Center for Education Policy Analysis - Poverty and Inequality

Supporting Parenting through Differentiated and Personalized Text-Messaging: Testing Effects on Learning During Kindergarten

Hiep Ho — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:55:57 +0000

Author/s:

Christopher Doss

Erin Fahle

Susanna Loeb

Ben York

Year of Publication:

2017

Recent studies have shown that texting-based interventions can produce educational benefits in children across a range of ages. These studies vary in their focus from broad curricula on child development, to reminders about missing work, to steps needed in order to enroll in college. Given the potential effectiveness of texting, as well as the ease of systematically varying texting programs so as to assess the effects of different approaches, texting provides a productive venue for learning about mechanisms behind program effects. This study tests the effects of a text-based parenting program for parents of kindergarteners, distinguishing the effects of a general program for all children from a program that adds differentiation and personalization based on the child’s developmental level. We find that the personalized and differentiated program is more effective than the general program and that these benefits are driven by the gains of children further from the average learning levels of development. Overall, children in the differentiated and personalized program were 50 percent more likely to be reading at a higher level (p<0.01) and their parents more often reported that building their child’s reading skills is easy by 0.44 standard deviations (p<0.01) than children in the standard program. In addition, parents who received differentiated and personalized text messages reported engaging more in literacy activities by 0.31 standard deviations (p<0.01) when compared to parents in the control group. Differentiation and personalization, however, may have caused parents to interact with their child’s teacher to a lesser extent, perhaps due to receiving information from another source.

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Primary Research Area:

Technological Innovations in Education

Topic Areas:

Information Provision and Use, Parenting, Student Success

Education Level:

Early Childhood

One Step at a Time: The Effects of an Early Literacy Text Messaging Program for Parents of Preschoolers

Hiep Ho — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:22:31 +0000

Author/s:

Ben York

Susanna Loeb

Chris Doss

Year of Publication:

2017

Substantial systematic differences exist in children’s home learning experiences. The few existing parenting programs that have shown promise often are not widely accessible, either due to the demands they place on parents’ time and effort or cost. In this study, we evaluate the effects of READY4K!, a text messaging program for parents of preschoolers designed to help them support their children’s literacy development. The program targets the behavioral barriers to good parenting by breaking down the complexity of parenting into small steps that are easy-to-achieve and providing continuous support for an entire school year. We find that READY4K! positively affected the extent to which parents engaged in home literacy activities with their children by 0.22 to 0.34 standard deviations, as well as parental involvement at school by 0.13 to 0.19 standard deviations. Increases in parental activity at home and school translated into student learning gains in some areas of early literacy, ranging from approximately 0.21 to 0.34 standard deviations. The widespread use, low cost, and ease of scalability of text messaging make texting an attractive approach to supporting parenting practices.

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Primary Research Area:

Technological Innovations in Education

Secondary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

Information Provision and Use, Parenting, Student Success

Education Level:

Early Childhood

Project/s:

CEPA Labs

The Economic Achievement Gap in the US, 1960-2020: Reconciling Recent Empirical Findings

Hiep Ho — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 17:51:25 +0000

Author/s:

sean f. reardon

Year of Publication:

2021

Has the gap in average standardized test scores between students from high- and low-income families widened, narrowed, or remained stable over the last 3 decades? The question is important both because the achievement gap is measure of how (un)equally educational opportunities are distributed in the US, and because the disparity in educational outcomes is a leading indicator of the degree of economic mobility. If the gap is widening, it suggests that children’s educational experiences and opportunities in early and middle childhood – in their homes, neighborhoods, childcare and preschool programs, and K-12 schools – are becoming increasingly unequal, a sign that the growing economic inequality in the US has led to a parallel growth in educational inequality. A narrowing gap, however, would suggest the opposite: changes in early childhood or K-12 schooling have been equity-enhancing, even in the face of increased economic inequality among families. And because test scores and the skills they measure are valued in college admissions and the labor market, the trend in the test score gap may predict the trend in economic mobility several decades later.

Download 11/2021

Primary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

School Effectiveness, Societal Context, Student Success

Spending More on the Poor? A Comprehensive Summary of State-Specific Responses to School Finance Reforms from 1990–2014

Chris Candelaria — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 19:58:38 +0000

Author/s:

Kenneth A. Shores

Christopher A. Candelaria

Sarah E. Kabourek

Year of Publication:

2019

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and non-financial outcomes. After summarizing the heterogeneity of individual SFR impacts, we then examine its correlates, identifying both policy and legislative/political factors. Taken together, this research aims to provide a rich description of variation in states' responses to SFRs, as well as explanation of this heterogeneity as it relates to contextual factors.

Download 02/2019

Primary Research Area:

Federal and State Education Policy

Topic Areas:

Educational Equity, Finance, Methodology and Measurement

Education Level:

K-12

The Great Recession, Fiscal Federalism and the Consequences for Cross-District Spending Inequality

Kenneth Shores — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:20:10 +0000

Author/s:

Kenneth A. Shores

Matthew P. Steinberg

Year of Publication:

2018

We examine the determinants of district spending and revenue shocks following the onset of the Great Recession and the role of fiscal federalism in mitigating these shocks. We test whether spending and revenue shocks were driven primarily by local labor market conditions or state finance centralization efforts. Utilizing population level data for all public school districts in the continental United States and a difference-in-differences strategy that models pre-recession resource trends, we find that local labor market conditions explain district spending loss in the wake of the Great Recession. In contrast, the degree of centralization in a state’s education finance system is not correlated with district spending loss. Resource poor districts were especially ill-equipped to offset fiscal fallout, and federal fiscal stimulus did little to mitigate—and, in some cases, exacerbated—differential declines in school spending resulting from local labor market shocks. Together, this paper provides evidence to policymakers that state centralization efforts—often intended to promote school resource equity—did not increase fiscal vulnerability to recessionary events. The results also highlight the potentially unintended role that fiscal federalism might play in widening district spending inequality in the wake of recessionary events.

Keywords: Great Recession; fiscal federalism; educational spending; educational resources

JEL codes: H52, I21, I24, I28

Download 07/2018

Primary Research Area:

Federal and State Education Policy

Topic Areas:

Educational Equity, Finance

Education Level:

K-12

The Effects of Blended Online Learning in Higher Education STEM Courses: Experimental Evidence from Mongolia

Jamie Johnston — Mon, 21 May 2018 19:31:52 +0000

Author/s:

Jamie Johnston

Year of Publication:

2018

In low- and middle-income countries, institutions of higher education are turning to online models of instruction to reduce costs and broaden their educational reach. While a growing body of causal research can speak to the effectiveness of online models in the United States, there is little rigorous evidence about the use of online models in lower income countries. To fill this gap in the research, I use a randomized design to examine the effectiveness of a blended model in undergraduate STEM courses in Mongolia. On average, students assigned to the online instructional format withdraw from courses at a higher rate; this finding is not observed among the highest achieving students, suggesting lower-ability students may encounter barriers to persistence under new online learning models. Nevertheless, overall course performance is equivalent between treatment and control, suggesting the online model may be as effective as face-to-face instruction at a lower cost.

Download 05/2018

Primary Research Area:

Technological Innovations in Education

Topic Areas:

Online Education

Education Level:

Higher Education

Increased Learning or GPA Inflation? Evidence from GPA-Based University Admission in Chile

Bernardo Lara — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 21:03:37 +0000

Author/s:

Eduardo Fajnzylber R.

Bernardo Lara E.

Tomás León V.

Year of Publication:

2018

A student's ranking in the grade point average (GPA) distribution has emerged as an admission variable that increases admission rates of both segregated minorities and high-performance individuals. In 2012, Chile's centralized university admission system introduced a GPA ranking variable relative to the previous cohorts' average GPA. Such a system introduces academic incentives to exert effort, but also to inflate GPA. In this paper, we analyze the effects of that reform on the GPA distribution and achievement measures. Our results, based on difference-in-differences and simulated instruments methods, suggest that: (i) GPA increased across the entire distribution, independently of the incentive structure; and (ii) GPA increases were unrelated to improvements in achievement. We interpret the results as evidence that the introduction of the new variable caused GPA inflation rather than increased learning.

Download 04/2018

Primary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

Other

Education Level:

Higher Education

Helping parents help their children

Hiep Ho — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 04:54:41 +0000

Author/s:

Susanna Loeb

Ben York

Year of Publication:

2016

Publication:

Evidence Speaks - The Brookings Institution

Volume/Issue:

URL:

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/02/18-helping-parents-help-children-loeb-york

Many young children grow up without supportive home learning environments. One often cited study found that by the age of four, poor children hear about 30 million fewer words than wealthy children. This fissure manifests in great differences in children’s motor, social, emotional, literacy, and numeracy skills when they first start kindergarten, gaps that persist through school and into the labor market.]

Unfortunately, parenting has proven to be difficult to change. Most programs for parents take the form of short workshops that bombard parents with information and expect them to operationalize new, complex behaviors consistently over long periods of time. These workshops often conflict with childcare or work, and so it is not surprising that many parents do not show up for the workshops when offered. Even for those who do attend, there is rarely a benefit.

To be sure, not all parenting programs are ineffective. For example, nurse home visitation programs in which nurses visit parents, regularly modeling positive practices and providing additional services, have shown important effects for families facing some of the most difficult circumstances. However, these programs are costly, and as a result, are unlikely to scale at anywhere close to the quality required to support all families in need.

Parents are not the only adults for whom behavior change is hard. Job training programs for displaced workers are often ineffective, or not nearly as beneficial as traditional schooling, which is one of the reasons advocates support focusing funds on helping children and youth develop the skills they need in school so that they can be flexible in the labor market. While a lack of knowledge, skills, and resources can get in the way of adults making beneficial changes, even when individuals have these resources, ingrained behaviors can be difficult to change.

Research can help us understand why it is so difficult for us, as adults, to change, even when we want to. Why don’t we exercise regularly? Why don’t we save for the future? Why don’t we engage with our children as we want to? Behaviors that we have to do over and over again are simply hard to sustain. We loose focus, getting distracted by the details of day-to-day life. To make changes, we need to hold our attention, which can be hugely challenging especially when the consequences aren’t immediate.[vi] We often don’t see the benefits of exercise or savings until many years later. We need self-control to focus on long-term goals, and many of us don’t have enough. Parenting requires similar self-control. While regular educational interactions with children have some immediate rewards, many of the benefits come later. What makes matters worse, the benefits of alternative choices, such as washing the dishes or of talking with friends, can bring parents more immediate pleasure.

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Primary Research Area:

Technological Innovations in Education

Secondary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

Information Provision and Use, Parenting, Student Success

Education Level:

Early Childhood

Implementing the Foundations of Learning Project: Considerations for Preschool Intervention Research

Hiep Ho — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 17:25:24 +0000

Author/s:

Chrishana M. Lloyda

Pamela A. Morrisba

Ximena A. Portilla

Year of Publication:

2014

Publication:

Journal for Prevention and Intervention in the Community

Volume/Issue:

42(4)

Pages:

pp. 282-299

URL:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10852352.2014.943641#.VMZ33_7F8xJ

While studies have documented the importance of strong implementation in intervention studies (e.g., see Durlak & Dupre, 2008), more information is needed about how to ensure strong fidelity and quality of program implementation when delivering interventions under “real world conditions” and on a large scale. In this article, key lessons in implementing a demonstration and evaluation project known as the Foundations of Learning (FOL) demonstration are presented. Our discussion highlights several key components to the success of the project, including the building of effective coalitions before, and during, the delivery of the intervention to support the implementation process, as well as intensive, collaborative, and multilayered technical assistance provided as the intervention was delivered. Key lessons learned over the course of this project represent some that are highly consistent with prior research on this topic, as well as some that are unique, thus representing new areas for exploration in this burgeoning area of study.

Primary Research Area:

Teaching and Leadership Effectiveness

Secondary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

Curriculum and Instruction, Educator Preparation and Development, Teacher Quality

Education Level:

Early Childhood

A Report Card: How Are Secondary Vocational Schools in China Measuring Up to Government Benchmarks?

Hiep Ho — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 22:47:15 +0000

Author/s:

Hongmei Yi

Linxiu Zhang

Chengfang Liu

Ai Yue

Chu Yang

James Chu

Prashant Loyalka

May Maani

Jianguo Wei

Year of Publication:

2013

Publication:

China World and Economy

As a result of increasing interest among policymakers, secondary vocational schooling has expanded steadily during the past two decades in China. This paper assesses whether China’s secondary vocational schooling is measuring up to government benchmarks for quality, whether poor students have access to quality secondary vocational schooling, and whether poor students have financial aid assistance to attend. These government benchmarks include the following: teacher qualification and training, student opportunities for practical training, and adequate facilities. By these benchmarks, we find that secondary vocational schools are meeting government standards. We also show that poor students are accessing schools of similar quality as non-poor students. However, we find that 34% of poor students do not receive financial aid. Among students receiving aid, poor students receive roughly the same amount of aid as non-poor students.

We conclude that recent policies are successfully ensuring secondary vocational school quality (as measured by inputs alone) as well as equity of access to school quality between poor and non-poor students. However, financial aid policies should be carefully examined: at the very least the poorest students should be fully covered. Moreover, the government’s use of input-based benchmarks to assess the quality of secondary vocational schools is limited. In the future, the government might consider holding schools accountable for outcomes and not just inputs.

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Primary Research Area:

Federal and State Education Policy

Secondary Research Area:

Poverty and Inequality

Topic Areas:

Educational Equity, Student Success, Teacher Quality

Education Level:

Vocational Education