The WWC recently reviewed the research on the impacts of first year experience courses for students in developmental education and found that existing research on the practice shows no discernible effects on academic achievement, progress through developmental education, and credit accumulation and persistence for postsecondary students. Read the full report and learn more about the study that...
Don’t tell voters how much we spend on education
This study examines the role of information in shaping public opinion in the context of support for education spending. While there is broad public support for increasing government funding for public schools, Americans tend to underestimate what is currently spent. We embed a series of experiments in a nationally representative survey administered in 2012 (n= 2,993) to examine whether informing...
Sounds like U.S. higher ed, not a Venezuelan music training system
In 2014, the researcher and musicologist Geoff Baker published a book entitled El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth. His account challenged idealized views of El Sistema as an engine of positive social action and focused on the testimony of practitioners who were not directly involved in promoting the program. His interview sources, who were only willing to speak anonymously, portrayed El...
ACT summer internship opportunities
Two of the available positions have a higher education focus and will be assigned to the Statistical and Applied Research department: Predicting College Outcomes: The Statistical and Applied Research Summer Intern will work on an applied project to examine how academic preparation, academic achievement, noncognitive characteristics (including students’ college intentions, expectations...
IES training on RCTs
I attended this several years ago, and it was one of the best training experiences I’ve had:
You will learn about much more than just RCTs.
Can the U.S. be like Sweden?
Pethokoukis: Many progressive Dems here in the states, including Vermont senator Bernie sanders who is running for president, have argued that America should model itself on Scandinavia and its “egalitarian social democracies.” What do you think we are getting right when we in the USA talk about Sweden and Scandinavia, and what are we getting wrong? Sanandaji: This is a really important argument...
I want my MTV (to reduce childbirth via IV)
Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing This paper explores the impact of the introduction of the widely viewed MTV reality show 16 and Pregnant on teen childbearing. Our main analysis relates geographic variation in changes in teen childbearing rates to viewership of the show. We implement an instrumental variables (IV) strategy using...
Why political opinion polls are good
If you think that polls are destroying democracy, then think about an alternative. Without polls, politicians, special interests and certain members of the news media would still have strong incentives to make forceful claims about the public’s views. Unconstrained by credible polling data, these individuals could spin incredible stories about the great public support for their endeavors. This...
Studying STEM turns you into an Islamic terrorist
Gambetta and Hertog painstakingly gather together data on individuals belonging to a variety of terrorist groups in the Muslim world. Where they are able to get the data, it displays a compelling pattern – engineers are much more prone to become members of violent terrorist organizations. More than twice as many members of violent Islamist organizations have engineering degrees as have degrees in...
Best online survey tools (as rated by PC magazine)
SurveyGizmo is their top choice.