Effects of High School Course-Taking on Secondary and Postsecondary Success

Using panel data from a census of public school students in the state of Florida, the authors examine the associations between students’ high school course-taking in various subjects and their 10th-grade test scores, high school graduation, entry into postsecondary institutions, and postsecondary performance. The authors use propensity score matching (based on 8th-grade test scores, other student characteristics, and school effects) within groups of students matched on the composition of the students’ course-taking in other subjects to estimate the differences in outcomes for students who take rigorous courses in a variety of subjects. The authors find substantial significant differences in outcomes for those who take rigorous courses, and these estimated effects are often larger for disadvantaged youth and students attending disadvantaged schools.

[1]  Robert Perkins,et al.  The Nation's Report Card[TM]: America's High School Graduates. NCES 2007-467. , 2007 .

[2]  Timothy P. Madigan,et al.  Science Proficiency and Course Taking in High School: The Relationship of Science Course-Taking Patterns to Increases in Science Proficiency between 8th and 12th Grades. , 1997 .

[3]  E. Tab.  Dropout Rates in the United States: 2002 and 2003 , 2006 .

[4]  Sophia Catsambis.  The Path to Math: Gender and Racial-Ethnic Differences in Mathematics Participation from Middle School to High School. , 1994 .

[5]  Mark L. Davison,et al.  High School Mathematics Course-Taking by Gender and Ethnicity , 1998 .

[6]  Jose P. Mestre,et al.  Linguistic and cultural influences on learning mathematics , 1988 .

[7]  Catherine Riegle-Crumb.  The Path through Math: Course Sequences and Academic Performance at the Intersection of Race‐Ethnicity and Gender , 2006, American Journal of Education.

[8]  Rajeev Dehejia,et al.  Propensity Score-Matching Methods for Nonexperimental Causal Studies , 2002, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[9]  B. Sianesi,et al.  PSMATCH2: Stata module to perform full Mahalanobis and propensity score matching, common support graphing, and covariate imbalance testing , 2003 .

[10]  Jonah E. Rockoff.  The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data , 2004 .

[11]  Kristin Klopfenstein.  Advanced Placement: do minorities have equal opportunity? , 2004 .

[12]  John D. Jackson,et al.  College Grades and Labor Market Rewards , 1990 .

[13]  William J. Hussar,et al.  The Condition of Education , 2010 .

[14]  C. Hoxby,et al.  Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation , 2000 .

[15]  J. Betts,et al.  The Effect of High School Courses on Earnings , 2004, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[16]  D. Conger,et al.  Explaining Race, Poverty, and Gender Disparities in Advanced Course-Taking. , 2009 .

[17]  Barbara Schneider,et al.  Opportunities For Learning: Course Sequences and Positional Advantages , 1997 .

[18]  Valerie E. Lee,et al.  High School Size: Which Works Best and for Whom? , 1996 .

[19]  E. Allensworth,et al.  “Double-Dose” Algebra as an Alternative Strategy to Remediation: Effects on Students' Academic Outcomes , 2009 .

[20]  J. Goodman.  The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory Math Coursework , 2012 .

[21]  Mark C. Long,et al.  Explaining Gaps in Readiness for College-Level Math: The Role of High School Courses , 2009, Education Finance and Policy.

[22]  C. Burris.  NEPC Review: The Misplaced Math Student: Lost in Eighth-Grade Algebra , 2008 .

[23]  Barbara Schneider,et al.  Sequences of opportunities for learning , 1994 .

[24]  Adam Gamoran,et al.  Algebra for Everyone? Benefits of College-Preparatory Mathematics for Students With Diverse Abilities in Early Secondary School , 2000 .

[25]  B. Schneider.  Strategies for Success: High School and Beyond , 2003 .

[26]  K. Alexander,et al.  Curricula and Coursework: A Surprise Ending to a Familiar Story. , 1982 .

[27]  Penny A. Sebring.  Consequences of Differential Amounts of High School Course work: Will the New Graduation Requirements Help? , 1987 .

[28]  R. Mare,et al.  Secondary School Tracking and Educational Inequality: Compensation, Reinforcement, or Neutrality? , 1989, American Journal of Sociology.

[29]  Colin C. Chellman,et al.  Mission Matters: The Cost of Small High Schools Revisited , 2008 .

[30]  J. Zietz,et al.  Academic Choice Behavior of High School Students: Economic Rationale and Empirical Evidence. , 2005 .

[31]  A. Cameron,et al.  Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications , 2005 .

[32]  Thomas J. Kane,et al.  Estimating Teacher Impacts on Student Achievement: An Experimental Evaluation , 2008 .

[33]  John H. Bishop,et al.  The impacts of career-technical education on high school labor market success , 2004 .

[34]  V. Cool,et al.  Testing a model of school learning: Direct and indirect effects on academic achievement☆ , 1991 .

[35]  D. Rubin,et al.  The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects , 1983 .

[36]  Joseph G. Altonji.  The Effects of High School Curriculum on Education and Labor Market Outcomes , 1992 .

[37]  P. Levine,et al.  The Benefit of Additional High-School Math and Science Classes for Young Men and Women , 1995 .

[38]  Paul Attewell,et al.  Raising the Bar: Curricular Intensity and Academic Performance , 2008 .

[39]  J. Joensen,et al.  Is there a Causal Effect of High School Math on Labor Market Outcomes? , 2006, The Journal of Human Resources.

[40]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  From Words to Equations Meaning and Representation in Algebra Word Problems , 2012 .

[41]  Adam Gamoran,et al.  The Stratification of High School Learning Opportunities. , 1987 .

[42]  C. Adelman.  Executive Summary: The Toolbox Revisited--Paths to Degree Completion from High School through College. , 2006 .

[43]  D. Black,et al.  How robust is the evidence on the effects of college quality? Evidence from matching , 2004 .