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Can Small High Schools of Choice Improve Educational Prospects for Disadvantaged Students?

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  • Howard S. Bloom
  • Rebecca Unterman

Abstract

This paper provides rigorous evidence (for 12,130 participants in a series of naturally occurring randomized lotteries) that a large‐scale high school reform initiative (New York City's creation of 100+ small high schools of choice between 2002 and 2008) can markedly and consistently increase high school graduation rates (by 9.5 percentage points overall and for many different student subgroups) for a large population of educationally and economically disadvantaged students of color without increasing annual school operating costs. These findings are directly relevant to current debates by policymakers and practitioners about how to improve the educational prospects of disadvantaged students in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Howard S. Bloom & Rebecca Unterman, 2014. "Can Small High Schools of Choice Improve Educational Prospects for Disadvantaged Students?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 290-319, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:33:y:2014:i:2:p:290-319
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.21748
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    Cited by:

    1. Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "Roland Fryer: 2015 John Bates Clark Medalist," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 207-224, Winter.
    2. Sarah Cohodes & Sean P. Corcoran & Jennifer Jennings & Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, 2022. "When Do Informational Interventions Work? Experimental Evidence from New York City High School Choice," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 057, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    3. Shaun M. Dougherty, 2018. "The Effect of Career and Technical Education on Human Capital Accumulation: Causal Evidence from Massachusetts," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(2), pages 119-148, Spring.
    4. Yusuki Narita, 2016. "(Non)Randomization: A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2056, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    5. 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.
    6. Sean P. Corcoran & Jennifer L. Jennings & Sarah R. Cohodes & Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, 2018. "Leveling the Playing Field for High School Choice: Results from a Field Experiment of Informational Interventions," NBER Working Papers 24471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. 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.
    8. Lisa Barrow & Lauren Sartain, 2017. "The Expansion of High School Choice in Chicago Public Schools," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 5, pages 2-29.
    9. Howard S. Bloom & Rebecca Unterman & Pei Zhu & Sean F. Reardon, 2020. "Lessons from New York City's Small Schools of Choice about High School Features that Promote Graduation for Disadvantaged Students," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 740-771, June.
    10. Joshua D. Angrist & Peter D. Hull & Parag A. Pathak & Christopher R. Walters, 2017. "Leveraging Lotteries for School Value-Added: Testing and Estimation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 871-919.
    11. 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.
    12. Tilley, J. Lucas, 2023. "School resources, peer inputs, and student outcomes in adult education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua D. Angrist & Yusuke Narita & Parag A. Pathak, 2017. "Research Design Meets Market Design: Using Centralized Assignment for Impact Evaluation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1373-1432, September.
    14. Yusuke Narita, 2020. "A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Working Papers 2020-085, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    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. Caitlin Kearns & Douglas Lee Lauen & Bruce Fuller, 2020. "Competing With Charter Schools: Selection, Retention, and Achievement in Los Angeles Pilot Schools," Evaluation Review, , vol. 44(2-3), pages 111-144, April.
    17. 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.
    18. Yusuke Narita, 2021. "A Theory of Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of School Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 4982-5010, August.
    19. 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.

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