Excellence in Research: A Comparison of Educational Outcomes at Institutions of Higher Education

在美国，黑人/非裔美国学生获得的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学士学位中有很大一部分是由传统黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）颁发的。这项拟议的研究将结合几个行政数据集和一种新的方法来估计HBCU出勤率对STEM科目毕业率的影响，总体毕业率，以及相对于就读非HBCU机构，在获得学士学位后就读研究生院的可能性。调查人员还将研究为什么有些学生在HBCU比在非HBCU的院校更成功。随着美国试图扩大和增加其STEM劳动力，这是对经济科学和劳动力市场政策的重要贡献。该提案将合并一系列大型、详细的行政数据集，并使用一种新的方法来估计HBCU出勤率对一系列结果的因果影响。具体来说，它将调查三个相互关联的问题：就读和就读HBCU对(i)获得STEM学位毕业的概率、（ii）毕业率和（iii）获得STEM学士学位毕业后就读研究生院的因果影响。pi将采用Hoxby最近开发的方法，并将HBCU出勤率作为黑人学生人力资本决策的一部分进行建模。在这些研究中，拟议的研究将使用新的、更强大的方法来控制选择和异质性，而不是基于倾向得分匹配的传统方法来估计这些学生的结果。这项工作是基于来自美国大学理事会和国家学生信息中心（NSC）的匹配数据集。这种合并的数据集和方法，以前没有使用过，将允许研究人员在研究中控制hbcu的异质性。本研究的结果将促进对美国hbcu对人力资本形成的贡献的认识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A significant proportion of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) baccalaureates earned by Black/African-American students in the US is awarded by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This proposed research will combine several administrative data sets and a new methodology to estimate the effects of HBCU attendance on graduation rates in STEM subjects, graduation rates generally, and the probability of attending graduate school after the baccalaureate, relative to attending a non-HBCU institution. The investigators will also study why some students succeed better in an HBCU compared to a non-HBCU institutions. This is an important contribution to economic science and labor market policy as the US tries to broaden and increase its STEM workforce. This proposal will merge a series of large, detailed, administrative data sets and use a new methodology to estimate the causal effects of HBCU attendance on a series of outcomes. Specifically, it will investigate three interrelated issues: the causal effect of attending and HBCU on (i) the probability of graduating with a STEM degree, (ii) graduation rates, and (iii) attending graduate school after graduating with a STEM baccalaureate degree. The PIs will adopt a recently developed methodology by Hoxby and model HBCU attendance as part of Black students' human capital decisions. Instead of the traditional methodology based on propensity score matching in these studies, the proposed study will use the new and more robust methodology that controls for selection and heterogeneity to estimate these student outcomes. The work is based on a matched data set from the College Board and National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). This merged data set and methodology, not used before, will allow the researchers to control for heterogeneity of HBCUs in the study. The results of this research will advance knowledge on the contribution of HBCUs to human capital formation in the US.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.