| Roberto Agodini
Columbia University
Gains in achievement from completing the "new basics": Before and after A Nation at Risk
FINAL REPORT: The Human Capital Effects of High School Curriculum.
At a time when cognitive skills explain a significant portion of the recent increase in the college wage premium experienced by young workers, this dissertation studies whether high school graduates who complete the ~New Basics~ as recommended by the authors of A Nation at Risk make significantly larger gains in achievement compared to those who do not. It also examines how these gains changed over time in response to the rise in the percentage of students who completed this pattern of courses--recent education statistics indicate that 13.4 percent of high school graduates completed the New Basics in 1982 compared to 46.8 percent in 1992. Longitudinal data for two nationally representative cohorts of students are used to estimate a "switchIng regression model with endogenous switching." Predictions based on parameter estimates of this model of student achievement indicate that the effectiveness of the New Basics as a curricular "treatment" declined between 1982 and 1992. One possible explanation for this finding is that the smaller percentage of students who completed the New Basics in 1982 was a more "select" group compared to the larger percentage who did the same in 1992. This hypothesis, however, is not supported by the data. Another possibility is that the disproportionate changes in course-taking patterns and course performance by the two curricular groups that occurred during this time period explain this result. Although these factors account for much of the effect of the New Basics, they do not explain its weakened effectiveness. In fact, other things equal, the average level of senior achievement among those who did not complete the New Basics in 1982 would have been up to 12 percent higher if they had completed this core curriculum. For otherwise identical students in 1992, it would have been only 3 percent higher if they had done the same. Interestingly, slight deviations in course performance by the two curricular groups in the 1992 cohort have the same impact on achievement as does completing the New Basics. Policy implications of these findings are discussed in the study.
Back to Funded Dissertation Grants Page |