Lindsay C. Page, Matthew A. Lenard, and Luke Keele. 2020. “
The Design of Clustered Observational Studies in Education.” AERA Open.
Publisher's VersionAbstractClustered observational studies (COSs) are a critical analytic tool for educational effectiveness research. We present a design framework for the development and critique of COSs. The framework is built on the counterfactual model for causal inference and promotes the concept of designing COSs that emulate the targeted randomized trial that would have been conducted were it feasible. We emphasize the key role of understanding the assignment mechanism to study design. We review methods for statistical adjustment and highlight a recently developed form of matching designed specifically for COSs. We review how regression models can be profitably combined with matching and note best practice for estimates of statistical uncertainty. Finally, we review how sensitivity analyses can determine whether conclusions are sensitive to bias from potential unobserved confounders. We demonstrate concepts with an evaluation of a summer school reading intervention in Wake County, North Carolina.
J. Holbein, D.S. Hillygus, M. Lenard, C. Gibson-Davis, and D. Hill. 2020. “
The Development of Students' Engagement in School, Community, and Democracy.” British Journal of Political Science, 50, 4, Pp. 1439-1457.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThis article explores the origins of youth engagement in school, community and democracy. Specifically, it considers the role of psychosocial or non-cognitive abilities, like grit or perseverance. Using a novel original large-scale longitudinal survey of students linked to school administrative records and a variety of modeling techniques – including sibling, twin and individual fixed effects – the study finds that psychosocial abilities are a strong predictor of youth civic engagement. Gritty students miss less class time and are more engaged in their schools, are more politically efficacious, are more likely to intend to vote when they become eligible, and volunteer more. Our work highlights the value of psychosocial attributes in the political socialization of young people.
M. Lenard, M. Morrill, and J. Westall. 2020. “
High School Start Times and Student Achievement: Looking Beyond Test Scores.” Economics of Education Review, 76.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThe American Academy of Pediatrics recommends high schools begin after 8:30 AM to better align with the circadian rhythms of adolescents. Yet due to economic and logistic considerations such as transportation, athletics, and students’ after-school employment, the vast majority of high schools begin the school day considerably earlier. We leverage a quasi-natural experiment whereby five comprehensive high schools in a large and diverse school district moved start times forty minutes earlier to better coordinate with high schools already starting at 7:25 AM. In this setting, disruption effects from moving start times should exacerbate any harmful consequences of earlier start times. Early start times might negatively impact test scores, student engagement, and non-cognitive skill formation. We report on the effect of earlier start times on a broad range of outcomes, including mandatory ACT test scores, absenteeism, on-time progress in high school, and college-going. While we fail to find evidence of harmful effects on test scores, we do see a rise in absenteeism and tardiness rates, as well as higher rates of dropping out of high school. These results suggest that the harmful effects of early start times may not be well captured by considering test scores alone.
S.W. Hemelt and M.A. Lenard. 2020. “
Math Acceleration in Elementary School: Access and Effects on Student Outcomes.” Economics of Education Review, 74.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThis paper examines curricular acceleration in mathematics during elementary school using administrative data from a large, diverse school district that recently implemented a targeted, test-based acceleration policy. We first characterize access to advanced math and then estimate effects of acceleration in math on measures of short-run academic achievement as well as non- test-score measures of grit, engagement with schoolwork, future plans, and continued participation in the accelerated track. Experiences and effects of math acceleration differ markedly for girls and boys. Girls are less likely to be nominated for math acceleration and perform worse on the qualifying test, relative to boys with equivalent baseline performance. We find negative effects of acceleration on short-run retention of math knowledge for girls, but no such performance decay for boys. After initial exposure to accelerated math, girls are less likely than boys to appear in the accelerated track during late elementary school and at the start of middle school.