Working Paper: NBER ID: w23462
Authors: Sade Bonilla; Thomas Dee
Abstract: Under waivers to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the federal government required states to identify schools where targeted subgroups of students have the lowest achievement and to implement reforms in these “Focus Schools.” In this study, we examine the Focus School reforms in the state of Kentucky. The reforms in this state are uniquely interesting for several reasons. One is that the state developed unusually explicit guidance for Focus Schools centered on a comprehensive school-planning process. Second, the state identified Focus Schools using a “super subgroup” measure that combined traditionally low-performing subgroups into an umbrella group. This design feature may have catalyzed broader whole-school reforms and attenuated the incentives to target reform efforts narrowly. Using regression discontinuity designs, we find that these reforms led to substantial improvements in school performance, raising math achievement by 17 percent and reading achievement by 9 percent.
Keywords: NCLB; school reform; focus schools; Kentucky; regression discontinuity
JEL Codes: H70; I21; I24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| focus school reforms (I28) | math proficiency (C02) |
| focus school reforms (I28) | reading proficiency (A21) |
| focus school reforms (I28) | comprehensive school planning (I23) |
| focus school reforms (I28) | effective teacher professional development (A29) |