Changing the Odds: Student Achievement after Introduction of a Middle School Math Intervention

Julian R. Betts, Andrew C. Zau, Karen Volz Bachofer and Dina Polichar

No 30870, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The paper evaluates math performance at four high-need middle schools during a four-year intervention, which was designed to help math teachers diagnose students’ areas of need and to design lesson plans responsive to those needs. Before the intervention began, the researchers pre-selected four comparison schools by matching based on achievement and also on demographics. A difference-in-difference analysis finds a significant increase of about 0.11 standard deviation in test scores per year for students in the program schools. Supplementary event study and synthetic control analyses to detect year-by-year effects lack precision but are weakly suggestive of a smaller impact in year 1 than later years. A cost analysis considers the affordability of extending similar programs.

JEL-codes: I2 I21 I24 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-01
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Published as Julian R. Betts & Andrew C. Zau & Karen Volz Bachofer & Dina Polichar, 2024. "Changing the Odds: Student Achievement after Introduction of a Middle School Math Intervention," Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, vol 17(1), pages 65-93.

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