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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2014
  5. Using School Choice Lotteries to Test Measures of School Effectiveness

Using School Choice Lotteries to Test Measures of School Effectiveness

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Abstract

Value-added models (VAMs) are increasingly used to measure school effectiveness. Yet, random variation in school attendance is necessary to test the validity of VAMs and to guide the selection of models for measuring causal effects of schools. In this paper, I use random assignment from a public school choice lottery to test the predictive power of VAM specifications. In VAMs with minimal controls and two or more years of prior data, I fail to reject the hypothesis that school effects are unbiased. Overall, many commonly used VAMs are accurate predictors of student achievement gains.

Citation

Deming, David J. 2014. "Using School Choice Lotteries to Test Measures of School Effectiveness." American Economic Review, 104 (5): 406-11. DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.5.406

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy