Albert Yung-Hsu Liu

Effectiveness of Four Supplemental Reading Comprehension Interventions

Abstract This article presents evidence from a large-scale randomized controlled trial of the effects of four supplemental reading comprehension curricula (Project CRISS, ReadAbout, Read for Real, and Reading for Knowledge) on students’ understanding of informational text. Across 2 school years, the study included 10 school districts, more than 200 schools, and more than 10,000 fifth-grade students. Schools interested in implementing 1 of the 4 supplemental curricula were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment groups or to a control group. The impact analyses in the studys first year revealed a statistically significant negative impact of Reading for Knowledge on students’ reading comprehension scores and no other significant impacts. The impact of ReadAbout was positive and significant in the studys second year among teachers with 1 year of experience using the intervention.

Diffusion of Common Application Membership and Admissions Outcomes at American Colleges and Universities

We study the adoption of Common Application membership by private four-year postsecondary institutions and its role in explaining the growth in undergraduate applications. Using data from the College Boards Annual Survey of Colleges, our estimation of proportional hazard models suggest that institutions respond to the net benefit of adoption. We estimate that membership increases applications by 5.7 to 7.0 percent and decreases yield rates by 2.8 to 3.9 percent. Acceptance rates decrease for members when their local networks are large. Membership is also associated with a decline in SAT scores and an increase in the percentage of students of color. Finally, falsification tests indicate that membership effects occur as a one-time adoption shock that persists thereafter.

Measurement Error, Misspecification, and the Return to Foreign Education

I use unique data from the October Supplement of the Current Population Survey to show that the return to foreign education among immigrants is 3.3 percent. Previous studies generate upwardly biased estimates of this parameter because they (1) systematically misattribute domestic education as foreign education and (2) include domestic education as an endogenous control variable. The results indicate that foreign education is less portable than previously thought. Non-linear specifications indicate that the difference in the return to foreign education among immigrants and the return to domestic education among natives is limited to workers with less than twelve years of schooling.

Union and Union Threat Premiums Among Graduate Student Stipends

To inform the ongoing debate over graduate student unionization, the author tests for the presence of union-related premiums among teaching and research assistant stipends using data from The Chronicle of Higher Educations survey of departments in six fields in 2000, 2001, and 2003. Ordinary least squares and instrumental variables methods reveal union and union threat premiums among teaching assistant stipends. There is little evidence of union-related premiums among research assistant stipends. Specifications controlling for union composition or using employment weights reveal that the teaching assistant only union premium is positive for teaching assistant stipends and negative for research assistant stipends. This suggests that collectively bargained contracts may yield benefits for teaching assistants at the expense of research assistants when the latter are excluded from the bargaining unit. There is a positive premium to joint teaching and research assistant unions for teaching assistant stipends and no effect for research assistant stipends.