A fundamental question for education policy is whether outcomes-based accountability including comprehensive educator evaluations and a closer relationship between effectiveness and compensation improves the quality of instruction and raises achievement. We use synthetic control methods to study the comprehensive teacher and principal evaluation…

When seeking to explain the eventual outcomes of a higher education experience, do the personal attributes and background factors students bring to college matter more than what the college is able to contribute to the development of the student through education or other institutional factors? Most education studies tend to simply ignore…

The quality of the teaching force in our public schools has received great attention as one of the approaches to improve student performance, as there exists ample evidence that teacher quality matters for student achievement (see McCaffrey et al., 2004 for a review on this literature). Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain (2005) find large differences…

Previous research has linked higher levels of academic preparation as measured by the ACT® to postsecondary success, such as earning higher college grades and completing a college degree in a timely manner. This ACT Data Byte extends these findings, illustrating the positive relationship between graduating from high school college and career ready…

This dissertation presents three separate essays. The first two essays explore the gender wage gap and its dynamics in urban China from 1995 to 2018. The first chapter decomposes the gender wage gap based on the observed wage for workers with a precise measure of the hourly wages. The first chapter examines the observed average gender wage gap in…

This paper uses data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to study various input data and their effect on student outcomes. The data pulled were related to school district, local, and personal wealth; student demographics; classrooms and classroom teachers. A multi-factor regression was then completed to assess which…

The impact of school resources on student outcomes was first raised in the 1960s and has been controversial since then. This issue enters into the decision making on school finance in both legislatures and the courts. The historical research found little consistent or systematic relationship of spending and achievement, but this research…

The article aims to examine theoretical and practical relationships between academic excellence and competitiveness in university education. The survey was conducted among university employees. Evaluation of each factor was carried out using the five-point Likert scale. The highest and statistically significant assessment was received for the…

Increasingly, obtaining a job that pays family-sustaining wages means getting a college degree or other postsecondary credential. However, according to the 2021 U.S. Census, only 31.5 percent of Texans ages 25 and older have a bachelor's degree or higher. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)--the highest authority in the state…

Card and Krueger (1992a,b) used labor market outcomes to study the productivity of school spending. Following their lead, we examine effects of post-1990 school finance reforms on students' educational attainment and labor market outcomes. Using a state-by-cohort panel design, we find that reforms increased high school completion and…

This paper evaluates the determinants of the value of investment in higher education (absolute expected returns from higher education) among students of Russian universities, accounting for variations in the socio-economic development of different Russian regions. Based on the longitudinal study, 'Trajectories in Education and Careers', it shows…

Federal incentives and requirements under the Obama administration spurred states to adopt major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems. We examine the effects of these reforms on student achievement and attainment at a national scale by exploiting their staggered implementation across states. We find precisely estimated null effects, on…

This paper analyses the impact of academic achievement on future salaries by looking into the grade point average (GPA)-earnings relationship for graduates of a leading Russian university. The study is based on pooled cross-sectional graduate survey data for 2014-2015. The issue of how student academic achievement impacts future labour market…

Tatarstan has been developing several public policies in favour of the Tatar language; probably the most relevant is bilingual schooling. Given this, the present research compares the monthly wage income between those who studied before, during, and after the implementation of this educational reform. Using data from the Russia Longitudinal…

This paper studies teacher attrition in Wisconsin following Act 10, a policy change which severely weakened teachers' unions and capped wage growth for teachers. I document a sharp increase in turnover after the Act was passed, driven almost entirely by the exit of older teachers, who faced strong incentives to retire before the end of…