Student Achievement

News

Cohodes receives funding to dig deeper into charter school impact

Oct 10, 2024

With a $275,000 grant from MIT Blueprint Labs, two University of Michigan professors will tease out why some schools better prepare students for college than others.The project is led by Sarah Cohodes, associate professor at the Ford School of...

Cohodes receives funding to dig deeper into charter school impact

News

"Class sizes in Michigan, the quiet crisis," new research by Education Policy Initiative

Sep 21, 2016

New research from the Education Policy Initiative at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy found that many Michigan K-12 students experience very large core classes—with 40 or more students—but that some students are at greater...

"Class sizes in Michigan, the quiet crisis," new research by Education Policy Initiative

News

Stange on investing in schools: Capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement

Aug 1, 2016

“Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions, and Student Achievement” a journal article by Paco Martorell, Kevin Stange, and Isaac McFarlin, has been published in the August 2016 edition of the Journal of Public...

Stange on investing in schools: Capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement

News

Michigan Radio interviews Brian Jacob about latest research on MI high school curriculum reforms

Mar 9, 2016

Last week, Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski and two colleagues from Michigan State released a new paper, "Are expectations alone enough? Estimating the effect of a mandatory college-prep curriculum in Michigan." The paper examines the effect of the 2006...

In Brookings, Jacob argues for greater support systems for community college students

Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS)

The Impact of Charter Schools on Student Achievement: New Evidence from Michigan

Feb 1, 2017, 8:30-10:00 am EST

Weill Hall, Room 1220

The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies.

EPI Policy briefs

Public School Funding, School Quality, and Adult Crime

July 14, 2022

Jason Baron, Joshua Hyman, Brittany Vasquez

Given the large costs of crime to society, there is substantial policy interest in identifying effective crime-prevention strategies. Many studies have focused on the effects of increasing the size of the police force and on the effects of tougher...

EPI Working papers

Public School Funding, School Quality, & Adult Crime

March 1, 2022

Jason Baron, Joshua Hyman, Brittany Vasquez

This paper asks whether improving the quality of public schools can be an effective long-run crime-prevention strategy in the U.S. Specifically, we examine the effect of school quality improvements early in children's lives on the likelihood that...

EPI Working papers

School Finance Reforms, Teachers' Unions, and the Allocation of School Resources

June 1, 2018

Joshua Hyman, Eric Brunner, Andrew Ju

School finance reforms caused some of the most dramatic increases in intergovernmental aid from states to local governments in U.S. history. We examine whether teacher unions affected the fraction of reforminduced state aid that passed through to...

EPI Working papers

Estimating the Effects of a Large Network of Charter Schools Managed by a For-profit Operator

March 1, 2018

Susan Dynarski, Daniel Hubbard, Brian Jacob

In this paper, we leverage randomized admissions lotteries to estimate the impact of attending a National Heritage Academy (NHA) charter school. NHA is the fourth largest for-profit charter operator in the country, enrolling more than 56,000...

Student walking down a hallway at school

EPI Working papers

The Changing Federal Role in School Accountability

January 30, 2017

Brian Jacob

This is a point / counterpoint. The goal of the article is to discuss the influence of school accountability policies on educational inputs (e.g., funding, teacher quality, instructional practices, and school organization) as well as outputs (e.g.,...

EPI Working papers

Does Money Matter in the Long Run? Effects of School Spending on Education Attainment

November 1, 2016

Joshua Hyman

This paper measures the effect of increased primary school spending on students' college enrollment and completion. Using student-level panel administrative data, I exploit variation in the school funding formula imposed by Michigan's 1994 school...

EPI Policy briefs

The Gap within the Gap: Finding A Better Measure of Student Disadvantage

August 1, 2016

Susan Dynarski, Katherine Michelmore

Gaps in educational achievement between high- and low-income children are growing. Administrative datasets maintained by states and districts lack information about income but do indicate whether a student is eligible for subsidized school meals. We...

EPI Working papers

The Causes and Consequences of Test Score Manipulation: Evidence from the New York Regents Examinations

April 1, 2016

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee, Willie Dobbie, Jonah Rockoff

In this paper, we show that the design and decentralized, school-based scoring of New York’s high school exit exams – the Regents Examinations – led to the systematic manipulation of test scores just below important proficiency cutoffs. Our...

EPI Policy briefs

Are Expectations Alone Enough? Estimating the Effect of a Mandatory College-Pre Curriculum in Michigan

January 1, 2016

Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

We examine the effects of a rigorous high school curriculum designed to improve educational outcomes and prepare high school graduates for college-level courses. One common refrain in the education reform movement is that expectations play an...

EPI Working papers

Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions and Student Achievement

September 1, 2015

Kevin Stange, Paco Martorell, Issac McFarlin

Public investments in repairs, modernization, and construction of schools cost billions. However, little is known about the nature of school facility investments, whether it actually changes the physical condition of public schools, and the...

Other reports

Charter Schools and the Road to College Readiness: The Effects on College Preparation, Attendance and Choice

May 1, 2013

Susan Dynarski, Joshua Angrist, Sarah Cohodes, Parag Pathak, Christopher Walters

Boston’s over-subscribed charter schools generate impressive gains on tests taken through the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Lottery estimates show that each year spent at a charter middle school boosts MCAS scores by about a...

EPI Policy briefs

The Michigan Context - High School Attainment and College Enrollment Across the State

October 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

In order to understand the educational landscape in which the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) was enacted, we examine the attainment trajectory of high school students in Michigan. These findings will provide a baseline against which we can...

EPI Policy briefs

The Michigan Merit Curriculum and Teacher Compositional Change

October 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Brian Jacob, Kenneth Frank, Barbara Schneider

In the spring of 2006 the state of Michigan enacted the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) with the intent to increase the rigor of student course-taking, improve student performance, and increase college matriculation rates. This policy brief focuses...

EPI Working papers

Organizing Schools to Improve Student Achievement: Start Times, Grade Configurations, and Teacher Assignments

September 1, 2011

Brian Jacob, Jonah Rockoff

Education reform proposals are often based on high-profile or dramatic policy changes, many of which are expensive, politically controversial, or both. In this paper, we argue that the debates over these “flashy” policies have obscured a potentially...

Other reports

Student Achievement in Massachusetts' Charter Schools

January 1, 2011

Susan Dynarski, Joshua Angrist, Sarah Cohodes, Jon Fullerton, Thomas Kane, Parag Pathak, Christopher Walters

Researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, MIT, and the University of Michigan have released the results of a new study that suggests that urban charter schools in Massachusetts have large positive effects on student achievement at...

Other reports

The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools

October 1, 2010

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee

The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) brought test-based school accountability to scale across the United States. This study draws together results from multiple data sources to identify how the new accountability systems developed in...

Other reports

Evaluating NCLB

May 1, 2010

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee

How has the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act affected student achievement? This is no idle question, as the landmark federal law is long overdue for reauthorization. The Obama administration has recently urged Congress to add the issue to its already...

Other reports

Inputs and Impacts in Charter Schools: KIPP Lynn

May 1, 2010

Susan Dynarski, Joshua Angrist, Thomas Kane, Parag Pathak, Christopher Walters

The charter school landscape includes a variety of organizational models and a few national franchises. The nation's largest network of charter schools is the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), with 80 schools operating or slated to open soon. KIPP...

EPI Working papers

Educational Expectations and Attainment

January 1, 2010

Brian Jacob, Tamara Wilder

This paper examines the role of educational expectations in the educational attainment process. We utilize data from a variety of datasets to document and analyze the trends in educational expectations between the mid-1970s and the early 2000s. We...

EPI Working papers

Rational Ignorance in Education: A Field Experiment in Student Plagarism

January 1, 2010

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee

Despite the concern that student plagiarism has become increasingly common, there is relatively little objective data on the prevalence or determinants of this illicit behavior. This study presents the results of a natural field experiment designed...

EPI Working papers

The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement

November 1, 2009

Brian Jacob, Thomas Dee

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act compelled states to design school-accountability systems based on annual student assessments. The effect of this Federal legislation on the distribution of student achievement is a highly controversial but...

Other reports

Informing the Debate: Comparing Boston's Charter, Pilot, and Traditional Schools

January 1, 2009

Susan Dynarski, Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua Angrist, Sarah Cohodes, Jon Fullerton, Thomas Kane, Parag Pathak

Findings of groundbreaking study suggest charter school students in Boston outperform their peers at other public schools in Boston. Results for pilot schools were less clear; some analyses showed positive results at the elementary and high school...

EPI Working papers

The Persistence of Teacher-Induced Learning Gains

June 1, 2008

Brian Jacob, Lars Lefgren, David Sims

Educational interventions are often narrowly targeted and temporary, and evaluations often focus on the short-run impacts of the intervention. Insofar as the positive effects of educational interventions fadeout over time, however, such assessments...

Student paying attention to teacher in class

EPI Working papers

Is Gaining Access to Selective Elementary Schools Gaining Ground? Evidence from Randomized Lotteries

September 1, 2007

Brian Jacob, Julie Berry Cullen

In this paper, we examine whether expanded access to sought-after schools can improve academic achievement. The setting we study is the "open enrollment" system in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). We use lottery data to avoid the critical issue of...

Young child completing a written assignment

Other reports

The Challenges of Staffing Urban Schools with Effective Teachers

April 1, 2007

Brian Jacob

Brian Jacob examines challenges faced by urban districts in staffing their schools with effective teachers. He emphasizes that the problem is far from uniform. Teacher shortages are greater in certain subjects, such as math and science or bilingual...