Professor: Keren Mertens HornOffice: Wheatley 5-78B

Office Hours: TR 2:30-4:00 pmE-mail: Keren.horn@umb.edu

ECONOMICS OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA

212G, SPRING 2013

BOSTON SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Based on what we learned regarding agglomeration, we may expect schools in the center of Boston to be the highest performing, but based on the map this is not the case.

Why do you think that schools in Boston perform worse than schools outside of Boston?

BOSTON SCHOOLS

Source: http://febp.newamerica.net/k12/MA/2503270

Reading Proficiency

Rate

Per Pupil Spending

2009

Census Poverty

Rate

Boston 30% $18,858 29%

Newton 78% $17,755 5%Lexington 84% $16,843 3%

Resources: Schools are financed at the school district level, so rich

school districts can often spend more on schools than poor school districts

In Boston, we see that the city spends more per student than some of the highest performing suburban school districts

WHY ARE URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAILING?

Source: http://febp.newamerica.net/k12/MA/2503270

Reading Proficiency

Rate

Per Pupil Spending

2009

%Eligible for Free or

Reduced Price Lunch*

Boston 30% $18,858 70%

Newton 78% $17,755 11%Lexington 84% $16,843 7%

Poverty in Cities: High concentrations of low income families who generally

send their children to public schools, leads to high concentration of poor students in urban public schools

WHY ARE URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAILING?

Source: http://febp.newamerica.net/k12/MA/2503270Source: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/Map.aspx?state=MA&loct=11&ind=7418&dtm=2&tf=1021Students living in households earning below 185% of the poverty line are eligible for free or reduced price lunch

History: In the 1970s when schools were being desegregated,

Miliken v. Bradley (Supreme Court Case) established that school systems were not required to desegregate across school district lines

This meant that white/middle class families could move to the suburbs and avoid all the problems associated with desegregating urban public schools.

WHY ARE URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS FAILING?

School Focused Reforms: Increased accountability – i.e. testing, No Child Left Behind Increasing choice within urban school districts – i.e. charter

and magnet schools, variety of school zoning systems, and voucher programs

Attracting high quality teachers to urban school districts – i.e. Teach for America, Merit Pay

Neighborhood Focused Reforms: Community Development Programs – i.e. Harlem Children’s

Zone Poverty De-concentration Policies – i.e. Inclusionary Zoning,

Section 8 Housing Vouchers

HOW ARE WE TRYING TO ADDRESS THESE

CHALLENGES?

Economists use a production function to describe how learning occurs: Academic Achievement = Student Quality + School Quality +

Peer Quality (A production function tells you how much of different inputs

translate into the maximum possible output of your final product)

Problems associated with reforming the ‘production’ of a school: What is the “maximum” output of a school? How do we

measure this? What is the most critical input in this model? Each input is also a function of many other inputs

ie Student quality depends on many interrelated factors, like their work ethic, family background and educational history

CHALLENGES WITH IMPROVING EDUCATION

Principal/Agent problems These problems arise in environments characterized by

incomplete and unevenly distributed information (ex/School) School teacher/principal may know if they are doing a good

job, but we (parents, school district administrators, government officials) may not be able to tell

In the absence of monitoring the agent has an incentive to shirk responsibilities (ie spend less time doing their job and more time on leisure activities)

Economists response is to design a system of incentives that align the agents’ time management decisions with the organization’s goals

CHALLENGES WITH IMPROVING EDUCATION

Signed by President Bush in 2002Significantly expanded federal government’s influence over

the nation’s more than 90,000 schoolsHallmark Features:

Annual assessments of school performance identifying schools that fail to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP)

Institute system of sanctions and rewards based on AYP status (including closing failing schools)

Publicize information associated with school’s performanceHow does it attempt to overcome obstacles associated with

education? Standardized tests are assumed to represent an assessment of

student skills (focus on the desired outcomes of a ‘good’ education) By providing school administrators and teachers with strong

incentives to produce results on these exams, we can increase the likelihood that these actors will not shirk responsibilities (moral hazard) and more likely provide a ‘good’ education

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (2002)

Many criticisms: Standardized tests do not appropriately capture what we

want our students to learn Increased accountability leads to increased ‘teaching to the

test’ Creates incentives for teacher cheating (ex/Atlanta,

Philadelphia)But some evidence that it has led to increased

student performance: Dee and Jacob (2011) find NCLB increased average math

performance of fourth graders, but no evidence that NCLB increased average fourth grade reading achievement

IS NCLB WORKING?

Charter schools are publicly funded schools, governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract (or charter) with the state or school district

The charter exempts the school from selected state or local rules and regulations (ex/some Charter schools can hire teachers outside of the teachers union)

School’s charter is reviewed periodically (typically every 3-5 years) and can be revoked if guidelines are not followed

In exchange for flexibility they receive less funding than traditional public schools (often only per student funds and no facilities funding)

CHARTER SCHOOLS

*http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30

Rationale for provision of charter schools: Public Schools can act as a monopoly, since most families

cannot afford private schools and may only have access to one public school

Bureaucracies associated with public schools can often stifle innovation

Encourages parent engagement, since parents can now choose between a range of schools

Criticisms of charter schools: Difficult to enforce provisions of the charter, leading to very

little accountability Educate a lower share of students with disabilities, as these

students are more expensive to educate Siphons high performing students away from traditional

public schools, leaving traditional public schools in even worse positions

CHARTER SCHOOLS

CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MA

CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MA

In comparison to traditional public schools (TPS) Reading:

44% of charter schools studied outperform their TPS counterparts

13% of charter schools have significantly lower learning gains Math:

56% of charter schools studied outperform their TPS peers 17% of charter schools have significantly lower learning gains

In Boston: 83% of the charter schools studied have significantly more

positive learning gains than their TPS counterparts in reading and math

No charter schools have significantly lower learning gains

CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MA

Source: http://credo.stanford.edu/documents/MAReportFinal.pdf

CHARTER SCHOOLS IN MA

Roland Fryer (professor of Economics at Harvard) recently conducted a study identifying 5 characteristics of the most successful NYC charter schools and worked to implement these reforms in public schools in Houston, TX and Denver, CO

The 5 Characteristics: Focus on human capital – increasing support for teachers Using student data to drive instruction – frequent assessments and

time to meet with students after each assessment to revise learning plan

Providing high-dosage tutoring – all students in a school (or grade) should have access to tutors with at least a bachelor’s degree

Extending the time on task – increasing the hours spent in school and the number of days of school

Establishing a culture of high expectations – students should understand they are expected to succeed the teachers, administrators and staff are there to support them

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE CHARTER

SCHOOLS

RESULTS OF HOUSTON/DENVER

EXPERIMENT

If you were in the decision making position would you close Dyett High School? Why?

What is one reason researchers suggest that KIPP charter schools perform better than other charter schools?

 Why does the author suggest we should worry about

the end of the neighborhood school?

DISCUSSION THURSDAY