Interactions between Conditional Cash Transfers and Preferred Secondary Schools in Jamaica

We explore whether the academic benefit from attending a preferred secondary school differs between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Jamaican Conditional Cash Transfer Program, Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH). The academic outcomes assessed include end of secondary and post-secondary high-stakes examinations independently administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council. Among girls, receiving PATH benefits before secondary school enrollment does not influence the academic gains from attending a more selective school. However, boys who received PATH benefits prior to secondary school enrollment benefit significantly less from subsequently attending a more selective school with respect to comparable peers who did not receive PATH benefits. These results suggest negative dynamic interactions between PATH and selective secondary schools among boys.

Racial Diversity and Measuring Merit: Evidence from Boston's Exam School Admissions

The impact of admissions process design on the racial diversity of schools and colleges has sparked heated debates. We study the pipeline into Boston's three public exam schools to understand racial gaps in enrollment. Admission to these schools has historically been based on a combination of GPA and a score on an optional test from a private developer. We document racial gaps in test-taking rates, test scores, GPAs, preferences for the most selective school, and ultimate admission rates to all three schools. These gaps persist even among students with similarly high baseline achievement as measured by the state's mandatory standardized test. Substantial numbers of high-achieving Black and Hispanic students do not apply to the exam schools and to the most selective school in particular. The choice of standardized test used to measure academic merit strongly affects who is admitted.

Attitudes and Practices of Parents of Teenage Musicians to Health Issues Related to Playing an Instrument: A Pilot Study

A pilot study was designed to investigate the attitudes and practices of parents of teenage musicians concerning health issues related to playing an instrument. Participants were a convenience sample of parents of children at two metropolitan high schools, one an academically selective public high school, and the other a specialised music public high school. Information came from a questionnaire completed by the parents. The 24 children ranged in age from 12 to 17 yrs. Parents’ responses suggested that they recognised the importance of their children having good knowledge of health and normal body function in order to optimise the children’s musical performance and to minimise the adverse impact of the playing on their children’s health. The parental responses were similar in both the academically selective and musically selective schools despite the fact that half of the parents of children at the musically selective school seemed to accept that pain associated with playing an instrument is normal, whereas all of the parents from the academically selective school disagreed with this proposition. A more detailed study of the issues considered in this pilot study appears warranted.

Selective Schools and Academic Achievement

In this paper I consider the impact of attending a selective high school in the UK. Students are assigned to these schools on the basis of a test taken in primary school and, using data on these assignment test scores for a particular district, I exploit this rule to estimate the causal effects of selective schools on test scores, high school course taking and university enrollment. Despite the huge peer advantage enjoyed by selective school students, I show that four years of selective school attendance generates at best small effects on test scores. Selective schools do however have positive effects on course-taking and, more suggestively, university enrollment, evidence suggesting they may have important longer run impacts.