Patrice Iatarola

Effects of High School Course-Taking on Secondary and Postsecondary Success

Using panel data from a census of public school students in the state of Florida, the authors examine the associations between students’ high school course-taking in various subjects and their 10th-grade test scores, high school graduation, entry into postsecondary institutions, and postsecondary performance. The authors use propensity score matching (based on 8th-grade test scores, other student characteristics, and school effects) within groups of students matched on the composition of the students’ course-taking in other subjects to estimate the differences in outcomes for students who take rigorous courses in a variety of subjects. The authors find substantial significant differences in outcomes for those who take rigorous courses, and these estimated effects are often larger for disadvantaged youth and students attending disadvantaged schools.

EXPLAINING GAPS IN READINESS FOR COLLEGE-LEVEL MATH: THE ROLE OF HIGH SCHOOL COURSES

Despite increased requirements for high school graduation, almost one-third of the nations college freshmen are unprepared for college-level math. The need for remediation is particularly high among students who are low income, Hispanic, and black. Female students are also less likely than males to be ready for college-level math. This article estimates how much of these gaps are determined by the courses that students take while in high school. Using data on students in Florida public postsecondary institutions, we find that differences among college-going students in the highest math course taken explain 2835 percent of black, Hispanic, and poverty gaps in readiness and over three-quarters of the Asian advantage. Courses fail to explain gender gaps in readiness. Low-income, black, and Asian students also receive lower returns to math courses, suggesting differential educational quality. This analysis is valuable to policy makers and educators seeking to reduce disparities in college readiness.

Intradistrict Equity of Public Education Resources and Performance.

Abstract This paper presents empirical evidence on input and output equity of expenditures, teacher resources, and performance across 840 elementary and middle schools in New York City. Historically, researchers have studied interdistrict distributions, but given the large numbers of pupils and schools within many urban districts, it is important to learn about intradistrict distributions as well. The empirical work is built on a framework of horizontal, vertical, and equal opportunity equity. The results show that the horizontal equity distributions are more disparate than what would be expected relative to results of other studies, vertical equity is lacking, especially in elementary schools, and equality of opportunity is at best neutral but more often absent. Middle schools exhibit more equity than elementary schools. The paper is one of the first to measure output equity, using levels and changes in test scores to do so.

Determinants of High Schools' Advanced Course Offerings

This article examines the factors that determine a high schools probability of offering Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. The likelihood that a school offers advanced courses, and the number of sections that it offers, is largely driven by having a critical mass of students who enter high school with eighth-grade test scores that are far above average. The number and qualifications of the instructional staff, in contrast, play a very small role. The results suggest that the willingness of schools to offer advanced courses is driven by real, perceived, or created student demand and that there may be few resource constraints that prevent schools from supplying advanced courses.

District Effectiveness: A Study of Investment Strategies in New York City Public Schools and Districts.

Educational reform over the past two decades has focused primarily on schools as the critical units of change, often ignoring the role of districts and their effect on schools’performance. Although national reform efforts such as the recently reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the No Child Left Behind Act), are directed primarily at schools, local school districts are responsible for a number of functions critical to schooling effectiveness (e.g., hiring, collective bargaining, curriculum development, assessment, fiscal operations, and ancillary functions). Refocusing attention on districts and their effect on schools, this study found differences between high-and lowperforming community school districts, or administrative subunits, within the NewYork City school system in terms of educational goals, instructional focus, leadership development, teacher recruitment and retention, and professional development.

NEW STAKES AND STANDARDS, SAME OL' SPENDING? EVIDENCE FROM NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOLS

In 1996, New York State began requiring all graduating high school students (starting with the Class of 1999) to pass rigorous end-of-course exams in five subjects. This study explores whether high school resources have been reallocated in the wake of these new standards and whether reallocation patterns differ among high- and low-graduation-rate schools. Using a six-year panel of school-level data, we model resources as a function of school and student characteristics, school graduation rates, and school fixed effects. Regression analyses reveal increases in direct services spending, while the percentage of more experienced and educated teachers fell. We find little evidence, though, of differential patterns related to graduation rates, with the exception of teacher licensure and nonpersonnel expenditures. The findings suggest that schools may have limited ability to redeploy nonteacher resources in the short term. While other funds may be reallocated, these represent a small share of total school resources.

Student achievement and costs in small schools

Reducing high school size is a popular policy in many large US school districts where high school graduation rates are low. Particularly in urban areas, the traditional large comprehensive high school increasingly has been unable to serve the needs of students at risk of educational failure who are predominantly racial and ethnic minority students as well as low income. In this chapter, following an historical review of three waves of small school reform efforts, we present theoretical and conceptual frames to orient theories of change, examine costs of reform, and assess system-wide effects. Early pre-2010 research studies, while plentiful, are largely correctional and ignore issues of selection that could bias findings. With advances in micro-level data availability as well as better designed analytic models, the rigor of research has grown. For example, recent studies that draw on school lotteries provide evidence that small schools lead to better student outcomes. These findings are supported by other rigorous research that captures heterogeneities between the earlier small schools and more recent ones. On the cost size, evidence dates back to the 1960s rooted in economic cost function research suggesting that the costs of small schools follows a typical U-shaped average cost curves, with a variety of cost minimizing sizes of schools. The next generation of cost research, still rooted in economic perspectives, suggests that there are economics to larger schools and that these differ across educational level and depend on how schools are utilized. The last wave of research on costs advanced both in terms of data and perspective such that costs were brought together with effects to shed light on whether investments in small schools were worth their extra costs in relation to effects. The evidence suggests that they are worthwhile investments though the rigour of the cost studies has not kept paste with that of the effects. Lastly, from our review there appears to be some positive systemic effects where students in both small and large schools have gains in achievement following significant small school reform.