Browsing by Author "Wolpin, Kenneth I."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Accounting for Mathematics Performance of High School Students in Mexico: Estimating a Coordination Game in the Classroom
    (The University of Chicago Press, 2018) Todd, Petra; Wolpin, Kenneth I.
    This paper estimates a model of the effort decisions of students and teachers in a classroom setting to understand the performance of Mexican high school students on curriculum-based examinations. The model allows for student heterogeneity in initial mathematics preparation and knowledge preference and for teacher heterogeneity in instructional ability and preferences for student knowledge. Survey data include multiple measurements of student and teacher effort, student and teacher preferences, student initial knowledge, and teacher ability. The most important factor accounting for poor performance, the lack of sufficient prior preparation, suggests a mismatch between the curriculum content and entering grade-level mathematics knowledge.
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    Aligning Learning Incentives of Students and Teachers: Results from a Social Experiment in Mexican High Schools
    (University of Chicago Press, 2015) Behrman, Jere R.; Parker, Susan W.; Todd, Petra E.; Wolpin, Kenneth I.
    This paper evaluates the impact of three different performance incentive schemes using data from a social experiment that randomized 88 Mexican high schools with over 40,000 students into three treatment groups and a control group. Treatment 1 provides individual incentives for performance on curriculum-based mathematics tests to students only, treatment 2 to teachers only, and treatment 3 gives both individual and group incentives to students, teachers, and school administrators. Program impact estimates reveal the largest average effects for treatment 3, smaller impacts for treatment 1, and no impact for treatment 2.
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    Optimal Subsidies for Increasing Two-Year and Four-Year College Graduation Rates
    (2020-04-24) Gul, Mehreen; Cunha, Flavio; Wolpin, Kenneth I.
    In 2015, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) undertook an ambitious 60 30 TX plan as a part of its implementation of House Bill 22, introduced by the 85th Texas House of Representatives to enhance public school accountability. The 60 x30TX is a higher education plan that focuses on attaining a postsecondary graduation rate of 60% amongst the 25-34 age demographic in Texas by the year 2030. In this paper, I estimate the cost per high school graduate of attaining this target. I also compare the per student cost of this policy objective with that of two other counterfactual policies; the fi rst being one in which community colleges are made tuition-free for all high school graduates and the second being one in which public four-year college tuition is subsidized annually by $2,000 only for those who have completed an AA tuition free under the former policy. I find that a policy in which community colleges are made tuition free will increase the postsecondary graduation rate by age 29 to 26.6%, relative to a baseline of 22.6%, and will cost $2,114 per student. I find that a $2,000 public four-year college subsidy for those who have fi rst completed an AA tuition free will boost the postsecondary graduation rate to 29.4% and increase the per student cost to $10,594. Finally, I fi nd that a conditional cash transfer of $5,320 and $3,640 for two-year and four-year college enrollment, respectively, attains the targeted postsecondary graduation rate of 60% by age 29 and costs $16,569 per student with an estimated total cost of $2.3 billion. This is far in excess of the THECB's FY2018 operating budget of $807million.
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    Teacher Quality in Public and Private Schools under a Voucher System: The Case of Chile
    (University of Chicago Press, 2016) Behrman, Jere R.; Tincani, Michela M.; Todd, Petra E.; Wolpin, Kenneth I.
    Chile is unusual in having long-term experience with nationwide school vouchers. A key criticism of school voucher systems is that they make it easier for private schools to attract better teachers to the detriment of public schools. This paper uses longitudinal data from Chile to estimate a discrete choice dynamic programming (DCDP) model of teacher and nonteacher labor supply decisions and to explore how wage policies affect the composition of the teacher labor force in public and private schools. In the model, individuals first decide whether to get a teaching degree and then choose annually from among five work/home sector alternatives. Empirical results show that private voucher schools attract better teachers than public schools. However, the existence of the private voucher sector also draws higher-productivity individuals into the teaching profession.