Using a "naïve" specification, this paper estimates the relationship between 36 high school characteristics and 24 student outcomes controlling for students' pre-high school characteristics. The goal of this exploration is not to generate casual estimates, but rather to: (a) compare the size of the relationships to determine which inputs…

During the 2008-2009 academic year, there were nearly 1.8 million students enrolled at more than 2,800 for-profit institutions of higher learning in the United States. Students in for-profit colleges and universities accounted for over 9% of all students enrolled in postsecondary education. The numbers have continued to grow, and today (2010) the…

This study uses panel data to examine the direct link between state funding and graduation rates at four-year public institutions. When other factors are held constant, a $1,000 increase in state appropriations per FTE student at four-year public institutions is associated with about a one percentage point increase in graduation rates. This…

This book presents the results of 15 years of input-output (I-O) research on schooling effectiveness. The I-O approach identifies and measures the inschool and out-of-school factors that contribute to schooling outcomes, especially reading skills and verbal and mathematics achievement. Five categories of inputs are reviewed in this textbook: (1)…