IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v45y2026i2ne70093.html

Understanding High Schools’ Effects on Longer‐Term Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Preeya P. Mbekeani
  • John P. Papay
  • Ann Mantil
  • Richard J. Murnane

Abstract

Improving education and labor market outcomes for low‐income students is critical for advancing socioeconomic mobility in the United States. We use longitudinal data on five cohorts of ninth‐grade students to explore how Massachusetts public high schools affect the longer term outcomes of students, with a special focus on students from low‐income families. Using detailed administrative and student survey data, we estimate school value‐added impacts on college outcomes and earnings. Observationally similar students who attend a school at the 80th percentile of the value‐added distribution instead of a school at the 20th percentile are 11% more likely to enroll in college, are 31% more likely to graduate from a 4‐year college, and earn 25% (or $10,500) more annually at age 30. On average, schools that improve students’ longer run outcomes the most are those that improve their 10th‐grade test scores and increase their college plans the most.

Suggested Citation

  • Preeya P. Mbekeani & John P. Papay & Ann Mantil & Richard J. Murnane, 2026. "Understanding High Schools’ Effects on Longer‐Term Outcomes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(2), March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:45:y:2026:i:2:n:e70093
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.70093
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.70093
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.70093?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 141-147, May.
    2. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    3. Donald Boyd & Hamilton Lankford & Susanna Loeb & James Wyckoff, 2013. "Measuring Test Measurement Error," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 38(6), pages 629-663, December.
    4. David J. Deming, 2014. "Using School Choice Lotteries to Test Measures of School Effectiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 406-411, May.
    5. Charles T. Clotfelter & Helen F. Ladd & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2009. "Are Teacher Absences Worth Worrying About in the United States?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 4(2), pages 115-149, April.
    6. Matthew A. Kraft, 2019. "Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-36.
    7. C. Kirabo Jackson & Sebastián Kiguel & Shanette C. Porter & John Q. Easton, 2024. "Who Benefits from Attending Effective High Schools?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(3), pages 717-751.
    8. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Maggie R Jones & Sonya R Porter, 2020. "Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: an Intergenerational Perspective [“Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants in the US Over Two Centuries,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 711-783.
    9. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    10. 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.
    11. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "What Do Test Scores Miss? The Importance of Teacher Effects on Non–Test Score Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 2072-2107.
    12. Julien Lafortune & Jesse Rothstein & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2018. "School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-26, April.
    13. Yona Rubinstein & James J. Heckman, 2001. "The Importance of Noncognitive Skills: Lessons from the GED Testing Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 145-149, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erin M. Fahle & Benjamin R. Shear & Kenneth A. Shores, 2019. "Assessment for Monitoring of Education Systems: The U.S. Example," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 683(1), pages 58-74, May.
    2. Abott, Carolyn & Kogan, Vladimir & Lavertu, Stéphane & Peskowitz, Zachary, 2020. "School district operational spending and student outcomes: Evidence from tax elections in seven states," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Zölitz, Ulf & Sorrenti, Giuseppe & Ribeaud, Denis & Eisner, Manuel, 2020. "The Causal Impact of Socio-Emotional Skills Training on Educational Success," CEPR Discussion Papers 14523, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Ahn, Taehyun & Goh, Young-Geun, 2021. "The long-term influences of ability mixing on soft skills," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 367-386.
    5. McEachin, Andrew & Lauen, Douglas Lee & Fuller, Sarah Crittenden & Perera, Rachel M., 2020. "Social returns to private choice? Effects of charter schools on behavioral outcomes, arrests, and civic participation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Jo Blanden & Matthias Doepke & Jan Stuhler, 2022. "Education inequality," CEP Discussion Papers dp1849, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Matthew A Lenard & Mikko Silliman, 2025. "Informal social interactions, academic achievement and behavior: Evidence from peers on the school bus," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(671), pages 2359-2373.
    8. Lindquist, Matthew J. & Vladasel, Theodor, 2025. "Are entrepreneurs more upwardly mobile?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(4).
    9. Dinand Webbink & José María Cabrera, 2016. "Do higher salaries yield better teachers and better student outcomes?," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1604, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    10. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2020. "Discriminating Behavior: Evidence from teachers’ grading bias," MPRA Paper 100400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Larsen, Matthew F., 2020. "Does closing schools close doors? The effect of high school closings on achievement and attainment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    12. Susanna Loeb & Michael S. Christian & Heather Hough & Robert H. Meyer & Andrew B. Rice & Martin R. West, 2019. "School Differences in Social–Emotional Learning Gains: Findings From the First Large-Scale Panel Survey of Students," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 44(5), pages 507-542, October.
    13. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "Does School Spending Matter? The New Literature on an Old Question," NBER Working Papers 25368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Lyon, Melissa Arnold, 2021. "Heroes, villains, or something in between? How “Right to Work” policies affect teachers, students, and education policymaking," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    15. Sadegh Eshaghnia & James J. Heckman & Goya Razavi, 2023. "Pricing Neighborhoods," NBER Working Papers 31371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "Identifying and Producing Effective Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 14096, IZA Network @ LISER.
    17. Carolina Caetano & Gregorio Caetano & Eric R. Nielsen, 2020. "Should Children Do More Enrichment Activities? Leveraging Bunching to Correct for Endogeneity," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-036, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    18. Jose Maria Cabrera & Dinand Webbink, 2020. "Do Higher Salaries Yield Better Teachers and Better Student Outcomes?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(4), pages 1222-1257.
    19. Silliman, Mikko, 2017. "Targeted Funding, Immigrant Background, and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Helsinki's “Positive Discrimination†Policy," Working Papers 91, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Richard J. Murnane & Sean F. Reardon, 2017. "Long-Term Trends in Private School Enrollments by Family Income," NBER Working Papers 23571, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:45:y:2026:i:2:n:e70093. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.