Teacher characteristics and academic achievement

Identifying the impact of teacher characteristics on academic achievement has been a salient and reoccurring topic in education. We employ a twin-by-year identification strategy using matched teacher-student data from North Carolina to credibly estimate the impact of teacher characteristics such as experience, certification, and advanced degrees on academic achievement in math and reading. By using within-family variation the estimates from our model improve upon on earlier work by for time varying unobservable family shocks to non-schooling inputs. Our findings reveal that teacher experience and National Board certification have positive and significant effects on achievement in reading and math; however, we find inconclusive effects for advanced degrees. Notably, we show that teacher experience has the largest effects on student achievement, but our effects are smaller than the standard estimates in the literature. Overall, our estimates provide lower upper bounds for these key teacher characteristics.     

Board size,corporate regulations and firm valuation in an emerging market: a simultaneous equation approach

We investigate the association between board size and firm valuation for a sample of 169 firms from 2002 to 2011 in South Africa (SA). The SA corporate context is interestingly and uniquely characterised by an urgency to meet affirmative action regulations, such as black empowerment in board appointments, limited qualified and experienced directors, especially black directors, concentrated ownership, weak enforcement of corporate regulations and greater government ownership. These features make SA corporate boards perform a weaker agency (advisory, monitoring and disciplining) role than Western European and US boards, but a stronger resource dependence role, by providing access to resources, such as business contacts and contracts. This suggests that any positive impact of board size on firm valuation is likely to depend on the effective execution of the resource dependence role more than the agency role. Our results suggest that board size has a positive association with firm valuation, consistent with larger boards providing better access to resources. Overall, our results support the resource dependence role of boards more than their agency role. The results are robust across a raft of econometric models that control for different types of endogeneity, as well as different types of accounting and market-based firm valuation measures.     

创业者外部关系构建与初创企业创新绩效:机会能力视角

基于开放式创新理论，探讨创业者外部关系构建、二元机会能力与初创企业创新三者间关系，并利用对大学生创业者的调查数据进行实证分析。研究结果表明：外部关系构建与初创企业创新绩效之间呈倒U型关系；外部关系构建正向影响创业者探索性机会能力，但对创业者利用性机会能力的影响呈倒U型；利用性机会能力对初创企业创新绩效具有倒U型影响，而探索性机会能力对初创企业创新绩效具有线性正向影响。研究结论肯定了外部关系与创业者机会能力对于提升初创企业创新绩效的重要作用，可为大学生创业创新提供实践参考。     

THE IMPACT OF PUBLICLY PROVIDED EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS ON DISTRICT‐LEVEL TEST SCORES

While the existing literature largely finds that standardized test scores are positively associated with participation in pre‐kindergarten programs at the student level, there is little research on the policy effect of publicly providing these programs to entire school districts. We attempt to partially fill this void by examining the effect that publicly provided pre‐kindergarten and full‐day kindergarten programs have on fourth grade student achievement in math and reading at the district level. The models utilize panel data from districts in Wisconsin along with fixed effects estimations. We find that once time‐invariant unobserved heterogeneity of a district is accounted for, preschool programs have small but significant impacts on a cohort's future math scores, particularly in less‐educated communities. Additionally, there is no evidence that preschool or full‐day kindergarten has an impact on future reading scores at the district level. (JEL I20, I28)     

How important are school principals in the production of student achievement?

As school leaders, principals can influence student achievement in a number of ways, such as hiring and firing of teachers, monitoring instruction and maintaining student discipline, among many others. We measure the effect of individual principals on gains in math and reading achievement between grades 4 and 7 using a value‐added framework. We estimate that a one standard deviation improvement in principal quality can boost student performance by 0.289 to 0.408 standard deviations in reading and math, while the principal at the 75th percentile improves scores by 0.170 to 0.193 relative to the median principal. Our results imply that isolating the most effective principals and allocating them accordingly between schools can have a significant positive effect on reducing achievement gaps.     

Industrial actions in schools: strikes and student achievement

Many jurisdictions ban teacher strikes on the assumption that they negatively affect student achievement, but there is surprisingly little research on this question. The majority of existing studies make cross‐section comparisons of the achievement of students who do or do not experience a strike. They conclude that strikes do not have an impact. I present new estimates of this impact of strikes using an empirical strategy that controls for fixed student characteristics at the school cohort level, and a sample of industrial actions by teachers in the province of Ontario. The results indicate that teacher strikes in grades 5 or 6 have a negative, statistically significant impact on test score growth between grade 3 and grade 6. The largest impact is on math scores: 29% of the standard deviation of test scores across school/grade cohorts.     

情景双元视角下知识搜寻协同对创新绩效的影响

知识搜寻协同对创新绩效影响的“黑箱”机理是什么？其中，外部搜寻环境扮演了什么角色？影响机理和环境之间有什么样的互动关系？围绕上述3个问题，构建一个有中介的调节效应模型，以中国本土生产性服务企业为样本进行分析，得出如下结论：①知识搜寻协同对创新绩效有正向影响；②情景双元在知识搜寻协同和创新绩效的关系中发挥中介作用；③网络惯例对知识搜寻协同与创新绩效的关系具有调节作用，而这种调节作用是通过情景双元的中介实现的。最后，为我国生产性服务企业基于搜寻协同的创新绩效提升提出可行策略。     

The Federal Student Loan Program: Quantitative implications for college enrollment and default rates

I quantify the effects of alternative student loan policies on college enrollment, borrowing behavior, and default rates in a heterogeneous model of life-cycle earnings and human capital accumulation. I find that the combination of learning ability and initial stock of human capital drives the decision to enroll in college, while parental wealth has minimal effects on enrollment. Repayment flexibility increases enrollment significantly, whereas relaxation of eligibility requirements has little effect on enrollment or default rates. The former policy benefits low-income households, while the latter has negligible effects on these households.     

The impact of charter school attendance on student performance

We employ a panel of individual student data on math and reading test performance for five cohorts of students in Texas to study the impact of charter school attendance. We control for school mobility effects and distinguish movement to a charter school from movement within and between traditional public school districts. We find students experience poor test score growth in their initial year in a charter school, but that this is followed by recovery in the subsequent years. Failure to account for this pattern may lead to potentially misleading estimates of the impact of charter attendance on student achievement. Students who remain in charters largely recover from the initial disruption within approximately 3 years, and there is weak evidence that there may be overall gains from charter attendance within this period. Furthermore, students who return to traditional public schools after just 1 or 2 years in a charter do not appear to suffer a lasting negative impact despite their poor average performance in their first year of charter attendance.     

Parental occupation and children’s school outcomes in math.

We investigate the relationship between math attitude and students’ math scores using data obtained from PISA 2012 and a 2SLS model. Math attitude is approximated by an indicator that takes into account intangible (parental attitude, student instrumental motivation and student math anxiety) and tangible (parental help in math homework) factors. The presence of one family member in a math-related career is our instrumental variable. We find that an increase of one standard deviation in math attitude increases the student score by approximately 30 points, a relevant effect since 40 points is the equivalent of one year of schooling.     

Educational contributions, academic quality, and athletic success

This article examines the role of successful Division I football and basketball programs in motivating alumni and other donors to make charitable educational contributions to U.S. universities. Results from fixed effects analysis of panel data on 87 universities for the period 1986–87 to 1995–96 indicate that year-to-year changes in athletic success have a positive impact on levels of alumni giving, but that other types of donors are not as responsive. Also, long-standing athletic traditions established prior to the sample period appear to generate academic benefits in the form of increased charitable donations from all sources. However, the estimated impact of a successful athletic tradition is relatively weak when compared to the effect of student and faculty quality on educational contributions.     

环境支持还是企业迎合:高管持股、企业研发投入与省际创新强度

在转轨经济国家中,制度环境究竟会对高管持股与企业研发投入的关系产生何种影响一直存在争议。从环境支持和企业迎合两个视角出发,分析企业所处的外在环境及其开展研发活动的动机等对上述关系的影响。研究发现,外在环境的创新氛围对高管持股与企业研发投入之间的关系具有显著正向调节作用,企业为满足政府政策导向而采取的迎合行为也强化了上述关系,这两者同时作用于高管持股与企业研发投入的关系,但两者相比,创新氛围的影响更为重要。进一步揭示了高管持股与企业研发投入之间的逻辑黑箱,为今后的理论研究与政策设计提供了必要支持。     

Institutional arrangements in educational systems and student achievement: a cross-national analysis

Given the lack of evidence supporting the view that variation in observable educational inputs affect student achievement, many policymakers and researchers have tried to unearth the salient determinants of student learning. To that end, several recent studies have made use of international data on student achievement to assess the role played by institutional arrangements within the educational system. We revisit this literature using the 1999 TIMSS data—covering over 100,000 students from 22 countries—to analyze the association between different institutional arrangements and the distributions of science and math test scores. The results yield a number of interesting conclusions, as well as highlight the gains to analyzing student achievement within a distributional framework.     

外部网络关系对绿色技术创新的影响

针对智能制造企业外部网络中的创新资源和关键知识,以外部网络关系质量和外部网路关系结构为基础,探究外部网络关系对探索性绿色创新和利用性绿色创新的差异化影响,并引入组织惯性作为调节变量。研究结果表明：外部网络关系质量对绿色技术创新存在倒U型关系,外部网络关系结构与探索性绿色创新存在正向关系,与利用性绿色创新存在倒U型关系;组织惯性在外部网络关系对探索性绿色创新的影响中起负向调节作用,在外部网络关系对利用性绿色创新的影响中起正向调节作用。研究结论有助于揭示企业外部网络关系运作“黑箱”,对提升企业绿色创新能力、增强适应性行为具有重要意义。     

How accountability pressure on failing schools affects student achievement

Although an emerging body of evidence has shown that the threat of sanctions on low-performing schools can raise student test scores in the short run, the extent to which these test score improvements are due to schools' manipulation of the accountability system has remained uncertain. In this paper, I provide two new strands of evidence to evaluate the relative importance of educational reforms and gaming behavior in generating test score gains by threatened schools. First, using a regression discontinuity design that exploits Florida's system of imposing sanction threats on the basis of a cutoff level of performance, I estimate medium-run effects on student test scores from having attended a threatened elementary school. Threat-induced math improvements from elementary school largely persist at least through the first 1 to 2 years of middle school, while evidence for persistence of reading improvements is less consistent. Second, I analyze the effects of sanction threats on various features of educational production, and I find that sanction threats raise school spending on instructional technology, curricular development, and teacher training. Both strands of evidence are consistent with a predominant role for educational reforms in generating test score gains by threatened schools.     

Accountability,incentives and behavior: the impact of high-stakes testing in the Chicago Public Schools

The recent federal education bill, No Child Left Behind, requires states to test students in grades 3 to 8 each year and to judge school performance on the basis of these test scores. While intended to maximize student learning, there is little empirical evidence about the effectiveness of such policies. This study examines the impact of an accountability policy implemented in the Chicago Public Schools in 1996–1997. Using a panel of student-level, administrative data, I find that math and reading achievement increased sharply following the introduction of the accountability policy, in comparison to both prior achievement trends in the district and to changes experienced by other large, urban districts in the mid-west. However, for younger students, the policy did not increase performance on a state-administered, low-stakes exam. An item-level analysis suggests that the observed achievement gains were driven by increases in test-specific skills and student effort. I also find that teachers responded strategically to the incentives along a variety of dimensions—by increasing special education placements, preemptively retaining students and substituting away from low-stakes subjects like science and social studies.     

独占机制对创新绩效的影响:知识泄露与竞争对手吸收能力的调节效应

独占机制与知识泄露在企业创新活动中的重要作用日益受到关注。基于问卷调研数据,通过实证手段分析企业独占性机制对创新绩效的影响,及竞争对手吸收能力和知识泄露在其中的调节作用。研究发现：企业独占机制对创新绩效有显著正向影响,知识泄露和竞争对手吸收能力在企业独占性机制对创新绩效影响过程中分别起负向和正向调节作用。研究结论既可帮助企业重视独占机制和竞争对手吸收能力带来的创新效应,也可帮助企业通过有效规避或降低知识泄露风险提升创新绩效。     

企业数字化转型对商业模式创新的影响

基于组织变革理论与知识基础观,引入知识管理与企业家导向变量,探讨企业数字化转型对商业模式创新的影响机制与情境效应。结果表明：①数字化转型对商业模式创新存在显著正向影响;②知识管理在数字化转型对商业模式创新的影响过程中发挥中介作用;③相比于低水平企业家导向,高水平企业家导向会强化数字化转型与知识管理的关系,弱化知识管理与商业模式创新的关系。     

Impact of Parental Resources on Student Outcomes Using Elementary School Data

This paper examines the use of parental volunteer hours in elementary schools in the state of Kentucky and assesses whether they improve student learning in math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. A unique annual school-level panel dataset was created of over 600 elementary schools from 2000 until 2017. This approach is novel because it permits investigation of the impact of parental involvement in schools through achievement distributions in each subject area. The findings suggest that use of parental volunteer hours tends to reduce the percentage of students at the low end of the achievement distribution and increases the percentage at the high end in many grades and across several subjects. No instances were identified of detrimental impacts. The research implications are that opportunities may exist for school districts to improve student outcomes through encouragement and increased use of parental involvement in schools.

     

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE: A SOURCE OR SALVE FOR THE RACIAL ACHIEVEMENT GAP?*

Racial disparities in school discipline are believed to contribute to the persistent achievement gap between black and white students. In this article, I estimate the relationship between school discipline and achievement within a structural model, taking into account the spillover effects of disruptive behavior. I find that discipline has an overall positive influence on student performance and that the racial gap in discipline stemming from cross‐school variation in discipline policies is consistent with achievement maximization. Integrating schools can close both the discipline and achievement gaps; however, overall achievement is reduced since schools are less able to target their discipline policies.