Using New Longitudinal Linked Data to Investigate the Determinants of Educational Attainment and Achievement

尽管决定教育程度和成就的因素与政策相关，但经济学家对这个问题并没有很好的理解，尽管有一些关于这个主题的研究。这项研究将研究教育程度和成就的决定因素，以6-12年级儿童/青少年的标准化考试成绩为衡量标准，使用最新的行政考试成绩和调查数据。这项研究是基于对所有公立学校的学生进行的全国标准化测试，以及对随机抽样学校的特殊学生、教师、校长和家长的调查。这些丰富的数据为分析学校质量、教师质量和家庭特征如何影响学生入学和表现提供了机会，因为学习是一个跨年级的累积过程。研究人员还将利用这些数据来研究为儿童上学提供补贴的项目如何影响儿童的工作行为、学业成就和表现。该研究还将研究学校质量、课程差异和离家距离如何影响家长为教育付费的意愿；它还将分析家庭背景如何影响他们为子女支付教育费用的意愿。这项研究的结果可以为美国和许多其他国家的教育政策提供参考。该研究项目还将有助于建立教育成果研究的全球领导者。尽管有几项研究，但研究人员对教育程度和成就的决定因素，特别是在K-12阶段，并没有很好的理解。本研究将有助于对K-12教育的决定因素的文献。具体而言，本研究旨在：(i)估计考试成绩动态的增值模型，以研究学校质量和家庭投入如何影响学生的表现，并检查现金转移计划如何通过同伴效应影响受益人和非受益人；（ii）开发和估计学生入学、成绩和成绩进步的决定因素的动态模型，包括不及格、成绩保留和退学；（iii）估计对不同类型学校的需求，考虑到个人特定的选择集（基于地理位置），并分析需求如何取决于学校质量、学校距离、家庭背景、补贴状况和影响教育回报和童工需求的当地劳动力市场条件；（iv）建立和估计学生入学、学习努力、辍学和工作决策的离散选择动态规划（DCDP）模型，并使用该模型研究不同收入转移激励支付、改变学校质量和增加上学机会的影响。(v)最后，本研究开发并评估了学生努力选择的策略模型，以研究初始能力分布如何影响努力选择和考试成绩结果。本研究的结果将为改善教育成果、促进人力资本形成和促进长期经济增长的政策提供重要投入。研究结果还有助于确立美国在教育成果研究方面的全球领先地位。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。

In spite of the policy relevance of what determines educational attainment and achievement, economists do not have a good understanding of the issue even though there are several studies on the subject. This research will study the determinants of educational attainment and achievement, as measured by scores on standardized tests for children/youth in grades 6-12 using newly available administrative test score and survey data. The study is based on a nationwide standardized tests to children in all public schools as well as surveys of special students, teacher, principal and parents in a random sample of schools. These rich data provide opportunities to analyze how school quality, teacher quality and family characteristics affect student enrollment and performance in a way that learning is a cumulative process across grades. The researchers will also use the data to study how a program that pays subsidies to children to attend school affects child working behaviors, schooling attainment and performance. The research will also study how school quality, differences in curricula, and distances from home affect parents’ willingness to pay for education; it will also analyze how willingness to pay for their children’s education is influenced by family background. The results of this research can inform educational policies in the US and many other countries. The research project will also help establish the global leader in educational outcomes research.Despite several studies, researchers do not have a good understanding of the determinants of educational attainment and achievement, especially at the K-12 level. This research will contribute the literature on the determinants of K-12 education. Specifically, this research aims at: (i) estimating value-added models of test score dynamics to study how school quality and family inputs affect student performance and to examine how cash transfer a program affects beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries through peer effects; (ii) develop and estimate a dynamic model of the determinants of student enrollment, achievement and grade progression that incorporates failure, grade retention and dropout; (iii) estimate the demand for different types of schools, accounting for individual-specific choice sets (based on geographic location), and analyze how demand depends on school quality, distances to schools, family background, subsidy status and local labor market conditions that affects returns to education and the demand for child labor; (iv) develop and estimate a discrete choice dynamic programming (DCDP) model of student enrollment, study effort, drop-out, and working decisions and use the model to study the effect of varying income transfer incentive payments, modifying school quality and increasing schooling access. (v) Finally, the research develops and estimate a strategic model of student effort choices within classrooms to study how initial ability distribution influences effort choices and test score outcomes. The results of this research will provide important inputs into policies to improve education outcomes, increase human capital formation, and increase long-term economic growth. The research results could also help establish the US as the global leader in research on educational outcomes.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.