Three Essays On The Role Of Student And Teacher Non-Cognitive And Cognitive Skills In Determining Student Success

This dissertation\u27s essays exploit longitudinal data sets to provide evidence on education economics topics of school choice, social-emotional learning curriculum, and teacher hiring. Chapter 1 estimates the causal effect of full-time virtual school attendance on student outcomes. I use a longitudinal data set composed of individual-level information on all public-school students and teachers throughout Georgia from 2007 to 2016 and implement individual fixed effect and semi-parametric cell analysis to investigate how attending virtual schools influences student outcomes. I find that attending a virtual school leads to a reduction in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies achievement test scores for students in elementary and middle school. I also find that ever attending a virtual school is associated with a 10-percentage point reduction in the probability of ever graduating from high school. Chapter 2 examines the impact of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum on student achievement over a three-year period in an urban district. I use a longitudinal data set composed of individual-level information of students and teacher. I implement a staggered difference-in-difference approach to estimate the causal effect of implementing SEL program on student outcomes. I find that the program does not impact attendance, discipline, nor test scores across the elementary and middle school grades. For high school students, the program leads to a reduction of the number of incidents, an increase in attendance, and no statistical impact on end-of-course exams nor on graduation. Chapter 3 evaluates the predictive power of the non-cognitive traits measured in TeacherInsightTM (TI) testing tool in comparison to other measures of prospective teachers\u27 abilities, like educational credentials, and certifications. I implement regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between teachers\u27 non-cognitive skills (TI score), value-added test score, and observational score. I find that the Teacher Insight Score does not do a good job at predicting which teachers will be effective as measured by the teacher\u27s value-added score. In contrast, the Teacher Insight Score and the observational score have a positive relationship. More specifically, a one-point increase in Teacher Insight score is associated with a .04 increase in teacher observation score

Assessing Atlanta\u27s Place-Based College Scholarship

We investigate whether and how Achieve Atlanta’s college scholarship and associated services impact college enrollment, persistence, and graduation among Atlanta Public School graduates experiencing low household income. Qualifying for the scholarship of up to $5,000/year does not meaningfully change college enrollment among those near the high school GPA eligibility thresholds. However, scholarship receipt does have large and statistically significant effects on early college persistence (i.e., 14%) that continue through BA degree completion within four years (22%). We discuss how the criteria of place-based programs that support economically disadvantaged students may influence results for different types of students.https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/gpl_workingpapers/1003/thumbnail.jp