Matching Items (13)
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- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Schools across the United States have been subject to a rise in violent incidents since 2013. Reading about school shootings, racist acts, and violent demonstrations in schools has unfortunately become commonplace, which is contributing to inequitable outcomes for some student populations. These equity gaps have triggered demands for more equitable solutions in schools, a responsibility that falls on the shoulders of stakeholders like school governing boards, principals, and parents.
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD), a large school system in Arizona that serves 45,000 students from preschool through high school, has been unable to escape similar structural and frictional inequities within its schools. One instance of a racially charged student performance at Santan Middle School motivated CUSD to take a more immediate look at equity in the district. It is during this response that our team of New Venture Group consultants engaged with Matt Strom, Assistant Superintendent of CUSD, in analyzing the important question of “how CUSD can take steps towards closing equity gaps within the district?”
CUSD defines an equity gap as any difference in student opportunity, achievement, discipline, attendance, etc. contributable to a student’s ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status. Currently, certain student populations in CUSD perform vastly different academically and receive different opportunities within schools, but as was our problem statement, CUSD is aiming to reduce (and eventually close) these gaps.
Our team approached this problem in three phases: (1) diagnosis, (2) solution creation, and (3) prevention. In phase one, we created a dashboard to help principals easily and visually identify gaps by toggling parameters on the dashboard. Phase two focused on the generation of recommendations for closing gaps. To achieve this goal, a knowledge of successful gap-closing strategies will be paired with the dashboard. In our final phase, the team of consultants created a principal scorecard to ensure equity remains a priority for principals.
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD), a large school system in Arizona that serves 45,000 students from preschool through high school, has been unable to escape similar structural and frictional inequities within its schools. One instance of a racially charged student performance at Santan Middle School motivated CUSD to take a more immediate look at equity in the district. It is during this response that our team of New Venture Group consultants engaged with Matt Strom, Assistant Superintendent of CUSD, in analyzing the important question of “how CUSD can take steps towards closing equity gaps within the district?”
CUSD defines an equity gap as any difference in student opportunity, achievement, discipline, attendance, etc. contributable to a student’s ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status. Currently, certain student populations in CUSD perform vastly different academically and receive different opportunities within schools, but as was our problem statement, CUSD is aiming to reduce (and eventually close) these gaps.
Our team approached this problem in three phases: (1) diagnosis, (2) solution creation, and (3) prevention. In phase one, we created a dashboard to help principals easily and visually identify gaps by toggling parameters on the dashboard. Phase two focused on the generation of recommendations for closing gaps. To achieve this goal, a knowledge of successful gap-closing strategies will be paired with the dashboard. In our final phase, the team of consultants created a principal scorecard to ensure equity remains a priority for principals.
ContributorsFerrara, Justin Christopher (Co-author) / Lee, Cynthia (Co-author) / Weston, Joshua (Co-author) / Licon, Wendell (Thesis director) / Strom, Matthew (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Educational inequity – derived from disproportionate levels of resource availability and school quality – warrants examination from an economic perspective. The basket of topics pertinent to education policy today, may be characterized (mostly) into three categories, all representing key theoretical concepts of economics: supply, demand, and sorting. Furthermore, funding, teacher, and capital allocation patterns could inform the potential causal relationship between increased school demand (and resulting supply) and enhanced academic performance. My paper examines the district-level impact of positive school supply shocks – modeled via new school facility openings – on sorting and student performance on a standardized test. Applying econometric estimation techniques, my paper examines whether new school openings produce differential treatment effects in districts with separate socioeconomic composition. My methodology stems from previous research done by Cellini, Riegg, Ferreira, and Rothstein (2010), and Neilson and Zimmerman (2011). I also draw from Evans, Yoo, and Sipple (2010) to investigate an estimated version of student stability as a potential mechanism driving results. All 3 papers relate to school infrastructure and student performance. I find convincingly that test score improvements are relatively higher in districts experiencing a new school facility opening in FY 2009, than in districts without an opening. Additionally, I note treatment effect magnitude to be far smaller in districts exhibiting above-average income residents. In order to examine this finding further, I explore year-to-year changes in both pupil-to-teacher ratios and geographic mobility to characterize potential mechanisms behind this distinction. My results are consistent with research predecessors in that they suggest lower SES students benefit disproportionately from treatment and that test scores are decreasing in geographic mobility. Aside from previous research, I believe my finding that new school facilities most greatly improve student test performance in schools with lower pupil-to-teacher ratios, is unique and slightly inconsistent with the objective purpose of the new school facilities I examine. By using new school openings granted by the School Facilities Board of Arizona, I model a direct product of increased demand and am able to comment on how supply-side reactions impact high and low income districts differentially.
ContributorsBonaguidi, Matt (Author) / Veramendi, Gregory (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper aims to get a snapshot of charter school and public school performance in the state of California, specifically looking at high schools. Based off of data gathered on specific variables of interest and carefully constructed regression models, we are testing whether charter schools perform differently from public schools. This paper attempts to analyze results from standard OLS regression models and random effects GLS models, both with and without
interaction effects between charter schools and ethnicity and geographic area. While discussing results, this paper will also acknowledge limitations while drawing the line between correlation and causality. Our variable of interest throughout the paper is charter school, controlling for other factors that might impact API scores such as geographic area, demographics, and school
characteristics.
interaction effects between charter schools and ethnicity and geographic area. While discussing results, this paper will also acknowledge limitations while drawing the line between correlation and causality. Our variable of interest throughout the paper is charter school, controlling for other factors that might impact API scores such as geographic area, demographics, and school
characteristics.
ContributorsValdez, Logan Taylor (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Murphy, Alvin (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05