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Ability grouping
Creating Classes: Elementary school classroom assignments and their implications for student access to high-quality teaching
We investigate the distribution of students across classrooms in North Carolina elementary schools. While tracking is ubiquitous and well-documented in secondary education, limited evidence exists regarding cross-classroom clustering in elementary schools and its consequences. Consistent with… more →
Leveraging IEPs to Understand Special Education Services at Scale
7.5 million (15%) U.S. public school students have Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that guide $14 billion in special education services. However, the content of IEPs remains unexplored, primarily because they have been historically inaccessible to researchers at scale. In this study, we… more →
The Effects of High School Remediation on Long-Run Educational Attainment
Tags: Ability grouping, Career and technical education, College readiness, Curriculum, High schools, Human capitalThis study examines the effects of remedial courses in high school on postsecondary outcomes using a regression discontinuity design and explores the mechanisms behind these effects. I find that being placed in the remedial schedule and taking an additional remedial course in high school reduces… more →
Accelerating Opportunity: The Effects of Instructionally Supported Detracking
Topics: Student LearningThe pivotal role of Algebra in the educational trajectories of U.S. students continues to motivate controversial, high-profile policies focused on when students access the course, their classroom peers, and how the course is taught. This random-assignment partnership study examines an innovative… more →
Early Algebra Affects Peer Composition
Topics: Student LearningAlthough existing research suggests that students benefit on a range of outcomes when they enroll in early algebra classes, policy efforts that accelerate algebra enrollment for large numbers of students often have negative effects. Explanations for this apparent contradiction often emphasize… more →
Ahead of the Game? Course-Taking Patterns under a Math Pathways Reform
A controversial, equity-focused mathematics reform in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) featured delaying Algebra I until ninth grade for all students. This descriptive study examines student-level longitudinal data on mathematics course-taking across successive cohorts of SFUSD… more →
Patterns, Determinants, and Consequences of Ability Tracking: Evidence from Texas Public Schools
Topics: Student LearningTags: Ability groupingSchools often track students to classes based on ability. Proponents of tracking argue it is a low-cost tool to improve learning since instruction is more effective when students are more homogeneous, while opponents argue it exacerbates initial differences in opportunities without strong… more →
Bias in kindergarten ability group placement: Does parental lobbying make it worse? Do formal assessments make it better?
Von Hippel & Cañedo (2021) reported that US kindergarten teachers placed girls, Asian-Americans, and children from families of high socioeconomic status (SES) into higher ability groups than their test scores alone would warrant. The results fit the view that teachers were biased.
The Long-Run Educational Benefits of High-Achieving Classrooms
Topics: Student LearningDespite the prevalence of school tracking, evidence on whether it improves student success is mixed. This paper studies how tracking within high school impacts high-achieving students’ short- and longer-term academic outcomes. Our setting is a large and selective Chinese high school, where first… more →
Predictors of Access to Advanced Learning: What Makes for a Successful School?
Tags: Gifted education, Ability groupingA wide research base has documented the unequal access to and enrollment in K-12 gifted and talented services and other forms of advanced learning opportunities. This study extends that knowledge base by integrating multiple population-level datasets to better understand correlates of access to… more →
A Descriptive Analysis of Cream Skimming and Pushout in Choice versus Traditional Public Schools
Topics: School ChoiceOne of the controversies surrounding charter schools is whether these schools may either “cream skim” high-performing students from traditional public schools or “pushout” low-achieving students or students with discipline histories, leaving traditional public schools to educate the most… more →
Over Diagnosed or Over Looked? The Effect of Age at Time of School Entry On Students Receiving Special Education Services
Much of the literature estimating disproportionality in special education identification rates has focused on socioeconomic status, race, and gender. However, recent evidence suggests that a student’s school starting age also impacts the likelihood they receive special education services,… more →
Is kindergarten ability group placement biased? New data, new methods, new answers
Topics: Student LearningHalf of kindergarten teachers split children into higher and lower ability groups for reading or math. In national data, we predicted kindergarten ability group placement using linear and ordinal logistic regression with classroom fixed effects. In fall, test scores were the best predictors of… more →
The Impact of Low-Ability Peers on Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Outcomes: Random Assignment Evidence on the Effects and Operating Channels
Topics: Student LearningThis paper presents new experimental estimates of the impact of low-ability peers on own outcomes using nationally representative data from China. We exploit the random assignment of students to junior high school classrooms and find that the proportion of low-ability peers, defined as having… more →
Beyond tracking and detracking: The dimensions of organizational differentiation in schools
Tags: Ability grouping, EquitySchools utilize an array of strategies to match curricula and instruction to students’ heterogeneous skills. While generations of scholars have debated “tracking” and its consequences, the literature fails to account for diversity of school-level sorting practices.