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Are Measured School Effects Just Sorting?

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  • David I. Levine
  • Gary Painter

Abstract

Youths who share a school and neighborhood often have similar academic achievement, but some studies find all or most of this apparent effect is due to sorting, not to the neighborhood itself. We present a collage of evidence from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS) indicating that a significant fraction of the apparent correlation is causal, rather than solely due to sorting. We first show that the importance of school effects is robust to very rich measures of family background. We then use the fact that the characteristics of the high school that students will attend are an additional indicator of family background. This measure can be used as an instrument to identify family background separately from neighborhood and junior high school effects. Even after this correction, the point estimate of school effects on student achievement remains large and statistically significant. Finally, we use regression and seminonparametric matching methods to show that the test scores of youths who change schools begin to converge with those of their new classmates.

Suggested Citation

  • David I. Levine & Gary Painter, 2003. "Are Measured School Effects Just Sorting?," Working Paper 8619, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    • Handle: RePEc:luk:wpaper:8619
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    File URL: http://lusk.usc.edu/sites/default/files/working_papers/wp_2003_1002.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jens Otto Ludwig & Greg Duncan & Joshua C. Pinkston, 2000. "Neighborhood Effects on Economic Self-Sufficiency: Evidence from a Randomized Housing-Mobility Experiment," JCPR Working Papers 159, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    2. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    3. Lawrence Katz & B. Jeffrey Liebman, 2000. "Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early Results of a Randomized Mobility Experiment," Working Papers 820, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
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    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Jeffrey R. Kling & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2001. "Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early Results of a Randomized Mobility Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 116(2), pages 607-654.
    6. Katherine M. O'Regan & John M. Quigley, 1996. "Spatial effects upon employment outcomes: the case of New Jersey teenagers," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue May, pages 41-64.
    7. Hanushek, Eric A. & Kain, John F. & Rivkin, Steven G., 2004. "Disruption versus Tiebout improvement: the costs and benefits of switching schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1721-1746, August.
    8. Alejandro Gaviria & Steven Raphael, 2001. "School-Based Peer Effects And Juvenile Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 257-268, May.
    9. Evans, William N & Oates, Wallace E & Schwab, Robert M, 1992. "Measuring Peer Group Effects: A Study of Teenage Behavior," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 966-991, October.
    10. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
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