scholarly journals Constrained Curriculum in High Schools: The Changing Math Standards and Student Achievement, High School Graduation and College Continuation

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Daun-Barnett ◽  
Edward P. St. John
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
Exit Exams ◽  
Public Policy Issue ◽  
School Graduation

Mathematics education is a critical public policy issue in the U.S. and the pressures facing students and schools are compounded by increasing expectations for college attendance after high school.  In this study, we examine whether policy efforts to constrain the high school curriculum in terms of course requirements and mandatory exit exams affects three educational outcomes – test scores on SAT math, high school completion, and college continuation rates.  We employ two complementary analytic methods – fixed effects and difference in differences (DID) – on panel data for all 50 states from 1990 to 2008. Our findings suggest that within states both policies may prevent some students from completing high school, particularly in the near term, but both policies appear to increase the proportion of students who continue on to college if they do graduate from high school. The DID analyses provide more support for math course requirement policies than mandatory exit exams, but the effects are modest. Both the DID and fixed effects analyses confirm the importance of school funding in the improvement of high school graduation rates and test scores.

High Bars or Behind Bars? The Effect of Graduation Requirements on Arrest Rates

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-49
Author(s):  
Matthew F. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
Graduation Requirements ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Exit Exams ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Arrest Rates ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
High School Graduation Requirements ◽  
School Graduation

This paper investigates the effect of high school graduation requirements on arrest rates with a specific focus on the number of required courses and the use of exit exams. Identifying variation comes from state-by-cohort changes in the laws governing high school graduation requirements from 1980 to 2010. Combining these law changes with arrest rates of young adults from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), I find that the use of exit exams can reduce arrest rates by approximately 7%. While it is difficult to parse out the exact mechanisms additional exploration into heterogeneity by age and offense as well as examination of labor market outcomes suggest that these policies may have increased learning. Given the current debate around the use of exit exams this paper provides evidence of beneficial effects on non-academic outcomes. This paper also provides further evidence of the influence of education policy on crime.

Hovv to Use, Not Abuse, Those Practice Exercises

1979 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 10-12
Author(s):  
William D. McKillip ◽  
Cherie Adler Aviv
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
School Boards ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
General Public ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Press ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
School Graduation ◽  
Considerable Pressure

We are, as teachers, under considerable pressure, from society in general and from within our profession, to pay close attention to the development of computational skills. The sources of this pressure are clear to those who are involved: School boards are considering or have adopted tests for promotion from grade to grade or for high school graduation; articles on declining test scores appear regularly in the press; the “back-to-basics” movement is highly popular with the general public; checklists of computational skills are used to insure that no student slips through unskilled; and so on. In response to this, textbooks are becoming longer and they contain increasingly longer sets of exercises. It is the purpose of this note to suggest an approach to the use of sets of practice exercises that is more like the actual use of computation by adults and may be more effective in attaining accuracy and, ultimately, speed.

scholarly journals School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg *

2013 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 435-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen B. Billings ◽  
David J. Deming ◽  
Jonah Rockoff
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
School Segregation ◽  
Minority Males ◽  
School Graduation

Abstract We study the end of race-based busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools (CMS). In 2001, school boundaries in CMS were redrawn dramatically, and half of students received a new assignment. Using addresses measured prior to the policy change, we compare students in the same neighborhood that lived on opposite sides of a newly drawn boundary. We find that both white and minority students score lower on high school exams when they are assigned to schools with more minority students. We also find decreases in high school graduation and four-year college attendance for whites and large increases in crime for minority males. We conclude that the end of race-based busing widened racial inequality, despite efforts by CMS to mitigate the effect of segregation through compensatory resource allocation.

scholarly journals The Effects of English Learner Classification on High School Graduation and College Attendance

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 233285841985080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Johnson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
English Learners ◽  
College Enrollment ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
Full Time ◽  
English Learner ◽  
Attendance Rates ◽  
School Graduation ◽  
Before School

Descriptive evidence shows that English learners (ELs) have lower high school graduation and 4-year-college attendance rates than monolingual and fluent English users. Applying the regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California, this study identifies the first causal effects of initial EL classification on high school graduation and college enrollment. I also report the effects of maintaining EL status, or not reclassifying, after testing in each grade between third and eighth grades. I find no statistically significant impact of initial EL classification on high school graduation or college enrollment. Reclassification just before school transition (fifth and eighth grades) significantly affected the probabilities of on-time graduation and, conditional on college attendance, starting at a 4-year university and starting full-time.

High stakes testing and distributive justice

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis K. Schrag
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
High School Graduation ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Graduation Tests ◽  
School Graduation

Evaluation of high stakes testing regimes must consider not simply mean test scores, but their distribution among students. Taking high school graduation tests and black and white student populations to illustrate the argument, I identify two criteria of success: a larger proportion of black high school graduates and a narrower gap between the two groups. I evaluate various possible distributions against these criteria. I then consider the question of which students merit our focused attention, those students who are furthest behind or those with the greatest likelihood of passing the test given extra help. A medical triage analogy suggests we should help the former, but I show here that the analogy is misplaced.

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