pay Swap for Teachers" reports that D.C. Chancellor Rhee proposed a pay system where teachers could give-up tenure for the opportunity to make significantly more money. The proposal is for a two tier system. In the "Red" tier teachers would keep tenure and get the traditional raise. In the "Green" tier teachers would earn bonuses and the opportunity to make significantly more money but would give up their tenure and be evaluated yearly and would possibly lose their jobs if they failed the evaluation or failed to raise student's test scores.

If accepted would the proposal work? Poor teachers would obviously opt into the "Red" tier. Good teachers, who aren't too risk averse would opt into the "Green" tier. The higher rewards would then help keep these good teachers around. So, it would be unlikely to rid D.C. of poor teachers but at least it would help reward good teachers and reduce their turnover.

The union said that teachers would likely reject the proposal.

Lenders Cutback on Student Loans to Community Colleges

2008-06-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

A recent New York Times article "Student Loans Start to Bypass 2-Year Colleges" reports that some banks such as Citibank are not offering student loans to community colleges, and for-profit colleges. Community colleges make up over 40% of college enrollment. How student enrollment at community colleges re acts to such changes in borrowing opportunities remains to be seen.