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Can Public Schools Close the Race Gap? Probing the Evidence in a Large Urban School DistrictWe examine the size and distribution of the gap in test scores across races within New York City public schools and the factors that explain these gaps. While gaps are partially explained by differences in student characteristics, such as poverty, …
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Small Schools, Large Districts: Small School Reform and New York City’s StudentsHigh school reform is currently at the top of the education policy making agenda after years of stagnant achievement and persistent racial and income test score gaps. Although a number of reforms offer some promise of improving U.S. high schools, small …
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Equity and Accountability: The Impact of State Accountability Systems on School FinanceUsing an 11-year panel data set containing information on revenues, expenditures, and demographics for every school district in the United States, we examine the effects of state-adopted school accountability systems on the adequacy and equity of school …
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Spending, Size, and Grade Span in K-8 SchoolsReorganizing primary school grade spans is a tractable and relatively inexpensive school reform. However, assessing the effects of reorganization requires also examining other organizational changes that may accompany grade span reforms. Using data on New …
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Mission Matters: The Cost of Small High Schools RevisitedWith the financial support of several large foundations and the federal government, creating small schools has become a prominent high school reform strategy in many large American cities. While some research supports this strategy, little research …
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Measuring School Efficiency: Lessons from Economics, Implications for PracticeHigh school reform is currently at the top of the education policy making agenda after years of stagnant achievement and persistent racial and income test score gaps. Although a number of reforms offer some promise of improving U.S. high schools, small …
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School Finance Court Cases and Disparate Racial Impact: The Contribution of Statistical Analysis in New YorkAlthough analyses of state school finance systems rarely focus on the distribution of funds to students of different races, the advent of racial discrimination as an issue in school finance court cases may change that situation. In this article, we …
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Disentangling the Racial Test Score Gap: Probing the Evidence in a Large Urban School DistrictWe examine the size and distribution of the gap in test scores across races within New York City public schools and the factors that explain these gaps. While gaps are partially explained by differences in student characteristics, such as poverty, …
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School Efficiency and Student Sub-groups: Is a Good School Good for Everyone?State and federal accountability reforms are putting considerable pressure on schools to increase the achievement of historically low-performing groups of students and to close test score gaps. In this article, we exploit the differences among the large …
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So Many Children Left Behind: Segregation and the Impact of Subgroup Reporting in <em>No Child Left Behind</em> on the Racial Test Score GapAlthough the No Child Left Behind Act was intended to help "all students meet high academic standards," it is focused on subgroups of low-achieving students. The authors analyze the possible impact of the legislation's requirement for performance …
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The Impact of School Reform on Student Performance: Evidence from the New York Network for School Renewal ProjectThis paper evaluates the impact of the New York Networks for School Renewal Project, a whole school reform initiated by the Annenberg Foundation as part of a nationwide reform strategy. It uses data on students in randomly chosen control schools to …
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The Role of School Context in Explaining Racial Disproportionality in Special EducationLeanna Stiefel, Sana Fatima, and Joseph Cimpian … The Role of School Context in Explaining Racial Disproportionality in Special Education …
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What Do AEFA Members Say? Summary of Results of an Education Finance and Policy SurveyIn the spring of 2008 the authors surveyed members of the American Education Finance Association (AEFA) to gain insight into their views on education policy issues. The results summarize opinions of this broad group of education researchers and …
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Measuring School Performance Using Cost FunctionsThis chapter develops and explores the use of school-level cost functions for estimating school efficiency and differentiating between more- and less-efficient schools. Using data for elementary and middle schools in the state of Ohio, we explore a range …
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Measuring School Performance and Efficiency: Implications for Practice and ResearchSchool performance and efficiency measurement have taken center stage in much of the debate and research in education policy since at least the mid-1990s. Despite the clear theoretical and practical importance of understanding the ways in which school …
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Best Schools, Worst Schools and School EfficiencyContains papers by state education dept. policymakers, analysts, & data providers on emerging issues in school finance. Includes: estimates of disparities & analysis of the causes of expenditures in public school districts; race, poverty & the student …
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Do Good High Schools Produce Good College Students? Early Evidence From New York CityWe examine variation in high school and college outcomes across New York City public high schools. Using data on 80,000 students who entered high school in 1998 and following them into the City University of New York, we investigate whether schools that …
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School Budgeting and School Performance: The Impact of New York City’s Performance Driven Budgeting InitiativePerformance Driven Budgeting (PDB) is a school-based budgeting initiative that was instituted in a select group of New York City schools beginning in the 1997-1998 school year. This paper analyzes the impact of the initiative on student test scores in the …
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The Effect of Residential Mobility on Student Performance: Evidence from New York CityResidential mobility is likely to have consequences for student performance, but prior empirical work is largely correlational and offers little insight into its impacts. Using rich, longitudinal data, we estimate the effects of residential mobility on …
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Moving Matters: The Causal Effect of School Mobility on Student PerformanceAmy Ellen Schwartz, Leanna Stiefel, and Sarah Cordes … Moving Matters: The Causal Effect of School Mobility on Student Performance …
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Bullying, Safety, and Belonging in the Middle School Years: Do Top Dogs Rule?Schwartz, Amy Ellen and Leanna Stiefel and Michal Rothbart … Bullying, Safety, and Belonging in the Middle School Years: Do Top Dogs …
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All Schools are not Created Equal: Difference in Learning Environment in Small and Large High SchoolsAmy Ellen Schwartz, Leanna Stiefel, and Matthew Wiswall … All Schools are not Created Equal: Difference in Learning Environment in Small and Large High …
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Does Small High School Reform Lift Urban Districts? Evidence From New York CityResearch finds that small high schools deliver better outcomes than large high schools for urban students. An important outstanding question is whether this better performance is gained at the expense of losses elsewhere: Does small school reform lift the …
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Unintended Consequences of Inclusion? The Academic Effects of Moving to Middle School and Students with DisabilitiesO'Hagan, Kaitlyn, Leanna Stiefel, and Amy Ellen Schwartz … Unintended Consequences of Inclusion? The Academic Effects of Moving to Middle School and Students with …