Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes among Adolescents
Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Monica P. Bhatt, Philip J. Cook, Jonathan M. V. Davis, Kenneth Dodge, George Farkas, Roland G. Fryer Jr., Susan Mayer, Harold Pollack, Laurence Steinberg, Greg Stoddard
American Economic Review · 2023 · Volume 113 · Issue 3
Abstract
Improving academic outcomes for economically disadvantaged students has proven challenging, particularly for children at older ages. We present two large-scale randomized controlled trials of a high-dosage tutoring program delivered to secondary school students in Chicago. One innovation is to use paraprofessional tutors to hold down cost, thereby increasing scalability. Participating in math tutoring increases math test scores by 0.18 to 0.40 standard deviations and increases math and non-math course grades. These effects persist into future years. The data are consistent with increased personalization of instruction as a mechanism. The benefit-cost ratio is comparable to many successful early-childhood programs.
Keywords
State and Local Government: Health, Education, Welfare, Public Pensions, Analysis of Education, Education and Inequality, Returns to Education, Measurement and Analysis of Poverty, Fertility, Family Planning, Child Care, Children, Youth, Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants, Non-labor Discrimination
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