Andrew M. Gill

Labor Market Returns to Community Colleges: Evidence for Returning Adults

Kane and Rouse (1993) furnish evidence that enrollment in a two-year-or four-year-college program increases earnings by 5 to 8 percent per year of college credits, whether or not a degree is earned. This evidence has provided the intellectual basis for policy recommendations to increase access by adult workers to long-term education and training programs, such as those supplied by community colleges. Yet to be answered, however, is the question whether these favorable return estimates hold for experienced adult workers who return to school. For both A.A. and nondegree community college programs, our results indicate returns that are positive and of essentially the same size for returning adults as they are for continuing high school graduates. Among males in nondegree programs, in fact, returning adults enjoy an incremental earnings effect of 8 to 10 percent above that received by continuing students.

Do the Returns to Community Colleges Differ between Academic and Vocational Programs

This paper provides new evidence about the payoffs to community colleges’ terminal training programs as distinct from their traditional transfer function. Using NLSY data, we offer three main findings. First, four-year college graduates who started at a community college are not at a substantial earnings disadvantage relative to those who started at a four-year college. Second, community college students in terminal training programs enjoy a positive payoff comparable to that received by four-year college starters who do not graduate. Finally, we find evidence of positive self-selection for community college students who choose the terminal training track.

Community college enrollment, college major, and the gender wage gap

The literature on the narrowing of the gender wage gap during the 1980s considers, among other factors, the closing of the male-female differential in post-secondary education. This paper looks specifically at the role played by the dramatic relative increase in womens enrollment in two-year colleges. With independent cross-sections developed using NLSY data, the authors find that the gender wage gap narrowed by 0.0469 log points between 1985 and 1990 and by 0.0932 log points between 1989 and 1994. The more pronounced decrease observed for 1989–94 is largely explained by erosion of male-female differences in weeks worked, job tenure, and full-time employment. A more novel finding is evidence that while change in the quantity of education provides essentially no explanatory power, disaggregating education by two-year and four-year providers and by major field of study accounts for 8.5–11% of the closing of the wage gap over the 1989–94 period.

The role of discrimination in determining occupational structure

The author of this study attempts to isolate the role of discrimination in determining racial differences in occupational structure. Logit techniques are used to identify and distinguish between determinants of the probability that an individual will choose an occupation and the probability that an individual will be hired for a desired job. The empirical results indicate that much of the under-representation of blacks in managerial, sales and clerical, and craft occupations can be attributed to employment discrimination. These findings thus seriously challenge human capital models, which treat occupational distribution as resulting from individual choice.

The effect of community colleges on changing students' educational aspirations

Abstract The education literature provides numerous estimates of community college diversion and democratization effects measured in terms of educational attainment. Kane and Rouse [J Econ Pers 13 (1999) 64] suggest testing for diversion by comparing the impacts of two-year and four-year colleges on the changes in educational aspirations that underlie actual years of schooling completed. Using NLSY data, we obtain community college “differential aspirations effect” estimates that range from as high as −0.68 of a year to as low as our preferred estimate of −0.43 of a year. We put these estimates in perspective by showing that they are less than half of the conventionally measured diversion effect estimated for our sample. Regarding democratization, we find that attending a community college results in a substantial expansion in the educational aspirations of students (our “incremental aspirations effect”), regardless of their family backgrounds and race and ethnicity.

Incorporating the Causes of Occupational Differences in Studies of Racial Wage Differentials

This study provides a basic framework for incorporating the causes of occupational differences into analyses of racial wage differentials. Separating the influences of personal characteristics, occupational choice, and hiring discrimination on occupational attainment provides measures of the contributions of each to the racial pay gap. The paper also considers the potential for bias in the wage-equation estimates arising from self selection into occupations. There are two general findings. First, correcting for self-selection increases the importance of occupational distribution in explaining racial wage differentials. Second, a proper accounting of the causes of these occupational differences yields discrimination measures that are higher than those that arise when occupational dummy variables are included in the wage equations and all the difference in occupational distribution is treated as nondiscriminatory.

Emergency medicine subinternship: can we provide a standard clinical experience?

UNLABELLED Medical students have varied experiences on the emergency medicine (EM) subinternship. Didactic curricula can be standardized. OBJECTIVES To determine if uniformity in clinical curricula is possible by assessing whether students can see patients with certain chief complaints (CC). METHODS Prospective interventional analysis at a public teaching hospital. Control group (CG) students saw patients of their choice and recorded encounters in logbooks. Test group (TG) students were asked to see at least one patient with: orthopedic injury (OR); asthma exacerbation (AE); acute coronary syndrome (ACS); traumatic injury (TR); laceration (LAC); or diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). TG students prospectively recorded these patients on a separate logbook page. Logbooks were reviewed by two investigators to determine if a patient with each diagnosis was seen. Chi-square analysis tested for differences in sample proportions between TG and CG. Multivariate analyses controlled for TG, specialty choice, and gender. p < 0.05 represented statistical significance. RESULTS One hundred fifty (88 TG; 62 CG) students participated. Differences existed between TG and CG in the proportion of students who saw a patient with each CC: OR: 93% TG, 69% CG (p < 0.0001); AE: 86% TG, 63% CG (p < 0.0008); ACS: 97% TG, 58% CG (p < 0.0001); TR: 97% TG, 58% CG (p < 0.0001); LAC: 98% TG, 89% CG (p < 0.0220); DKA: 68% TG, 47% CG (p < 0.0086). Logistic regressions explaining the probability of seeing each CC showed the variable controlling for TG was positive and significant for 5 CCs: p = 0.0013 (OR); 0.0038 (AE); 0.0001 (ACS); 0.0001 (TR); 0.0229 (DKA). No difference was found for LAC: p = 0.0570. CONCLUSIONS Students can be directed to see patients with particular CCs. TG students saw more patients with certain CCs than CG students, p < 0.0001. This intervention can help educators provide a well-rounded, uniform clinical EM experience.

Emergency Medicine Subinternship: Does a Standard Clinical Experience Improve Performance Outcomes?

BACKGROUND The emergency medicine (EM) subinternship provides a varied experience for senior medical students depending on gender, specialty choice, and interest. A didactic curriculum can be standardized, but the clinical component is difficult to control. Students can be directed to see patients with specific chief complaints. OBJECTIVES To assess whether a clinical requirement of 10 predetermined cases improves general knowledge as measured on an objective exam. METHODS This was a prospective, nonrandomized, case-controlled study at a public teaching hospital. Students were assigned to the control group (CG) or test group (TG) by alternating block rotations over 6 months. The CG saw emergency department (ED) patients according to interest and faculty direction. The TG was also required to identify ten specific chief complaints. Patient encounters were recorded in computerized logs. A 10-question pretest assessed preexisting knowledge of each chief complaint, and a 40-question final exam tested general EM knowledge. Descriptive statistics measured demographic data. Groups were compared by Fishers exact test. Difference in means testing was performed to see if pre- to posttest differences varied by group. Multivariate analysis controlled for gender and specialty choice. RESULTS Eighteen CG students saw a mean of 57 patients, and 24 TG students saw a mean of 54 patients; 1 CG student (6%) and 7 TG students (31.8%) saw all 10 required cases (Fishers exact test p = 0.044). Difference in means testing demonstrated a greater relative change in performance (13.4% points) by the TG relative to the CG on a general knowledge exam, compared with their performance on a brief pretest (p = 0.014). The authors performed multivariate regression controlling for pretest score, gender, and EM specialty choice, and neither gender nor intended EM specialty choice was a contributing factor to the improved performance. A greater relative change in performance (7% points) in the TG exam score was found when compared to the CG (p = 0.020). CONCLUSIONS Students who participated in the usual didactic curriculum and were required to see ED patients with representative chief complaints performed better on a general EM exam than those who employed common methods of choosing patients.

Retention of High School Economics Knowledge and the Effect of the California State Mandate

The authors extend the literature on the efficacy of high school economics instruction in two directions. First, they assess how much economic knowledge that California students acquired in their compulsory high school course is retained on their entering college. Second, using as a control group some college students from the state of Washington, where there is no mandate for high school economics instruction, the authors evaluate the impact of Californias high school economics mandate on students’ economic literacy when they enter college. The testing instrument is the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL).

Wonderlic, Race, and the NFL Draft

Extending the work of Berri and Simmons on the National Football League (NFL) player draft and the Scouting Combine, the authors use the Wonderlic cognitive ability test to test one implication of a simple Phelps model of statistical discrimination in the NFL draft. The authors treat Wonderlic scores as a noisy signal of a player’s adaptability to the NFL game that may be more informative for White players than it is for Black players. The authors find that Wonderlic scores are important in explaining relative draft position for quarterbacks, offensive linemen, and tight ends. At the same time, the authors find limited evidence to support statistical discrimination based on Wonderlic scores.