Showing papers by "Susanna Loeb published in 2019"

Online Learning, Offline Outcomes: Online Course-Taking and High School Student Performance.

Abstract: This article uses fixed effects models to estimate differences in contemporaneous and downstream academic outcomes for students who take courses virtually and face-to-face—both for initial attempts...

When Behavioral Barriers are Too High or Low – How Timing Matters for Parenting Interventions

Abstract: The time children spend with their parents affects their development. Parenting programs can help parents use that time more effectively. Text-messaged-based parenting curricula have proven an effective means of supporting positive parenting practices by providing easy and fun activities that reduce informational and behavioral barriers. These programs may be more effective if delivered during times when parents are particularly in need of support or alternatively when parents have more time to interact with their child. This study compares the effects of an early childhood text-messaging program sent during the weekend to the same program sent on weekdays. We find that sending the texts on the weekend is, on average, more beneficial to children’s literacy and math development. This effect is particularly strong for initially lower achieving children, while the weekday texts show some benefits for higher achieving children on higher order skills. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that the parents of lower achieving students, on average, face such high barriers during weekdays that supports are not enough to overcome these barriers, while for parents of higher achieving students, weekday texts are more effective because weekdays are more challenging, but not so difficult as to be untenable for positive parenting.

School Differences in Social–Emotional Learning Gains: Findings From the First Large-Scale Panel Survey of Students:

Abstract: Measures of school-level growth in student outcomes are common tools for assessing the impacts of schools. The vast majority of these measures use standardized tests as the outcome of interest, eve...

Testing, Accountability, and School Improvement

Abstract: The provision of public schooling in the United States has primarily been the states’ responsibility, but states generally lack the capacity to manage day-to-day school operations. Thus, states del...

Differing Views of Equity: How Prospective Educators Perceive Their Role in Closing Achievement Gaps

Abstract: Hiring is an opportunity for school districts to find educators with values and beliefs that align with district goals. Yet beliefs are difficult to measure. We use administrative data from more than ten thousand applications to certificated positions in an urban California school district in which applicants submitted essays about closing achievement gaps. Using structural topic modeling (STM) to code these essays, we examine whether applicants systematically differ in their use of these themes and whether themes predict hiring outcomes. Relative to white applicants, Hispanic and African American applicants are more likely to identify structural causes of inequities and discuss educators' responsibilities for addressing inequality. Similar differences in themes emerge between applicants to schools with different student populations. Techniques like STM can decipher hard-to-measure beliefs from administrative data, providing valuable information for hiring and decision making.

Stress in Boom Times: Understanding Teachers’ Economic Anxiety in a High-Cost Urban District:

Abstract: Despite growing concern over teachers’ ability to live comfortably where they work, we know little about the systematic relationship between affordability and teachers’ well-being, particularly in ...

Stability of School Contributions to Student Social-Emotional Learning Gains

Abstract: Purpose: Recent attempts to measure schools’ influence on students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) show differences across schools, but whether these estimated differences measure the true effects...

Students with Growth Mindset Learn More in School: Evidence from California’s CORE School Districts

Abstract: VERSION: October 2019 While the importance of social-emotional learning for student success is well established, educators and researchers have less knowledge and agreement about which social-emotional skills are most important for students and how these skills distribute across student subgroups. Using a rich longitudinal dataset of 221,840 fourth through seventh grade students in California districts, this paper describes growth mindset gaps across student groups, and confirms, at a large scale, the predictive power of growth mindset for achievement gains, even with unusually rich controls for students’ background, previous achievement, and measures of other social-emotional skills. Average annual growth in English language arts and math corresponding to differences between students with fixed and growth mindset in a same school and grade level is 0.07 and 0.05 standard deviations respectively, after adjusting for students’ characteristics and previous achievement. This estimate is equivalent to 48 and 35 additional days of learning.

Self-Management Skills and Student Achievement Gains: Evidence from California’s CORE Districts

Abstract: VERSION: September 2019 Existing research on self-management skills shows that measures of selfmanagement predict student success. However, these conclusions are based on small samples or narrowly defined self-management measures. Using a rich longitudinal dataset of 221,840 fourth through seventh grade students, this paper describes self-management gaps across student groups, and confirms, at a large scale, the predictive power of self-management for achievement gains, even with unusually rich controls for students’ background, previous achievement, and measures of other social-emotional skills. Self-management is a better predictor of student learning than are other measures of socioemotional skills. Average growth in English language arts due to changing from a low to a high level of self-management is between 0.091 and 0.112 standard deviations, equivalent to almost 80 days of learning.

Economic Perspectives on School Choice

Abstract: Economics provides reasons for both optimism and caution with school choice reform. Basic economic theory suggests that subjecting schools to market pressure in the form of parents making educational choices for their children has the potential to provide efficient matches between what parents want and what schools provide. At the same time, economics warns of the destructive effects of market failures, and markets for schools exhibit many of these failures. Moreover, even if school choice markets efficiently match students with schools, they might not create matches that people find fair or equitable. This chapter examines school choice reforms from the perspective of economics. In doing so, it argues that how policymakers navigate questions about the three interrelated principles at the core of school choice reforms—choice, autonomy, and accountability—can define the ultimate success or failure of those reforms.