School districts increasingly gauge school quality with surveys that ask about school climate and student engagement. We use data from New York City's middle and high schools to compare the long-run predictive validity of surveys with that of conventional test score value-added models (VAMs). Our analysis leverages the New York school match, which…

Today, nearly 43.1 million people are stopped out of college without a credential. Of these, 37.6 million are working age adults under age 65. As states look to increase the skills of their labor forces and institutions confront changing demographic realities, re-engaging with these "Some College, No Credential" (SCNC) individuals has…

In this study we employed regression analysis and between-group matched pair design to analyze whether participation in a competency-based education pilot was associated with improved high school completion and postsecondary entry. Data were obtained for high schools participating in a CBE pilot program in Illinois. Results of the matched pair…

Care leavers, one of the most vulnerable groups in society, are underrepresented in higher education (HE). This study follows 16 entire birth cohorts of alumni of youth villages in Israel (born 1982-1997, N = 44,164) and is based on national administrative data. Using Propensity Score Matching we created a double sized comparison group from the…

Objective: This paper provides evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of federal and state financial aid programs in supporting community college students. Method: I use a regression discontinuity design that takes advantage of discontinuities in the Pell Grant formula known as Automatic-Zero Estimated Family Contribution to estimate the…

More than a million US students now participate in private school choice programs because of recent growth in vouchers, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and tax credits. Given the rapid expansion in these programs, it is important to understand how they affect the students who participate in these programs and the students who…

Parental involvement in a child's education is one of the central mechanisms that prepares the child for postsecondary education. Since parental involvement demands considerable resources and experience, it remains unclear whether parents who have some college experience but no postsecondary degree are effective in supporting their child's college…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are an increasingly common research design for evaluating the effectiveness of community college (CC) interventions. However, when planning an RCT evaluation of a CC intervention, there is limited empirical information about what sized effects an intervention might reasonably achieve, which can lead to under- or…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are an increasingly common research design for evaluating the effectiveness of community college (CC) interventions. However, when planning an RCT evaluation of a CC intervention, there is limited empirical information about what sized effects an intervention might reasonably achieve, which can lead to under- or…

Graduate study has rapidly expanded since the late 1990s, with women overtaking men in their enrollment in all levels of graduate degree. Once thought to be a relatively meritocratic space, due to increasing selection as educational transitions move into higher degrees, more recent research on graduate education has shown it to be a space where…

This paper examines the long-term impact of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) on postsecondary education outcomes, with a focus on historically underserved students. MERA aimed to improve educational standards and close achievement gaps through the introduction of MCAS,…

This annual analysis provides a district-level view of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students' patterns of educational attainment. It presents a starting place for thinking about why these patterns exist and what can be done to improve these patterns. The report focuses on three key milestones--high school graduation, college enrollment, and…

Evaluations of Early College, a type of intervention that enables simultaneous enrollment in secondary and post-secondary courses in the United States, consistently find positive effects on educational attainment across racial and socioeconomic groups. Unlike Early College initiatives in other states, Massachusetts launched Early College in Fall…

This paper presents findings from a randomized controlled trial studying a comprehensive program designed to support students in achieving their goals. One Million Degrees (OMD) is a nonprofit organization serving community college students in the Chicago metro area that supports students financially, academically, personally, and professionally.…

Objective/Research Question: Community college graduation rates are typically quite low, and developmental mathematics enrollment and coursetaking patterns may constrain academic outcomes. To identify ways in which community college graduation rates may be improved, decision trees were utilized to examine the STEM coursetaking patterns of N =…