Education Commons^™

Yearly Changes In Education Expenditure And Changes In Student Performance, Dale A. Manzo

Undergraduate Economic Review

Using data from the state of Florida in the 2000s, we dispute the findings of the Coleman report. We find that there is a positive relationship between changes in expenditure per pupil and changes in academic performance. This study takes advantage of changes in expenditure resulting from the Great Recession to formulate a quasi-experimental analysis of the relationship between expenditure per pupil and academic performance. Our conclusion is consistent with the theory of decreasing marginal returns to expenditure on education.

Measuring The Black-White Dissimilarity Index In Williamsburg And James City County Public High Schools, Sylvia Greer

Undergraduate Economic Review

In 2007, the Williamsburg-James City County (WJCC) School Board chose to open a third high school and redistrict the attendance of their public high schools.

I used a measure of racial unevenness to assess what this decision did to racial segregation in the school district. Using the black-white dissimilarity index, I found that the high schools have had increasing racial segregation from 2000 to 2015, with a significant increase due to the new school.

As the WJCC school board, students, and families move forward, they should be careful to measure and address the levels of segregation in the district.

Education And Job Match: Revisited, Saagar Dulani, Hannah Baney, Hoang Nguyen, Yifei Yan

Undergraduate Economic Review

To study the changes in the effect of degree field on mismatch and the change in the effect of mismatch of wages over time, we revisit a study by Robst (2006) who found that workers who are mismatched earn less than adequately match workers with the same amount schooling. Using recent data from 2015 National Survey of College Graduate (NSCG), we also find a negative relationship between the case of mismatch and the outcome of workers in term of wages, even though the degree of mismatch doesn’t seem to matter as much.

Catering To The Common Denominator: An Alternative Perspective On Measuring College Academic Achievement And Performance, Jibin Joseph

Undergraduate Economic Review

This study focuses on colleges offering B.A. Economics (H) in Delhi University and divides students into 3 distinct groups, based on their GPA, namely high performers, poor performers and the average. By proving that the average form the majority in all instances, I measure the capability of colleges to motivate the same to perform better. To do so, I propose a framework that captures the movement of students between the established groups over two years (i.e. 4 semesters). Furthermore, I enunciate that the high dispersion, not only between but within colleges, points towards an institutional inefficiency, suggesting unequal dissemination/absorption of …

Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina: Measuring The Impact Of The Recovery School District On Student Outcomes, Mark Perfect

Undergraduate Economic Review

This article builds on a recent body of research relating to the development of charter schools in New Orleans. In particular, this article employs two multivariate Ordinary Least Squares models as well as a Propensity Score Matching design to predict selected student outcomes based on given school characteristics. Although past research has determined that school outcomes in New Orleans have improved since Hurricane Katrina, this study finds that Recovery School District charter schools continue to perform worse than traditional New Orleans schools ten years after the disaster.

Endowments, Price Discrimination, And Amenities: The Economics Of Private Colleges, Jordan D. Moran

Undergraduate Economic Review

Despite the growing endowments of many private colleges, student debt of graduates is still a significant problem. This paper aims to understand how endowments are being used. Larger endowments theoretically enable colleges to increase expenditure and/or lower the tuition prices paid by students. Empirical evidence of 149 private colleges suggests colleges primarily use endowments to increase expenditures per student as opposed to directing resources to lower tuition. Further this paper uses student survey data on the quality of campus amenities including facilities, dorms, and campus food to understand how the quality of campus amenities is related to tuition prices.

Modelling Public-Education Spending Vs. Allocation As Independent Factors Of Educational Outcomes, Kevin Tasley

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper explores and expands upon the work of Hanushek and Wößmann (2007) whose accumulated findings propose increased educational spending provides only marginal returns in terms of student’s cognitive outcomes. This study constructs an OLS regression model to explore the significance of U.S. state education spending and financial allocations as independent factors of state-level average ACT scores over a 10-year time series. The model additionally accounts for self-selection and socio-economic status. The results of this study support Hanushek and Wößmann’s conclusions while also demonstrating evidence that shifts in allocations towards instructional spending, as opposed to increasing total expenditures, could have …

Exploring Economic And Social Factors That Increase Economic And Well-Being Measurements Of Developing And Developed Countries, Kofi D. Boadu

Undergraduate Economic Review

The historical growth paths of developed and developing countries reveal the challenges that developing countries face in traveling the road from poverty to prosperity. Based on economic development literature, economic theory, and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression method, this research considers whether or not, and to what extent globalization characteristics, foreign direct investment levels (FDI), secondary school enrollment rates, information communication technology (ICT) as a percentage of trade imports, and happiness levels of 103 developing and developed countries, impact their GDP per capita levels. This paper will also take a look at alternative ways of viewing and measuring economic success.

An Analysis Of Student Achievement And Measures Of Growth Under No Child Left Behind, Alexis G. Yusim

Undergraduate Economic Review

With the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has come a wave of economic analyses of education production functions attempting to explain what community and school characteristics affect achievement gaps and yearly growth in pass rates. Using standardized test data from the Illinois State Board of Education over the period of NCLB, I argue that there are ways to empirically re-define growth and student success that more effectively capture NCLB’s goals. The results in this paper show inherent differences between the three growth definitions employed and the educational experiences in the grades analyzed.

An Econometric Analysis Of Anti-Bullying Program Factors On Bullying In Public American Middle Schools And High Schools, Austin B. Beck

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper seeks to answer the question: “Do typical factors of anti-bullying programs reduce the amount of bullying that takes place in American public middle schools and high schools?” An overview of the literature on bullying and anti-bullying programs is provided. Data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety is analyzed using a probit model. The model is tested for accuracy and the results are analyzed. Parental involvement and out-of-school suspension are found to be significant anti-bullying program factors. Other explanatory variables are also discussed and recommendations for further research are provided.

An Empirical Assessment Of The Performance And Competitive Effects Of Los Angeles County Charter Schools, Sam Trachtman

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper evaluates the performance of charter elementary schools in Los Angeles County in three ways. First, I compare charter school performance to public school performance, controlling for a number of key characteristics. Second, I study the characteristics that appear to influence charter school success as compared to public school success. Third, I study the “competitive effect” of charter schools, examining how geographical proximity to charter schools affects the performance of traditional public schools. I find evidence that, ceteris paribus, traditional public schools score higher than charter schools, except in majority African American schools. Further, I find that the opening …

Determining Future Success Of College Students, Paul Oehrlein

Undergraduate Economic Review

Many people invest a lot of money in order to go to college with the hope that they will eventually be rewarded with higher salaries. This paper attempts to determine what aspects of college are most important in determining the future income of students. In particular, this paper studies whether GPA is an important determinant of income as well as whether some majors are better investments than others after controlling for other factors. In addition, the effect of math and verbal ability on income and how they interact with different fields of study are examined. The data comes from the …

Implications And Prospects Of Reforming The Market For Secondary Education In The U.S., Steve Kapsos

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

The purpose of this paper is to address the complex issue of public school reform. I will focus primarily on the rather generic concept of school choice, which will inevitably be defined and redefined, throughout my analysis. In doing this, I will first examine the structure and composition of the market for education in America. I will then briefly look at some theoretical approaches to educational reform. Lastly, I will examine specific reform proposals that draw on some of the many varying concepts of choice as well as currently enacted projects that have a form of choice as their focus. …