Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Student Achievement

Assesses the effect of access to home computers and broadband Internet on students' math and reading test scores and its potential to close the achievement gap for the disadvantaged. Considers the role of parental monitoring

Public School Choice And Integration: Evidence from Durham, North Carolina

Using evidence from Durham, North Carolina, we examine the impact of school choice programs on racial and class-based segregation across schools. Theoretical considerations suggest that how choice programs affect segregation will depend not only on the family preferences emphasized in the sociology literature but also on the linkages between student composition, school quality and student achievement emphasized in the economics literature. Reasonable assumptions about the distribution of preferences over race, class, and school characteristics suggest that the segregating choices of students from advantaged backgrounds are likely to outweigh any integrating choices by disadvantaged students. The results of our empirical analysis are consistent with these theoretical considerations. Using information on the actual schools students attend and on the schools in their assigned attendance zones, we find that schools in Durham are more segregated by race and class as a result of school choice programs than they would be if all students attended their geographically assigned schools. In addition, we find that the effects of choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by race

City Taxes and Property Tax Bases

This paper investigates the simultaneous relationship between tax rates and city property tax bases using data for 86 large U.S. cities in 1967, 1972, 1977, and 1982. We find that a 10 percent increase in the city's property tax rate decreases the city's tax base by about 1.5 percent. In addition, local income taxes and taxes levied by overlying jurisdictions (such as county and state governments) also have negative impacts on the city's property tax base. Local sales taxes, in contrast, appear to have little impact. We conclude that taxes affect local property values more than is typically implied by previous studies that have investigated the impacts of state and local taxes on firms' location decisions.

Letter from Food Commissioner E. F. Ladd to Attorney General Langer Regarding Malta Test Results, 1917

Letter dated July 19, 1917 from Food Commissioner and North Dakota Agricultural College president E. F. Ladd to Attorney General Langer regarding analysis of samples of malt beverage Malta. Ladd explains that earlier samples showed as high as 0.45% alchohol content, but that more recent samples have shown around 0.10%, leading him to believe that the manufacturer has been cutting down that alcohol in their manufacturing process. Ladd adds that he should be very glad to make analysis of any samples that you might submit because of the variations that have been found in the the samples [...] during the past three months.https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1279/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Food Commissioner E. F. Ladd to Attorney General Langer Regarding Beverage Analysis, 1917

Letter dated July 20, 1917 from Food Commissioner E. F. Ladd to Attorney General Langer replying to letter sent to W. C. Heath concerner various beverages. Ladd indicates he would be very glad to have an analysis made of the beverages, and encloses a copy of a recent analysis of various soft drink beverages currently on sale in the state, adding that there are a few that he has not been able to acquire, among them a product sold as Bevo.https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1284/thumbnail.jp

Teacher Mobility, School Segregation, and Pay-Based Policies to Level the Playing Field

Analyzes the effectiveness of using salary differentials to help schools serving disadvantaged students attract and retain highly qualified teachers. Examines teachers' responses to salary incentives and school characteristics by qualifications

Are Teacher Absences Worth Worrying About in the U.S.?

Using detailed data from North Carolina, we examine the frequency, incidence, and consequences of teacher absences in public schools, as well as the impact of an absence disincentive policy. The incidence of teacher absences is regressive: schools in the poorest quartile averaged almost one extra sick day per teacher than schools in the highest income quartile, and schools with persistently high rates of teacher absence were much more likely to serve low-income than high-income students. In regression models incorporating teacher fixed effects, absences are associated with lower student achievement in elementary grades. Finally, we present evidence that the demand for discretionary absences is price-elastic. Our estimates suggest that a policy intervention that simultaneously raised teacher base salaries and broadened financial penalties for absences could both raise teachers' expected income and lower districts' expected costs.

Teacher Credentials and Student Achievement in High School: A Cross-Subject Analysis with Student Fixed Effects

We use data on statewide end-of-course tests in North Carolina to examine the relationship between teacher credentials and student achievement at the high school level. The availability of test scores in multiple subjects for each student permits us to estimate a model with student fixed effects, which helps minimize any bias associated with the non-random distribution of teachers and students among classrooms within schools. We find compelling evidence that teacher credentials affect student achievement in systematic ways and that the magnitudes are large enough to be policy relevant. As a result, the uneven distribution of teacher credentials by race and socio-economic status of high school students -- a pattern we also document -- contributes to achievement gaps in high school.

The Academic Achievement Gap in Grades 3 to 8

Using data for North Carolina public school students in grades 3 to 8, we examine achievement gaps between white students and students from other racial and ethnic groups. We focus on successive cohorts of students who stay in the state's public schools for all six years, and study both differences in means and in quantiles. Our results on achievement gaps between black and white students are consistent with those from other longitudinal studies: the gaps are sizable, are robust to controls for measures of socioeconomic status, and show no monotonic trend between 3rd and 8th grade. In contrast, both Hispanic and Asian students tend to gain on whites as they progress through these grades. Looking beyond simple mean differences, we find that the racial gaps in math between low-performing students have tended to shrink as students progress through school, while racial gaps between high-performing students have widened for black and American Indian students.