Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan

In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of seconddecile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles -- fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority "mismatch" hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s.Affirmative Action, Top 10% Plan, College Quality, Freshmen Retention, College Graduation

Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan

In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of second-decile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles: fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority "mismatch" hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s.freshmen retention, college quality, Top 10% Plan, affirmative action, college graduation

The Effect of Family Engagement on Parents\u27 Abilities to Help Their Children with Math

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if parents’ reported participation in specific math intervention strategies increased their abilities to help their children with math. The five math intervention strategies were Everyday Math Online Tools and Games, Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning, HomeworkNOW, Study Island, and Family Math Nights. This research also served to examine if there was an association between parents’ participation in the five math intervention strategies and parents’ reported demographics. Parents of students in Grades 1 through 5 in a large, urban rim school district were surveyed. Survey respondents encompassed 694 parents. Descriptive statistics were conducted. The math intervention strategy that had the most parent participation was Study Island. Everyday Math Online Tools and Games and Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning were identified as the most helpful. Chi-square analyses were performed to determine if there was an association between whether or not parents participated in each program and the school and grade of the child as well as the parent’s gender, race or ethnicity, and marital status. There was a statistically significant association revealed between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the school the child attends. A statistically significant association was shown between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the parent’s race–ethnicity. Study Island, which had the most parent participation, had the most significant associations

Ranking Up by Moving Out: The Effect of the Texas Top 10% Plan on Property Values

Texas engaged in a large-scale policy experiment when it instituted the Top 10% Plan. This policy guarantees automatic admission to their state university of choice for all high school seniors who graduate in the top decile of their high school class. We find evidence that households reacted strategically to this policy by moving to neighborhoods with lower-performing schools, increasing both property values and the number of housing units in those areas. These effects are concentrated among schools that were very low-performing before the change in policy; property values and the number of housing units did not change discontinuously for previously high-performing school districts. We also find evidence that these strategic reactions were influenced by the number of local schooling options available: areas that had fewer school choices showed no reaction to the Top 10% Plan.property values, college choice, affirmative action, Top 10% Plan

Cocky Pants

This work is a narrative essay I wrote for my composition 100 class about one of the biggest aspects of my life, my Jamaican heritage. I grew up hearing my mom pronounce the color khaki as cocky, and it just so happened to rub off on my vernacular in my younger years, as well as my life now as a 20-year-old. I hope this essay gives a peak into my life and find some humor in it as well as some of its cultural aspects

Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students? Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan

In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of seconddecile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles: fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority “mismatch” hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s

The Role of Specific Subjects in Education Production Functions: Evidence from Morning Classes in Chicago Public High Schools

Absences in Chicago Public High Schools are 3-7 days per year higher in first period than at other times of the day. This study exploits this empirical regularity and the essentially random variation between students in the ordering of classes over the day to measure how the returns to classroom learning vary by course subject, and how much attendance in one class spills over into learning in other subjects. We find that having a class in first period reduces grades in that course and has little effect on long-term grades or grades in related subjects. We also find moderately-sized negative effects of having a class in first period on test scores in that subject and in related subjects, particularly for math classes.education production, subject-specific, math, English, morning classes, first period, course schedule, quasi-experimental, attendance, absenteeism, Chicago, high school

Vyond the mold: a new approach to Professional development

56 páginasLa tecnología ha aumentado la cantidad de herramientas de aprendizaje de idiomas que los profesores pueden usar en sus aulas. Sin embargo, muchos programas de desarrollo profesional encargados de preparar a los maestros para integrar estas nuevas herramientas raras veces tienen en cuenta los contextos en los que los maestros enseñan. Este estudio monográfico aborda las formas en que el desarrollo profesional contextualiza el uso de la tecnología por parte de los docentes en entornos de aprendizaje Integrado de Contenido y Lenguaje a través de comunidades de práctica (CLIL). Este proyecto de Investigación de Acción Colaborativa se llevó a cabo en una Institución privada al norte de Bogotá, Colombia y contó con la participación de 11 educadores de primaria y preescolar. El objetivo de este estudio monográfico era capacitar a los profesores para utilizar el software de creación de vídeo animado conocido como Vyond, para que pudieran crear sus propias herramientas de aprendizaje específicas del contexto. Durante un período de un año, los datos fueron recogidos a través de encuestas de maestros, reflexiones de los participantes, notas de campo de la investigadora e artefactos producidos por los participantes. Los resultados revelaron que la capacitación que duró dos semanas ayudó a los participantes a mejorar las habilidades y la comprensión para desarrollar sus propios videos de enseñanza. Dado que los 11 profesores enseñaban en diversos entornos CLIL dentro de la Institución, el Software Vyond demostró ser una herramienta versátil. Además, los maestros consideraron que las comunidades de práctica proporcionaban un entorno de capacitación más adecuado que las sesiones tradicionales de capacitación de cuatro horas que suelen tener.The use of Technology in education has become a national goal in Colombia. School administrators often organize technology-centered professional training programs to meet national education goals. However, many professional development programs charged with preparing teachers to integrate these new tools rarely consider the contexts in which teachers teach. This paper presents a case study that addresses the ways in which contextualized professional development training empowers teachers’ use of technology in Content and Language Integrated Learning environments via communities of practice. This Collaborative Action Research project was carried out on a private institution in Northern Bogota, Colombia and involved nine preschool and elementary educators and two administrators

The Effect of Family Engagement on Parents\u27 Abilities to Help Their Children with Math

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if parents’ reported participation in specific math intervention strategies increased their abilities to help their children with math. The five math intervention strategies were Everyday Math Online Tools and Games, Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning, HomeworkNOW, Study Island, and Family Math Nights. This research also served to examine if there was an association between parents’ participation in the five math intervention strategies and parents’ reported demographics. Parents of students in Grades 1 through 5 in a large, urban rim school district were surveyed. Survey respondents encompassed 694 parents. Descriptive statistics were conducted. The math intervention strategy that had the most parent participation was Study Island. Everyday Math Online Tools and Games and Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning were identified as the most helpful. Chi-square analyses were performed to determine if there was an association between whether or not parents participated in each program and the school and grade of the child as well as the parent’s gender, race or ethnicity, and marital status. There was a statistically significant association revealed between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the school the child attends. A statistically significant association was shown between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the parent’s race–ethnicity. Study Island, which had the most parent participation, had the most significant associations

Looking at Shadows: Four French Texts in English Translation

This project present four French texts in English translation that share the theme of loss. This theme is perhaps one of the most poignant and relevant; loss is an experience that every human will encounter, and as people we continue across time to grapple with what it means for us and how to deal with it. These four texts will bring the perspectives of four authors to light in English. When we study how other countries and cultures deal with common human issues, we are able to gain new views on these issues. This project will make these texts accessible to English speakers and allow them to study the messages contained in them. I have chosen four texts from different time periods, by different writers, and of different styles to give the reader a greater sampling of this theme across French literature. The texts to be translated are: Demain dès l’aube by Victor HUGO Le Pont Mirabeau by Guillaume APOLLINAIRE La Folle by Guy de MAUPASSANT La Maison face à la mer by Marie-Célie AGNAN