Key Papers in the Economics of Education Part 1

May 2, 2017 • John Vandivier

This article is the first in a series noting interesting papers in the economics of education. See <a href="http://www.afterecon.com/economics-and-finance/economics-education-reviewing-content-key-papers/">this article for more details.

Journal of Engineering Education
1. (2017), Change and Education Research. J. Eng. Educ., 106: 3. doi:10.1002/jee.20158
  1. This brief editor's page highlights the importance of discipline-based education research. I'd never heard of such a thing before, so I deem it an important find.
2. Knight, D. B. and Novoselich, B. J. (2017), Curricular and Co-curricular Influences on Undergraduate Engineering Student Leadership. J. Eng. Educ., 106: 44–70. doi:10.1002/jee.20153
  1. Identifies precollege characteristics of self-reported leadership abilities, and of general academic performance
  2. Interesting to consider leadership ability as an education output
  3. Data source
3. Kyoung Ro, H., Lattuca, L. R. and Alcott, B. (2017), Who Goes to Graduate School? Engineers’ Math Proficiency, College Experience, and Self-Assessment of Skills. J. Eng. Educ., 106: 98–122. doi:10.1002/jee.20154
  1. Factors of going to graduate school
  2. Data source
4. Atwood, S. A. and Pretz, J. E. (2016), Creativity as a Factor in Persistence and Academic Achievement of Engineering Undergraduates. J. Eng. Educ., 105: 540–559. doi:10.1002/jee.20130
  1. Creativity as a factor, measurement approach for creativity, data source
  2. Outcome variable is persistence, which is distinct from Conscientiousness because the Big 5 are input factors for them
American Educational Research Journal
1. Koedel, Cory et al. “The Impact of Performance Ratings on Job Satisfaction for Public School Teachers.” American Educational Research Journal 54.2 (2017): 241–278. Web.
  1. Factors of teacher performance and satisfaction, consistent with student achievement
  2. Data source, regression discontinuity design
2. Zirkel, Sabrina, and Terry M. Pollack. “‘Just Let the Worst Students Go.’” American Educational Research Journal 53.6 (2016): 1522–1555. Web.
  1. Not a particularly awesome article, but it got me thinking: In a market society we handle the 'worst producers' via charity, where is the equivalent in our education system?
  2. I think the answer is the equivalent is the 'group project,' but these are rare. The usual rule is \"don't work together, that's cheating.\" I think this penalizes the least educated.
  3. Not allowing students to work together removes the possibility of academic charity (some kids helping less educated) but it also removes the possibility of reciprocity, reducing the desire of the less educated student to improve, creating a lock-in effect.
3. Goldhaber, Dan, John M. Krieg, and Roddy Theobald. “Does the Match Matter? Exploring Whether Student Teaching Experiences Affect Teacher Effectiveness.” American Educational Research Journal 54.2 (2017): 325–359. Web.
  1. Evidence that the rate of change of student demographics or diversity impacts teaching effectiveness. Plausibly, the reverse is true as well, although they don't investigate.
  2. Data source
American Journal of Education
1. Stein, Marc L. “Public School Choice and Racial Sorting: An Examination of Charter Schools in Indianapolis.” American Journal of Education, vol. 121, no. 4, 2015, pp. 597–627., www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/681920.
  1. On Public Choice, a key interest
2. Review: Remaking College: The Changing Ecology of Higher Education
  1. The review is not particularly useful, but on its basis the referred to book may contain important information on K-12 policy changes, metrics, data, research questions, and so on, in particular in the later chapters 7-10.
Internet and Higher Education
1. Comparing online and blended learner's self-regulated learning strategies and academic performance
  1. Data source. Possible evidence that people can 'learn to learn' via Self-Regulating Learning Strategies
2. Learning analytics to unveil learning strategies in a flipped classroom
  1. Data. More research on student learning strategies. Assesses 'flipped learning' in particular, an interesting model.
3. The effects of gamification-based teaching practices on student achievement and students' attitudes toward lessons
  1. Evidence that gamification works including data.
4. Massive open online courses and underserved students in the United States
  1. Evidence MOOCs are not the tool of education for all once thought, at least as they are presently.
Review of Educational Research (this journal is datalicious)
1. What One Hundred Years of Research Says About the Effects of Ability Grouping and Acceleration on K–12 Students’ Academic Achievement
  1. #alltheinformations
2. A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Classroom Management Strategies and Classroom Management Programs on Students’ Academic, Behavioral, Emotional, and Motivational Outcomes
  1. More meta research. Great references.
3. Academic Interventions for Elementary and Middle School Students With Low Socioeconomic Status
  1. Randomized control trials pointing to some effective interventions. Data.
4. Synthesizing Results From Empirical Research on Computer-Based Scaffolding in STEM Education
  1. More data. A meta analysis talking about computer-based scaffolding. I don't know what that means but they say it has a noticeable positive effect on outcomes.
5. Psychosocial Factors and Community College Student Success
  1. A meta-analysis of psychosocial factors of success. Cool dawg.
6. Overviews in Education Research
  1. Reviews 'overviews,' an instrument of literature which is ambiguously distinct from a literature review or a metastudy. But it may contain some interesting or remaining questions throughout the literature.
7. Critical Discourse Analysis in Education
  1. I'm not sure what Critical Discourse means but I should probably learn.
8. A Century of Grading Research
  1. Detailed review of traditional grades including considerations about the errors their use might produce and so on.