| JPAM Preview ▪ November 2013 |
| JPAM Preview is a newsletter that calls attention to forthcoming articles in JPAM. JPAM Preview provides brief summaries of content now available digitally in Early View, Wiley's online publication system. |
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| Feature Article The Use and Efficacy of Capacity-Building Assistance for Low-Performing Districts: The Case of California's District Assistance and Intervention Teams Katharine O. Strunk, Andrew McEachin, and Theresa N. Westover The theory of action upon which high-stakes accountability policies are based calls for systemic reforms in educational systems that will emerge by pairing incentives for improvement with extensive and targeted technical assistance (TA) to build the capacity of low-performing schools and districts. To this end, a little discussed and often overlooked aspect of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated that, in addition to sanctions, states were required to provide TA to build the capacity of struggling schools and Local Education Agencies (LEAs, or districts) to help them improve student achievement. Although every state in the country provides some form of TA to its lowest performing districts, we know little about the content of these programs or about their efficacy in improving student performance. In this paper, we use both quantitative and qualitative analyses to explore the actions taken by TA providers in one state-California-and examine whether the TA and support tied to California's NCLB sanctions succeeds in improving student achievement. Like many other states, California requires that districts labeled as persistently failing under NCLB (in Program Improvement year 3, PI3) work with external experts to help them build the capacity to make reforms that will improve student achievement. California's lowest performing PI3 districts are given substantial amounts of funding and are required to contract with state-approved District Assistance and Intervention Teams (DAITs), whereas the remaining PI3 districts receive less funding and are asked to access less intensive TA from non-DAIT providers. We use a five-year panel difference-in-difference design to estimate the impacts of DAITs on student performance on the math and English language arts (ELA) standardized tests relative to non-DAIT TA during the two years of the program intervention. We find that students in districts with DAITs perform significantly better on math California Standards Tests (CSTs) averaged over both treatment years and in each of the first and second years. We do not find evidence that students in districts with DAITs perform higher on ELA CSTs over the combined two years of treatment, although we find suggestive evidence that ELA performance increases in the second year of treatment relative to students in districts with non-DAIT TA. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions that explore the association between specific activities fostered by DAITs and changes in districts' gains in achievement over the two years of treatment show that DAIT districts that report increasing their focus on using data to guide instruction, shifting district culture to generate and maintain high expectations of students and staff, and increasing within-district accountability for student performance, have higher math achievement gains over the course of the DAIT treatment. In addition, DAIT districts that increase their focus on ELA instruction and shift district culture to one of high expectations have higher ELA achievement gains than do DAIT districts that do not have a similar focus. © 2012 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article The Impact of Earnings Disregards on the Behavior of Low Income Families Jordan D. Matsudaira and Rebecca M. Blank This paper investigates the impact of changes in earnings disregards for welfare assistance received by single mothers following welfare reform in 1996. Some states adopted much higher earnings disregards (women could work full-time and still receive substantial welfare benefits), while other states did not. We explore the effect of these changes on women's labor supply and income using several data sources and multiple estimation strategies. Our results indicate these changes had little effect on labor supply or income. We show this is because surprisingly few women used the earnings disregards. We discuss several explanations for why this might occur. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article An Application of Unconditional Quantile Regression to Cigarette Taxes Johanna Catherine Maclean, Douglas A. Webber, and Joachim Marti This study investigates heterogeneous response to state cigarette tax increases using unconditional quantile regression (UQR). We make two contributions to the empirical policy analysis literature. First, we argue that UQR provides more policy-relevant information than conventional quantile regression in most empirical state policy analyses. Second, we document cigarette tax elasticity across a sample of adult smokers in the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplements between 1992 and 2011. Our ordinary least squares regression show an imprecise negative relationship between taxes and cigarettes smoked in the past 30 days, while UQR reveals a U-shaped relationship: Only moderate smokers reduce their smoking following a cigarette tax increase, and the magnitude of the effect is small. A $1.00 (135 percent) increase in the cigarette tax leads to a 3.5 percent reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked in the past 30 days among the most responsive smokers (implied tax elasticity = −0.03). Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from a Six-Campus Randomized Trial William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos, Kelly A. Lack, and Thomas I. Nygren Online instruction is quickly gaining in importance in U.S. higher education, but little rigorous evidence exists as to its effect on student learning. We measure the effect on learning outcomes of a prototypical interactive learning online statistics course by randomly assigning students on six public university campuses to take the course in a hybrid format (with machine-guided instruction accompanied by one hour of face-to-face instruction each week) or a traditional format (as it is usually offered by their campus, typically with about three hours of face-to-face instruction each week). We find that learning outcomes are essentially the same-that students in the hybrid format are not harmed by this mode of instruction in terms of pass rates, final exam scores, and performance on a standardized assessment of statistical literacy. We also conduct speculative cost simulations and find that adopting hybrid models of instruction in large introductory courses has the potential to significantly reduce instructor compensation costs in the long run. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article What Happens the Morning After? The Costs and Benefits from a Six-Campus Randomized Trial Tal Gross, Jeanne Lafortune, and Corinne Low Emergency contraception (EC) can prevent pregnancy after sex, but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. Over the past 15 years, access to EC has been expanded at both the state and federal level. This paper studies the impact of those policies. We find that expanded access to EC has had no statistically significant effect on birth or abortion rates. Expansions of access, however, have changed the venue in which the drug is obtained, shifting its provision from hospital emergency departments to pharmacies. We find evidence that this shift may have led to a decrease in reports of sexual assault. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article Strategic Involuntary Teacher Transfers and Teacher Performance: Examining Equity and Efficiency Jason A. Grissom, Susanna Loeb, and Nathaniel A. Nakashima Despite claims that school districts need flexibility in teacher assignment to allocate teachers more equitably across schools and improve district performance, the power to involuntarily transfer teachers across schools remains hotly contested. Little research has examined involuntary teacher transfer policies or their effects on schools, teachers, or students. This article uses administrative data from Miami-Dade County Public Schools to investigate the implementation and effects of the district's involuntary transfer policy, including which schools transferred and received teachers, which teachers were transferred, what kinds of teachers replaced them in their former schools, and how their performance-as measured by their work absences and value-added in math and reading-compared before and after the transfer. We find that, under the policy, principals in the lowest performing schools identified relatively low-performing teachers for transfer who, based on observable characteristics, would have been unlikely to leave on their own. Consistent with an equity improvement, we find that involuntarily transferred teachers were systematically moved to higher performing schools and generally were outperformed by the teachers who replaced them. Efficiency impacts are mixed; although transferred teachers had nearly two fewer absences per year in their new positions, transferred teachers continued to have low value-added in their new schools. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article Does Universal Coverage Improve Health? The Massachusetts Experience Charles J. Courtemanche and Daniela Zapata In 2006, Massachusetts passed health care reform legislation designed to achieve nearly universal coverage through a combination of insurance market reforms, mandates, and subsidies that later served as the model for national reform. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we provide evidence that health care reform in Massachusetts led to better overall self-assessed health. Various robustness checks and placebo tests support a causal interpretation of the results. We also document improvements in several determinants of overall health: physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, and body mass index. Next, we show that the effects on overall health were strongest among those with low incomes, nonwhites, near-elderly adults, and women. Finally, we use the reform to instrument for health insurance and estimate a sizeable impact of coverage on health. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article The Effect of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws on Seat Belt Use by Socioeconomic Position Sam Harper, Erin C. Strumpf, Scott Burris, George Davey Smith, and John Lynch We investigated the differential effect of mandatory seat belt laws on seat belt use among socioeconomic subgroups. We identified the differential effect of legislation across higher versus lower education individuals using a difference-in-differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. We find strong effects of mandatory seat belt laws for all education groups, but the effect is stronger for those with fewer years of education. In addition, we find that the differential effect by education is larger for mandatory seat belt laws with primary rather than secondary enforcement. Our results imply that existing socioeconomic differences in seat belt use would be further mitigated if all states upgraded to primary enforcement. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Feature Article From Birth to School: Early Childhood Initiatives and Third-Grade Outcomes in North Carolina Helen F. Ladd, Clara G. Muschkin, and Kenneth A. Dodge This study examines the community-wide effects of two statewide early childhood policy initiatives in North Carolina. One initiative provides funding to improve the quality of child care services at the county level for all children between the ages of 0 to 5, and the other provides funding for preschool slots for disadvantaged four-year-olds. Differences across counties in the timing of the rollout and in the magnitude of the state financial investments per child provide the variation in programs needed to estimate their effects on schooling outcomes in third grade. We find robust positive effects of each program on third-grade test scores in both reading and math. These effects can best be explained by a combination of direct benefits for participants and spillover benefits for others. Our preferred models suggest that the combined average effects on test scores of investments in both programs at 2009 funding levels are equivalent to two to four months of instruction in grade 3. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Point/Counterpoint Legalization of Marijuana Kenneth A. Couch, Editor Longstanding arguments exist for legalization and regulation of the growth and possession of marijuana. States are taking the lead, again serving as engines of innovation on this policy issue. Some states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, while others have allowed for the production and use of medical marijuana. Two states, Colorado and Washington, have additionally legalized recreational use. It is too early to be able to gauge the effects of legalized recreational use of marijuana. However, the graduated approach taken across states both in the decriminalization of small amounts of possession and lax enforcement of medical usage and production may be helpful in assessing likely long-term impacts. Here, two teams of leading policy researchers in this area respond to the following questions: 1. In states that have legalized medical marijuana, what have been the most salient positive and negative impacts? Were there unexpected outcomes? 2. As states such as Colorado and Washington move toward more general legalization, how do the policy issues broaden? What do we know from research about likely impacts in these areas? 3. Do you consider the move toward medical and recreational legalization of marijuana as beneficial or are there policy modifications that might be recommended to help reduce associated negative outcomes? Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Director of the Bing Center for Health Economics and Co-Director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, and Eric Sevigny, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina, provide one perspective. Mark Anderson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University, and Daniel Rees, a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado Denver, provide a contrasting viewpoint. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Point/Counterpoint Marijuana Liberalizations Policies: Why We Can't Learn Much from Policy Still in Motion Rosalie Liccardo Pacula and Eric L. Sevigny California legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes nearly 17 years ago, representing a major challenge to the federal government's scheduling of marijuana as a Schedule I drug in the 1970 Controlled Substance Act. As many predicted, California was simply the first. As of May 2013, 19 states and the District of Columbia now provide legal protection to patients, and in many cases caregivers, for possession and supply of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In November 2012, Colorado and Washington went even further, legalizing the sale and possession of marijuana for recreational purposes. Given the tremendous natural experiment that is taking place, one might expect that much would already be known about the benefits and harms of liberalizing marijuana policies. Unfortunately, however, the tremendous uncertainty regarding what protections actually exist, and for whom, in addition to the enormous heterogeneity in the medical marijuana laws (MMLs) that continue to change over time, has meant that we do not yet know as much as we should. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Point/Counterpoint The Legalization of Recreational Marijuana: How Likely is the Worst-Case Scenario? D. Mark Anderson and Daniel I. Rees Last fall, voters in Colorado and Washington approved measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. In the near future, residents of these states who are 21 years of age and older will be able to purchase marijuana at retail stores (Donlan, 2013). Although it can be challenging to predict future behavior, Mark Kleiman, a prominent drug policy expert, described what might be characterized as the worst-case scenario. According to Kleiman, this scenario would involve three elements: more heavy drinking, "carnage on our highways," and a "massive" increase in the use of marijuana by minors (Livingston, 2013). Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Point/Counterpoint Natural Experiments in a Complex and Dynamic Environment: The Need for a Measured Assessment of the Evidence Rosalie Liccardo Pacula and Eric L. Sevigny While there are several areas of agreement with the points made by Anderson and Rees, we do have a few key points of departure. First, we disagree with their conclusion that much has been learned from "clearly defined natural experiments" of medical marijuana liberalization policies, not because this literature lacks methodological rigor but because it has not adequately accounted for state-level policy heterogeneity and implementation uncertainty. We addressed the first point above, and take up the second point here. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Point/Counterpoint The Role of Dispensaries: The Devil is in the Details D. Mark Anderson and Daniel I. Rees Relying on results from Pacula et al. (2013), Pacula and Sevigny argue that medical marijuana dispensaries increase the consumption of marijuana, increase the consumption of alcohol, and lead to more alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Below, we will: · Argue that the dispensary indicator used by Pacula et al. (2013) is essentially unrelated to whether dispensaries were actually in operation. · Briefly evaluate the studies cited by Pacula and Sevigny as providing evidence of complementarity between alcohol and marijuana. · Present new evidence on the role of dispensaries using data on emergency department visits and alcohol sales. Forthcoming in JPAM 33(1). Link to JPAM Early View. If you want to cite this article before it is in print, please use the DOI number listed with each article. |
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| Journal of Policy Analysis and Management is published by Wiley Periodicals on behalf of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Editor-in-Chief: Maureen Pirog ▪ Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs (and) University of Washington, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs Managing Editors: Robert Kaestner ▪ University of Illinois at Chicago Christopher (Kitt) Carpenter ▪ Vanderbilt University | |
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