Schools Under Accountability Pressure Receive More Money: Evidence from Texas Under NCLB
Open to PhD students and faculty engaged in causal inference in education policy research
Speaker
Thomas Goldring, Postdoctoral FellowDate & time
Location
About the talk: Work-in-progress from Thomas Goldring. I examine how performance-based accountability under No Child Left Behind affected the within-district distribution of per pupil school-level spending. Using administrative data from Texas, I classify schools in which the lowest-performing student subgroup was close to the proficiency threshold for making Adequate Yearly Progress as under accountability pressure. I present evidence that per pupil spending was around $60 higher in schools under accountability pressure after accounting for prior spending. A distributional shift that increased the share of teachers and reduced the share of teaching aides in pressured schools partially account for the higher spending, as do higher teacher wages. By contrast, distributional shifts in teaching experience as teachers enter and exit schools do not explain the effect on school expenditure.
About CIERS: The objective of the Causal Inference in Education Research Seminar (CIERS) is to engage students and faculty from across the university in conversations around education research using various research methodologies. This seminar provides a space for doctoral students and faculty from social science disciplines to discuss current research and receive feedback on works-in-progress. Discourse across schools and departments creates a more complete community of education scholars, and provides a networking opportunity for students enrolled in a variety of academic programs who share common research interests. Our regular meeting schedule is Wednesday mornings from 8:30 to 10 am in Weill 3240. Check out our website to learn more and to sign up for the mailing list.