Experimental Estimates of the Student Attendance Production Function

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  • Author(s): Tran, Long (ORCID Tran, Long (ORCID 0000-0003-3271-3040); Gershenson, Seth
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Jun 2021 43(2):183-199.
  • Publication Date:
    2021
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      17
    • Education Level:
      Elementary Education
      Early Childhood Education
      Kindergarten
      Primary Education
      Grade 1
      Grade 3
    • Subject Terms:
      Attendance; Computation; Class Size; Classes (Groups of Students); Teacher Qualifications; Student Characteristics; Teacher Characteristics; Racial Composition; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Kindergarten; Grade 1; Grade 3
    • Subject Terms:
      Tennessee
    • Accession Number:
      10.3102/0162373720984463
    • ISSN:
      0162-3737
    • Abstract:
      Student attendance is both a critical input and intermediate output of the education production function. However, the malleable classroom-level determinants of student attendance are poorly understood. We estimate the causal effect of class size, class composition, and observable teacher qualifications on student attendance by leveraging the random classroom assignments made by Tennessee's Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project class size experiment. A 10-student increase in class size increases the probability of being chronically absent by about 3 percentage points (21%). For Black students, random assignment to a Black teacher reduces the probability of chronic absence by 3.1 percentage points (26%). However, naive mediation analyses suggest that attendance is not a mechanism through which class size and same-race teachers improve student achievement.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2021
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1293975