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，有相当大一部分是由历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)授予的。这项拟议的研究将结合几个管理数据集和一种新的方法来估计HBCU的出勤率对STEM科目毕业率、一般毕业率以及相对于参加非HBCU机构的研究生的可能性的影响。调查人员还将研究为什么一些学生在HBCU的成绩比非HBCU的学生更好。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。这项提议将合并一系列大型、详细的行政数据集，并使用一种新的方法来估计HBCU出席人数对一系列结果的因果影响。具体地说，它将调查三个相互关联的问题：参加HBCU对(I)获得STEM学位毕业的可能性，(Ii)毕业率，以及(Iii)获得STEM学士学位毕业后进入研究生院学习的因果影响。PIS将采用霍克斯比最近开发的方法，并将HBCU出勤率模型作为黑人学生人力资本决策的一部分。在这些研究中，与传统的基于倾向分数匹配的方法不同，拟议的研究将使用控制选择和异质性的新的、更强大的方法来估计这些学生的结果。这项工作是基于来自大学理事会和国家学生信息交换中心的匹配数据集。这种以前从未使用过的合并数据集和方法，将使研究人员能够控制研究中HBCU的异质性。这项研究的结果将促进对HBCU对美国人力资本形成的贡献的了解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 institution. 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 an 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. 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.