Search

Most analyses of teacher quality end without any assessment of the economic value of altered teacher quality. This paper combines information about teacher effectiveness with the economic impact of higher achievement. It begins with an overview of what is known about the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement, which provides the basis for consideration of the derived demand for teachers which comes from their impact on economic outcomes. Alternative valuation methods are based on the impact of increased achievement on individual earnings and on the impact of low teacher effectiveness on economic growth through aggregate achievement. A teacher one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness annually generates marginal gains of over $400,000 in present value of student future earnings with a class size of 20 and proportionately higher with larger class sizes. Alternatively, replacing the bottom 5-8 percent of teachers with average teachers could move the U.S. near the top of international math and science rankings with a present value of $100 trillion. (Contains 3 tables, 3 figures and 44 footnotes.)

A growing number of American states and school districts require students to meet basic performance standards in core academic subjects at key transition points in order to be promoted to the next grade. We exploit a discontinuity in the probability of third grade retention under a Florida test-based promotion policy to study the causal effect of retention on student outcomes over time. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate large short-term gains in achievement among retained students and a sharp reduction in the probability of retention in subsequent years. The achievement gains from retention fade out gradually over time, however, and are statistically insignificant after six years. Despite this fade out, our results suggest that previous evidence that early retention leads to adverse academic outcomes is misleading due to unobserved differences between retained and promoted students. They also imply that the educational and opportunity costs associated with retaining a student in the early grades are substantially less than a full year of per pupil spending and foregone earnings. (Contains 10 figures, 11 tables, and 19 footnotes.)

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension system in Missouri. These enhancements resulted in large windfall gains for teachers who were close to retirement when the legislation was enacted. By contrast, novice teachers, and teachers who had not yet entered the labor force, were made "worse off". The reason is that front-end contribution rates have been raised for current teachers to offset past liabilities accrued from the enhancements. Other things equal, the teaching profession in Missouri is now less appealing for young teachers than it was before the pension enhancements were enacted. Pension-Wealth Calculations are appended. (Contains 2 figures, 7 tables and 31 footnotes.)

Over recent years governments have been placing more emphasis on innovation as a source of national competitiveness. Governments now assess their investments across many areas in terms of the contribution that such investments make to increasing innovation. This has been especially significant for education and in particular for the development of policies for universities because universities perform research as well as provide learning. The measures governments use to assess the performance of universities frequently include indicators of research-related engagement with business, or of the level of patenting, licensing and start ups. Assessing university performance by focusing on just some of the direct services or outputs that universities provide, or on narrow aspects of their individual services, seriously underestimates the contributions that universities make. Appended are: (1) The health innovation system; (2) Sources of ideas or information for business innovation; (3) Innovation-Active Businesses; and (4) Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in the USA. (Contains 33 footnotes.)

There is growing evidence that students throughout the world no longer see the US as the primary place to study; that in some form this correlates with a rise in perceived quality and prestige in the EU and elsewhere; and further, that this may mean a continued decline in the US's market share of international students. There clearly are a complex set of variables that will influence international education and global labor markets, including the current global economic recession. Ultimately, however, we think these factors will not alter the fundamental dynamics of the new global market, which include these facts: the international flow of talent, scientific or otherwise, is being fundamentally altered as nations invest more in educational attainment and human capital; the US will continue to lose some of its market share over time--the only question is how quickly and by how much; and without a proactive strategy, nations such as the US that are highly dependent on global in-migration of talented students and professionals are most vulnerable to downward access to global talent, with a potentially significant impact on future economic growth. This study provides data on past and recent global trends in international enrollment, and offers a set of policy recommendations for the US at the federal, state, and institutional level. This includes our recommendation of a national goal to double the number of international students in the US over the next decade to match numbers in a group of competitor nations, and requires recognition that the US will need to strategically expand its enrollment capacity and graduation rates to accommodate needed increases in the educational attainment rate of US citizens, and to welcome more international students. Attracting talent in a global market and increasing degree attainment rates of the domestic population are not mutually exclusive goals. Indeed, they will be the hallmarks of the most competitive economies. (Contains 6 figures and 41 endnotes.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. Although countries responded quickly to support displaced workers with assistance packages and funding for education and training, additional measures might be needed. Each country's economic recovery will most likely depend on how well its workforce is prepared to meet the needs of the changed labor market. Providing workers with opportunities to upskill or reskill is of major importance in meeting these challenges and improving low- and middle-skilled workers' reemployment prospects. This qualitative study examines measures taken in response to COVID-19 in adult education and training (AET) in seven countries. The findings are based on key informant interviews with international experts and online sources they provided. Some countries have increased government funding for vocational and continuing education or offered financial support for post-secondary students while others have provided funds to employers to offer training and retraining for their employees. [This paper was published in: "Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning" v23 n1 p201-210 Jun 2021.]

Students not reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school. This fact and other recent research on the importance of early literacy skills have culminated in an intense focus on improving 3rd-grade reading proficiency. The challenges of improving literacy are, in turn, causing more state leaders to confront the difficult question: "Should students who do not have the requisite knowledge and reading skills to succeed in the next grade be retained? The growing number of state initiatives aimed at addressing 3rd-grade reading proficiency includes three elements: (1) Early identification of reading difficulties; (2) Interventions that occur as close to the point of need as possible; and (3) Retention. In this paper, the authors address the strategy that is causing the most angst across the states: retention. They also stress the importance of and need for early identification and intervention strategies. To illustrate, they describe the experiences of both Florida and New York City. Finally, they outline strategies to help ensure that a far greater number of young readers leave the early grades at a proficient level of knowledge and skills. Appended are: (1) Florida's "Good Cause" Exemptions for students scoring below a 2 on the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test); and (2) Percentage of students in OECD countries reporting that they have repeated a grade at least once in primary, lower secondary or upper secondary school. (Contains 27 endnotes.) [This paper was supported in part by Pre-K Now. For the summary report, "Third Grade Reading Policies," see ED535948.]

By late 2008, the United States was in the midst of its most severe economic recession since the 1930s, brought on by a collapse in real estate prices and exacerbated by the failure of many large banks and financial institutions. Heeding calls from economists, Congress and the Obama administration passed an historic law in early 2009 to stimulate the economy with $862 billion in new spending and tax cuts. This law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), included nearly $100 billion in one-time funding for new and existing education programs, an historic sum given that annual appropriations for federal education programs at the time were approximately $60 billion. The largest single education program included in the law was the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, a new $48.6 billion program that provided direct grant aid to state governments in fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011. The program was designed to help states maintain support for both public K-12 and higher education funding that they might have otherwise cut in response to budget shortfalls brought on by the economic downturn. This paper examines how eight states and their public institutions of higher education used the funds to support higher education and what will happen to these institutions' budgets in fiscal year 2012 when the funds are no longer available. It uses information collected through phone interviews with officials in state higher education offices and at public institutions of higher education to determine how states distributed the funds and how institutions actually used them. Using this information, some general conclusions can be made about how the ARRA funds actually affected higher education in America and what is likely to happen once the funds are no longer available. While every state used the funds differently, the author and her colleagues find that the states they studied used the vast majority of their funds to support salaries and benefits for instructional staff. And while these funds played an important part in keeping these institutions of higher education financially solvent in 2009, 2010, and 2011, many institutions will face budgetary challenges in 2012 and beyond. This paper is the third in a three-part series examining these trends. (Contains 17 notes.) [For related reports, see "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending in the States: Part 1 of 4. Issue Brief" (ED540794); and "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending: Part 2 of 4" (ED540795).]

Ever since achieving a high school credential by passing the GED Tests became widely institutionalized through the adult education programs in the United States, the outcomes for GED credential recipients have continued to be of great interest to the adult education community and the general public. Does earning a GED credential bring positive life changes to the adults who did not complete a high school education? Does obtaining a GED credential help the recipients find better employment opportunities and earn higher wages? Among the studies on labor market outcomes of GED credential recipients, the most influential was the 1993 study by Cameron and Heckman, which was based on the NLSY79 data and argued that GED credential recipients are "nonequivalence of high school equivalents," and that they are "indistinguishable in many relevant labor market dimensions" from uncredentialed high school dropouts. Now, almost two decades after the Cameron and Heckman study, has anything changed with a new generation of American youth? Based on a new wave of NLSY data (NLSY97), this paper aims to examine how GED credential recipients compare with other young adults who had not completed a high school education and with traditional high school graduates on their labor market performance. The study found that GED credential recipients' hourly compensation on their most recent job is much higher than that of the high school dropouts and is closer to that of the high school graduates, both of which are in the $14 range. For GED credential recipients and high school graduates at five years or more after obtaining their credential or diploma, the hourly wages are about the same, around $15. In terms of work hours, wage income, family income, and poverty ratio, GED credential recipients seem to fall between high school dropouts and high school graduates. The study also looked into job satisfaction, employer size, fringe benefits, industry, and occupation. The study then uses multiple regressions to assess the impact of educational status on hourly compensation and hours of work for the NLSY97 members who did not pursue postsecondary education. After controlling for individual demographic, ability, work experience, and employer industry, GED credential recipients' hourly wages on average could be 6.7 to 9.3 percent higher than those of high school dropouts, while the high school graduates' hourly wages could be 6.2 to 6.7 percent higher than those of GED credential recipients. GED credential recipients' annual hours could also be 120 hours (approximately 11 percent) longer than those of high school dropouts, while high school graduates' work hours could be 120 to 180 hours (approximately 10 to 15 percent) longer than those of GED credential recipients. Finally, this paper discusses the findings from earlier sections and suggests policy implications and future research studies. Appended are: (1) Labor Market Outcomes by Degree Type, from Various Data Sources; and (2) Ordinary Least Squares Regression Coefficients for Log-Wages and Work Hours: All Education Groups. (Contains 12 tables and 2 footnotes.)

Since the 1990s, a wealth of literature has compared the benefits of having a GED[R] test credential versus a traditional high school diploma or no high school credential, with an early emphasis on economic impact. One advantage of passing the GED test lies in its ability to open doors to the postsecondary system. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. uncredentialed adults who passed the GED test in 2010 indicated further education as a reason for testing, and 55.6 percent specified testing to enter a two-year or a four-year postsecondary institution. The purpose of this paper is to expand on the insights, as offered in Zhang, Guison-Dowdy, Patterson, and Song (2011), into the postsecondary transitions and outcomes of GED test passers in contrast to those of traditional high school graduates. Analyses use the BPS:04/09 dataset, a large, longitudinal dataset representative of a U.S. cohort of postsecondary freshmen. A second paper (Guison-Dowdy & Patterson, in press) further compares GED test credential recipients and traditional high school graduates side by side using BPS:04/09 data as well, examining more specifically the socio-academic experiences, the continued or altered trajectories, and the thoughts of students in their journeys through the postsecondary system, between the time they first enroll and until they exit. (Contains 8 figures, 8 tables, and 5 footnotes.)

This paper is about a court case decided by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1971. Although attorneys recognize that the case is important to businesses, its impact on colleges and universities has been explored by only a few. As this paper will show, "Griggs v. Duke Power" may have enormously boosted the number of students in college and may have increased the differential in income between high school and college graduates. It may have led to higher tuition, without providing commensurate additional value. This paper will describe "Griggs," the environment from which it emerged, and the subsequent judicial and political activity that created such great constraints on testing. It will discuss testing today and then provide economic information suggesting the magnitude of the changes that "Griggs" may have instigated. This paper suggests that additional scholarly work on the impact of "Griggs" on higher education is appropriate. (Contains 2 figures and 52 endnotes.) [This paper was supported by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE).]

The aim of this paper is to consider some issues in the historical international development of science education making comparisons between the educational systems of Britain and the United States of America. The author's particular interest relates to the role of the textbook in science education, so this is area on which this study will concentrate. Some issues for discussion are: (1) The transmission of scientific knowledge through textbooks both within and between Britain and America; (2) Chemistry laboratory manuals, heurism and the practical teaching of chemistry in Britain and America; (3) Gender issues in science textbook writing in Britain and America; (4) Curricula in science education; the case of physiography; (5) Administrative issues and committee processes; and (6) Adult education and the public understanding of science. These and other factors have had economic and other consequences far outside those that might have been anticipated. (Contains 1 figure.)

This study, commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), is designed to review current evidence on the most effective ways in which employers can support schools to improve pupil educational and economic outcomes. It is a study in three parts. It aims, first, to conceptualise employer engagement in education as a strategic tool, developing a new typology to make sense of it, second, to review high quality research literature through the lens of the new typology, and, finally, to discuss the practical implications of the study for policy-makers and practitioners. The paper, moreover, seeks to provide an evidenced overview of promising approaches and programmes to support schools intending to undertake activities with employers. The report assesses the prospective impacts of employer engagement in terms of both educational and economic outcomes, focusing on pupils in both primary and secondary education. Specifically, the study: (1) identifies the different types of employer engagement in terms of what is intended by policymakers and users and the related evidenced outcomes; (2) identifies areas and interventions of promise, highlighting where further research is needed; and (3) identifies key features of successful practice. [This report was co-published by Education and Employers.]

Education is the key to American competitiveness and a strong economy, and continued federal investment in education is needed in order to support improvements in student achievement and put American economy on the path to sustained growth. The United States must continue to invest in education in order to create a system that is more equitable and that produces American students who are more competitive in the global marketplace for talent. Investment in education makes intuitive sense to the American people, but in this tough budgetary climate, it seems that every public investment is on the table to be cut. This paper discusses six reasons why continued federal investment in education should be a no-brainer as the congressional super committee negotiates this fall: (1) Global competitiveness; (2) Ensuring all students reach high standards of achievement; (3) Economic returns; (4) Jobs; (5) Savings elsewhere; and (6) Path to the middle class. Of course, investing in education isn't going to increase student achievement by itself. It matters how that money is spent, and now more than ever it is important to ensure money is spent fairly, efficiently, and effectively. Here are a couple of key principles to follow: (1) Spend scarce federal money where it is most needed; and (2) Education funding should be efficient and effective, emphasizing returns on investment. The author concludes that investment in education is a social and economic imperative, and efficient and effective federal education spending must be protected in this fall's super committee negotiations. (Contains 35 endnotes.)

Chicago has a dynamic history of embracing change, evolving from an agricultural and commercial hub to the steel powerhouse that would undergird America's industrial revolution. The "City of Big Shoulders" now bears a sizeable burden, one that again requires it to embrace change. The metro area must shift to an economy built on knowledge industries and high-tech firms, relying on a dramatically shifting labor force that lacks the versatile skills demanded by emerging industries. Latinos were three of every five new entrants to the region's labor force over the past decade. Most have roots in Chicago, but many remain poorly educated. If current trends continue, many of the younger generation are bound for low-paying, semi-skilled jobs at best, entering the workforce with neither the human capital nor cultural connections that will boost the local economy's productivity or attract cutting-edge firms. Eager Latino workers are flooding a metro labor force that may reflect stagnant productivity and fail to provide the upward mobility. This threatens to dampen Chicago's economic vitality. This brief presents new research that illustrates how both Mexican immigrants and many of their US-born counterparts--Latinos of Mexican origin--are overrepresented in low-skilled, low-pay manufacturing, food service, and construction industries. Given the grim economic implications of a regional economy built on the shoulders of a low-skilled workforce, the brief calls for investment in education--particularly early childhood education--as a critical means to build a well-equipped, competitive workforce. (Contains 5 charts and 28 endnotes.) [Based on a technical paper written by John Koval.]

Using national data, the present study first investigated interstate college migration. Unlike existing studies of interstate college migration, this study also tracked students to college graduation to explore their post-graduation migration, such as leaving to other states after graduating from in-state institutions and returning to home states after graduating from out-of-state institutions. While a single equation approach has been widely used in migration research, this study used multi-level logistic regression that is rather new in the area of institutional research. In addition to states' economic conditions, certain institutional characteristics were found to influence differently depending of types of migration. States by Region are appended. (Contains 5 tables.)

By late 2008, the United States was in the midst of its most severe economic recession since the 1930s, brought on by a collapse in real estate prices and exacerbated by the failure of many large banks and financial institutions. Heeding calls from economists, Congress and the Obama administration passed a historic law in early 2009 to stimulate the economy with $862 billion in new spending and tax cuts. This law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), included nearly $100 billion in one-time funding for new and existing education programs, a historic sum given that annual appropriations for federal education programs at the time were approximately $60 billion. This paper is the second in a four-part series examining these trends. Forthcoming reports will provide a study of how select states used SFSF funds and a look at the status of state higher education funding after the SFSF monies are no longer available at the end of fiscal year 2011. Division of ARRA Education Stabilization Funds by Education Sector and Year are appended. (Contains 3 tables and 14 notes.) [For related reports, see "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending in the States: Part 1 of 4. Issue Brief" (ED540794); and "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending Part 3: State Case Studies" (ED540796).]

By late 2008, the United States was in the midst of its most severe economic recession since the 1930s, brought on by a collapse in real estate prices and exacerbated by the failure of many large banks and financial institutions. Heeding calls from economists, Congress and the Obama administration passed a historic law in early 2009 to stimulate the economy with $862 billion in new spending and tax cuts. This paper is the first in a four-part series examining the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's of 2009 (ARRA's) effect on state spending for higher education. The forthcoming reports will provide an analysis of state allocations of State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF) to higher education, a study of how those funds were used in select states, and a look at the status of state higher education funding after the SFSF monies are no longer available at the end of fiscal year 2011. (Contains 3 tables and 9 notes.) [For related reports, see "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending: Part 2 of 4" (ED540795); and "The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Higher Education Spending Part 3: State Case Studies" (ED540796).]

The secular increase over the past several decades in the number of families where both the husband and wife work in the paid labor force, coupled with the surge in labor force participation of single mothers in the 1990s, has heightened policy focus on child care options for working parents; federal and state governments are now major players in the provision of child care in the United States. The purpose of this report is to provide a selective survey of the literature on the economic consequences of child care for recipient families, and to relate the results to families residing in Kentucky using data from the Annual Social and Economic Study in the Current Population Survey. The survey is selective both because of its exclusive focus on child care research by economists and because the literature is vast even within economics such that only articles deemed to be important contributions to the labor supply and child care literature are included. The literature review reveals that in the domain of child care the economics profession has focused primarily on the labor-market consequences of child care subsidies, particularly the effect of subsidies on the decision to work, on total hours of work conditional on being employed, on hourly wages, and on whether to use formal child care. There is less extensive evidence on the effects of child care subsidies on welfare participation, on school attendance, and job satisfaction, and no direct evidence on the issue of the anti-poverty effectiveness of child care subsidies. Most of the papers reviewed contain estimated elasticities of employment with respect to the price of child care, indicating labor-market participation responsiveness to any given change in the price of child care. (Contains 11 footnotes and 5 tables.) [Additional financial support for this report was provided by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.]

Although the relationship among education, science, technology, and economic development is nearly universally accepted, the link among education, infrastructure, and economic growth has yet to be empirically demonstrated. A multivariate analysis of cross-national data regarding 48 countries was performed to document relationships between technical education and economic development. A multivariate time series regression model was used to analyze national enrollment in secondary and tertiary education and labor force participation statistics from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization annual yearbook and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicators to determine the relationship between technical education and economic development as measured by gross domestic product per capita growth rates. Although it was acknowledged that accounting for economic growth of a nation/state requires consideration of factors beyond the study's scope (including natural resources, geographic location, and political climate/stability), it was concluded that the analysis clearly demonstrated the importance of postsecondary technical education, specifically at the two-year college level, to economic development. Government educational policies in Korea, France, and Germany were cited as examples of how careful attention to technical engineering education at the two-year college level represents a coherent, effective mechanism for national economic development. (Contains 27 references.) (MN)

No student who hopes to compete in today's rapidly evolving global economy and job market can afford to graduate from high school with weak mathematical skills, which include the ability to use logic, reason, and solve problems. The benefits associated with improving the math performance of American students also extend to the larger U.S. economy. Highlights of this paper include: (1) American students lag far behind other industrialized nations in math skills; and (2) Requiring more students to take advanced math would boost America's economic competitiveness and wealth. (Contains 10 endnotes.)