Project Activities
Researchers will complete a series of secondary data analyses using a regression discontinuity design to assess the effects of fiscal flexibility on student achievement and other outcomes.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The intervention being assessed, the Title I Part A Schoolwide Program, operates in Title I-eligible, regular, public primary and secondary schools with moderate to high poverty rates nationwide.
Sample
The analysis population is the census of regular, public primary and secondary school in the United States.
Intervention
The Title I Part A Schoolwide Program allows schools to use the Title I funding school-wide, rather than targeted for students at greatest risk of academic failure.
Research design and methods
The secondary data analysis will be a retrospective regression discontinuity design that leverages a fuzzy discontinuity in program eligibility at the 40% school poverty rate. This analytic approach will permit the researchers to make causal claims as to the effect of fiscal flexibility on student achievement and other outcomes as described below.
Control condition
The control condition is a targeted assistance program, in which schools must direct expenditures only to those students at risk of academic failure.
Key measures
While the primary focus will be on high school graduation and student performance on standardized tests of literacy and numeracy, newly available school-level data from the Office of Civil Rights will allow the analysis to include outcomes such as on-time grade progression, enrollment in and completion of college preparatory courses, and school-level expenditures.
Data analytic strategy
Using a regression discontinuity design, the research team will exploit the eligibility threshold in order to make causal claims about the effect of fiscal flexibility on student achievement and other outcomes of interest. The preferred model is a fuzzy, comparative regression discontinuity with multiple running variables. The two-stage least squares routine will contain multiple instruments to predict two endogenous treatments: length of time spent in a school-wide program and a binary indicator for having ever run a school-wide program.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Researchers will produce evidence of the impact of fiscal flexibility on student outcomes. The team will also produce peer-reviewed publications and documentation for how to access the extant data used, along with the code used by the researchers.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Johnson, Rucker C.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
