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Do small schools improve performance in large, urban districts? Causal evidence from New York City

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  • Schwartz, Amy Ellen
  • Stiefel, Leanna
  • Wiswall, Matthew

Abstract

We evaluate the effectiveness of small high school reform in the country’s largest school district, New York City. Using a rich administrative dataset for multiple cohorts of students and distance between student residence and school to instrument for endogenous school selection, we find substantial heterogeneity in school effects: newly created small schools have positive effects on graduation and some other education outcomes while older small schools do not. Importantly, we show that ignoring this source of treatment effect heterogeneity by assuming a common small school effect yields a misleading zero effect of small school attendance.

Suggested Citation

  • Schwartz, Amy Ellen & Stiefel, Leanna & Wiswall, Matthew, 2013. "Do small schools improve performance in large, urban districts? Causal evidence from New York City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 27-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:77:y:2013:i:c:p:27-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2013.03.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Stiefel, Leanna & Schwartz, Amy Ellen & Iatarola, Patrice & Chellman, Colin C., 2009. "Mission matters: The cost of small high schools revisited," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 585-599, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah A. Cordes, 2018. "In Pursuit of the Common Good: The Spillover Effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(4), pages 484-512, Fall.
    2. Amy Ellen Schwartz & Jacob Leos‐Urbel & Joel McMurry & Matthew Wiswall, 2021. "Making summer matter: The impact of youth employment on academic performance," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(2), pages 477-504, May.
    3. Horn, Keren Mertens & Ellen, Ingrid Gould & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 2014. "Do Housing Choice Voucher holders live near good schools?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 28-40.
    4. Emily Hannum & Xiaoying Liu & Fan Wang, 2021. "Estimating the Effects of Educational System Consolidation: The Case of China’s Rural School Closure Initiative," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(1), pages 485-528.
    5. Beuchert, Louise & Humlum, Maria Knoth & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Smith, Nina, 2018. "The short-term effects of school consolidation on student achievement: Evidence of disruption?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 31-47.
    6. Holmlund, Helena & Böhlmark, Anders, 2019. "Does grade configuration matter? Effects of school reorganisation on pupils’ educational experience," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 14-26.
    7. Koussihouèdé, Oswald, 2020. "Primary school size and learning achievement in Senegal: Testing the quantity–quality trade-off," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Schwartz, Amy Ellen & Stiefel, Leanna & Wiswall, Matthew, 2016. "Are all schools created equal? Learning environments in small and large public high schools in New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 272-290.
    9. Humlum, Maria Knoth & Smith, Nina, 2015. "Long-term effects of school size on students’ outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 28-43.
    10. Michah W. Rothbart, 2020. "The Impact of School Choice on Public School Budgets: Evidence From Open Enrollment in New York City," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 3-37, December.
    11. Herbst, Mikołaj & Strawiński, Paweł, 2016. "Early effects of an early start: Evidence from lowering the school starting age in Poland," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 256-271.
    12. C. Kirabo Jackson & Rucker C. Johnson & Claudia Persico, 2016. "The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 157-218.
    13. Barrow, Lisa & Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore & Claessens, Amy, 2015. "The impact of Chicago’s small high school initiative," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 100-113.
    14. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Weiwei Hu & Parag A. Pathak, 2013. "Small High Schools and Student Achievement: Lottery-Based Evidence from New York City," NBER Working Papers 19576, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Welsch, David M. & Zimmer, David M., 2016. "The dynamic relationship between school size and academic performance: An investigation of elementary schools in Wisconsin," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 158-169.
    16. Horn, Keren Mertens & Ellen, Ingrid Gould & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 2014. "Reprint of “Do Housing Choice Voucher Holders Live Near Good Schools?”," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 109-121.
    17. Hashim, Ayesha K. & Strunk, Katharine O. & Marsh, Julie A., 2018. "The new school advantage? Examining the effects of strategic new school openings on student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 254-266.
    18. Hong, Kai & Zimmer, Ron & Engberg, John, 2018. "How does grade configuration impact student achievement in elementary and middle school grades?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 1-19.
    19. K. Kounetas & G. Androulakis & M. Kaisari & G. Manousakis, 2023. "Educational reforms and secondary school's efficiency performance in Greece: a bootstrap DEA and multilevel approach," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-29, March.
    20. Rupert Green, 2015. "On Meeting NCLB School Improvement Mandate," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, November.
    21. Holmlund, Helena & Böhlmark, Anders, 2017. "Does grade configuration matter for school performance? Short- and long-run effects of school reorganisation," Working Paper Series 2017:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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