Browsing by Author "Baumgartner, Erin"

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    Availability of and Equity in Access to HISD Pre-K Programs (Part 1). Research Brief for the Houston Independent School District. Volume 8, Issue 4.
    (Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2019) Baumgartner, Erin; Thrash, Courtney; Sanchez, Luis
    This study examines student access to HISD pre-k programs, measured in multiple ways: whether a program exists in their elementary zone and whether a program exists within one mile of their residence. Researchers also estimated whether there is equity in access, by examining whether students who have the greatest need (including economically disadvantaged and English learners) also have the greatest access to pre-k. Across measures, researchers found that economically disadvantaged students have a greater likelihood of access to pre-k than their non-economically disadvantaged peers. However, English learners, another population targeted by the state policy to receive pre-k, are not more likely to have access to pre-k than their peers who are not English learners.
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    Pre-K Choice and School Readiness in HISD: Research Brief
    (Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2022) Baumgartner, Erin; Thrash, Courtney
    Many students attend a pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program outside of their neighborhood school, but there is no evidence that making this choice is associated with subsequent student readiness for kindergarten. In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), pre-K is not zoned, which means families can request to enroll their children on any campus with a pre-K program or Early Childhood Center (ECC) that has space available. As a result, many families may opt for programs that are outside of their neighborhoods, and it has been unclear whether students attending non-neighborhood campuses are more likely to be ready for kindergarten at the end of pre-K. School choice in pre-K was not associated with school readiness unless students attended a higher-performing pre-K program. Findings from this study suggest that children who exercised school choice and attended a higher-performing pre-K program were more likely to be kindergarten-ready than those who exercised school choice and attended a lower-performing pre-K program. This brief serves as the fourth, and final, study in a series examining pre-K access for students in HISD.
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    Pre-K Preferences: How and Why HISD Parents Choose Pre-K Programs
    (Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2020) Baumgartner, Erin; Thrash, Courtney
    This study is the third in a series of briefs examining pre-k enrollment and access for students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The aims of this study are to identify characteristics that drive enrollment, understand where parents receive their information about HISD pre-k options, and understand parental beliefs about which program characteristics are most important. Findings suggest distance from home is one of the primary drivers of pre-k parental choice for their children. Additionally, program characteristics are important, specifically whether programs have highly trained teachers and teacher aides. However, variation in parental beliefs exist by language of survey participation and campus-level proportions of English-language learners (EL) or economically disadvantaged students. Parents report learning about HISD pre-k programs through family and friends.
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    Staying in the Neighborhood: Examining Distance to Zoned Schools and Access to Transportation
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2023) Molina, Mauricio; Baumgartner, Erin; Bao, Katharine
    The Houston Independent School District's current busing policy states that students are eligible for transportation services to and from their zoned school if they reside two or more miles from that school. Within the context of HISD’s transportation policy, this brief aimed to better understand how a student's proximity to a zoned school and access to district-funded transportation impacted whether students opted to attend their zoned school or a different school.
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    Strategies for Increasing Access to HISD Pre-K Programs. Research Brief for the Houston Independent School District. Volume 9, Issue 1.
    (Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2020) Baumgartner, Erin; Thrash, Courtney
    This is the second in a series of briefs examining student access to Houston ISD pre-kindergarten programs. The study finds that among 2018-19 kindergarteners in HISD who did not attend HISD pre-k, about two-thirds of students likely qualified for enrollment. Zoning pre-k, which would include adding pre-k programs to elementary zones that do not have them and/or establishing Early Childhood Centers as zoned schools, would increase access to pre-k by providing campuses in students' neighborhoods and reducing the distance to the nearest program. The first research brief analyzed the variability in who has access to HISD pre-k programs in their elementary zone, the neighborhood and within one mile of their residence.
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    Study on Social and Emotional Skills
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2023) Ying, Ming; Szabo, Julia; Baumgartner, Erin; Kinder Institute for Urban Research
    The Study of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) is an international effort led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Houston Independent School District (HISD) served as the only U.S. site for this study. Over 6,400 10-year-old and 15-year-old students from 119 HISD schools participated in the SSES in the fall of 2019. This series of briefs looks at how social and emotional skills are related to academic outcomes, absenteeism, and exclusionary discipline; the context of SSES skills; and the commonalities and differences between students’ self-ratings and teachers’ ratings of students’ SE skills.
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    The weight of school entry: Weight gain among Hispanic children of immigrants during the elementary school years
    (Max Planck Society, 2019) Frisco, Michelle L.; Baumgartner, Erin; Van Hook, Jennifer; Houston Education Research Consortium
    Background: Hispanic children of immigrants are vulnerable to obesity and weigh more than their white peers. Theory suggests that school is a social institution that could foster weight gain among Hispanic children of immigrants and disparities in weight that emerge over time. Objective: We investigate whether Hispanic children of immigrants gain more weight during school years than whites and whether school year weight gains accumulate and contribute to differences in the weight of Hispanic children of immigrants and whites. Methods: We analyze ECLS-K:2011 kindergarten, first, and second grade data using descriptive statistics and multilevel growth curve models. We also calculate how the accumulation of weight gain during school years and summer breaks contributes to weight disparities between Hispanic children of immigrants and whites by the end of second grade. Results: Hispanic children of immigrants gain significantly more weight than white and Hispanic children with US-born parents during the kindergarten school year. The accumulation of weight gain during kindergarten, first, and second grade school years contributes to weight disparities between Hispanic children of immigrants and whites, but not differences between Hispanic and white children with US-born parents. Conclusions: Hispanic children of immigrants are vulnerable to weight gain during kindergarten. In addition, weight gain during the earliest school years helps to explain emerging ethnic/parental nativity disparities in weight. Contribution: The paper extends knowledge about negative health assimilation among Hispanic children of immigrants by showing that a primary social institution in children’s lives may inadvertently contribute to weight gain and emerging disparities in weight.