Education Policy

Assistant Professor Diane Whitmore contributed a chapter in the edited volume, Bridging the Achievement Gap (John Chubb and Tom Loveless, editors, Brookings Institution Press, 2002). The book focuses on narrowing the school achievement gap between white and minority secondary school students, and compiles evidence on school reforms that can help boost the achievement of minorities to levels nearing those of whites. Successful interventions include
reducing class size, offering vouchers in urban school districts, and focusing on core academic skills. Whitmore’s chapter, “Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap?” (with Alan Krueger, Princeton University), focuses on the effect of reducing class size on the black-white test score gap.

Associate Professor C. Cybele Raver published an article in the SRDC Social Policy Report (volume 16, 2002) on children’s emotional development and school-readiness. The article, “Emotions Matter: Making the Case for the Role of Young Children’s Emotional Development for Early School-Readiness,” finds that, although children’s emotional and behavioral problems are costly to their chances of school success, these problems are identifiable early, are amenable to change, and can be reduced over time. She suggests that policymakers should broaden early
elementary educational mandates for school-readiness to include children’s emotional djustment prior to school, as well as in the first few years of school.

In their National Center for Children in Poverty research brief, “Ready to Enter: What Research Tells Policymakers about Strategies to Promote Social and Emotional School-Readiness among Three- and Four-Year-Old Children,” Raver and Jane Knitzer (National Center for Children in Poverty) review why it is important to intervene early with children at risk of poor social, emotional, and behavioral development and what kinds of interventions are effective. They address the relationship between early academic learning and emotional development, document the prevalence of emotional problems in this age group, and review the evidence on effective classroom interventions.

Professor Robert Michael’s recent paper “Children’s Cognitive Skill Development in Britain and the United States” is forthcoming in the International Journal of Behavioral Development.

Assistant Professor Ariel Kalil (with Mary Pattillo and M. Payne, both at Northwestern University) coauthored a chapter on intergenerational assets and the blackwhite test score gap in After the Bell: Education Solutions Outside the School (edited by D. Conley and K. Albright; Routledge Press, 2003). They found that among black middle-class youth, higher levels of involvement by a highly educated grandparent are associated with modestly higher test scores, but high levels of involvement with a poorly educated grandparent are more strongly associated with lower test scores.

Kalil also authored a recent article (Journal of Adolescent Research, 2002) examining predictors of low-income teenage mothers’ educational expectations. The results found that teen mothers who report that teachers treat them as less smart than they really are and who discourage them from taking certain classes due to their status as mothers show a decline in educational expectations over time.

Professor Robert LaLonde is continuing his long interest in adult education with a study on the effectiveness of community college for older adults. “Can You Teach Old Dogs New Tricks,” (with Dan Sullivan, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank) focuses on the efficiency of learning.