James Benson

Families, Schools, and Summer Learning

In this study we used spring‐to‐fall reading achievement data to measure summer gains and losses for a sample of over 300 early elementary school students from high‐poverty schools. We combined evidence from a randomized experiment of an academically intensive community‐based summer school program with parent telephone survey data regarding the characteristics of the family and the nature of the children’s summer activities. Our results suggested that parental expectations, learning activities in the home, and parental effort more generally did not explain much variation in summer achievement. Parental effort to promote regular attendance in summer school, though, did avert summer learning losses. Thus, we suggest that current theories of how family resources can promote summer learning be expanded to include parents’ use of summer school and other community‐based institutions that support their children’s healthy development.

Reducing income inequality in educational attainment: : Experimental evidence on the impact of financial aid on college completion

Income inequality in educational attainment is a long-standing concern, and disparities in college completion have grown over time. Need-based financial aid is commonly used to promote equality in college outcomes, but its effectiveness has not been established, and some are calling it into question. A randomized experiment is used to estimate the impact of a private need-based grant program on college persistence and degree completion among students from low-income families attending 13 public universities across Wisconsin. Results indicate that offering students additional grant aid increases the odds of bachelor’s degree attainment over four years, helping to diminish income inequality in higher education.

A Randomized Field Trial of the Fast ForWord Language Computer-Based Training Program

This article describes an independent assessment of the Fast ForWord Language computer-based training program developed by Scientific Learning Corporation. Previous laboratory research involving children with language-based learning impairments showed strong effects on their abilities to recognize brief and fast sequences of nonspeech and speech stimuli, but generalization of these effects beyond clinical settings and student populations and to broader literacy measures remains unclear. Implementing a randomized field trial in eight urban schools, we generated impact estimates from separate intent-to-treat and treatment-on-the-treated analyses of the literacy outcomes of second- and seventh-grade students who were more generally at risk for poor reading and language outcomes. There were some problems of implementation in the field setting, and the Fast ForWord Language program did not, in general, help students in these eight schools improve their language and reading comprehension test scores.

Need-Based Financial Aid and College Persistence Experimental Evidence from Wisconsin

We examine the impacts of a private need-based college financial aid program distributing grants at random among first-year Pell Grant recipients at thirteen public Wisconsin universities. The Wisconsin Scholars Grant of

Working for College The Causal Impacts of Financial Grants on Undergraduate Employment

3,500 per year required full-time attendance. Estimates based on four cohorts of students suggest that offering the grant increased completion of a full-time credit load and rates of re-enrollment for a second year of college. An increase of

Family, Neighborhood, and School Settings across Seasons: When Do Socioeconomic Context and Racial Composition Matter for the Reading Achievement Growth of Young Children?.

1,000 in total financial aid received during a student’s first year of college was associated with a 2.8 to 4.1 percentage point increase in rates of enrollment for the second year.

Family and Contextual Socioeconomic Effects Across Seasons: When Do They Matter for the Achievement Growth of Young Children?

One way in which financial aid is thought to promote college success is by minimizing the time students spend working. Yet, little research has examined if this intended first-order effect occurs, and results are mixed. We leverage a randomized experiment and find that students from low-income families in Wisconsin offered additional grant aid were 5.88 percentage points less likely to work and worked 1.69 fewer hours per week than similar peers, an 8.56% and 14.35% reduction, respectively. Students offered the grant also improved qualitative aspects of their work experiences; they were less likely to work extensively, during the morning hours, or overnight. Grant aid thus appears to partially offset student employment, possibly improving prospects for academic achievement and attainment.