School Sector and Cognitive Performance
When is a Little a Little
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2544487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karl L Alexander (corresponding author), Aaron M Pallas (0000-0002-9916-1503) |
| Year | 1985 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 115 |
| Publication date | 1985-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0407 • E-ISSN: 1939-8573 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2112251 |
| OpenAlex | W1977887766 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 46 |
| References cited | 13 |
Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore's claims regarding the effects of Catholic schools on cognitive achievement have, evoked much controversy. Critics have argued that Catholic schools enroll students of superior academic competency, and that Coleman et al., using cross-sectional testing data, could not distinguish differential sector effectiveness from this selection effect. The first follow-up (1982) of the High School and Beyond base-year sophomore cohort allows a stronger design for studying this issue. We use sophomore test performance to control for input-level differences in competency while predicting senior test performance in several cognitive domains. The omission of such input controls leads to a substantial upward bias in the estimate of Catholic-school effects on achievement. We also show that the so-called common-school effect found by Coleman and his colleagues disappears when appropriate input-level test controls are applied. Our best estimate of the Catholic-school effect on cognitive growth from the sophomore to senior year, using aggregate sophomore-to-senior change in performance as a yardstick, is about two thirds of a year's growth. We judge differences of this magnitude to be substantively trivial because they correspond to less than 0.1 standard deviation in test performance. We conclude that sector differences in test performance are too small to warrant the attention they have received
Academic achievement · Achievement test · Cognition · Cognitive test · Developmental psychology · Economics · Mathematics education · Standardized test · Test (biology) · Test score · Warrant · Yardstick · Advanced Causal Inference Techniques · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology
Modeling the Transition to Public School Choice
Counterfactuals, Causal Effect Heterogeneity, and the Catholic School Effect on Learning
Capital at Home and at School
Sociology of Education
Finishing High School and Starting College
Student Achievement in Public Magnet, Public Comprehensive, and Private City High Schools
Adding Value
The Demands of Liberal Education
Bringing the schools back in
The empty opportunity
A mixed-methods analysis of achievement disparities in Guatemalan primary schools
Identifying positions from affiliation networks
Education as a Public and Private Good
Family and school capital explaining regional variation in math and reading achievement
Does capital at home matter more than capital at school? Social capital effects on academic achievement
High School Order and Academic Achievement
Public, Catholic Single-Sex, and Catholic Coeducational High Schools
A Diagnostic Routine for the Detection of Consequential Heterogeneity of Causal Effects
Black students and private schooling
Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables
Do Private Schools Force Public Schools to Compete
Students, Courses, and Stratification
The Distribution of Dropout and Turnover Rates among Urban and Suburban High Schools
The Stratification of High School Learning Opportunities
Public‐Private Differences in Achievement among Kindergarten Students
Meeting the basic educational needs of children and youth
A Meta-Analysis on the Effects and Contributions of Public, Public Charter, and Religious Schools on Student Outcomes
Two Models of Teacher Accountability
Parental Choice in Education
Interscholastic Athletics and Investment in Human Capital
Enduring Cognitive Effects of Public and Private Schools
School Choice
A Comparison of International Student and American Student Engagement in Effective Educational Practices
Test Scores, Dropout Rates, and Transfer Rates as Alternative Indicators of High School Performance
Gaining Ground
Failure of High-Ability High Schools to Deliver Academic Benefits Commensurate With Their Students’ Ability Levels
School Sector and Academic Achievement
École publique, école privée Comparaison des trajectoires et de la réussite scolaires
Sex and Race Differences in Mathematics Aptitude
Generational Status and Academic Achiev Ement among Latino High School Students
Achievement and Social Ascription
School Sector and Student Achievement in the Era of Standards Based Reforms
Privatization Reform and Inequality of Educational Opportunity
Social Capital and the Diffusion of Innovations Within Organizations
Are There Catholic School Effects in Ontario, Canada
Ethnic differences in the academic attainment process in Australia
Statistical Evidence, Selectivity Effects and Program Placement
Response to Taeuber-James, Cain-Goldberger and Morgan
Sex Differences in Quantitative SAT Performance
Reply to Coleman
For Whom the School Bell Tolls
The Use of "Ability" Measures as Controls for Concurrent or Subsequent Achievement
Public and Private Schools Revisited
Learning and Student Life Quality of Public and Private School Youth
Public and Catholic Schools
The Causal Analysis of Cognitive Outcomes in the Coleman, Hoffer and Kilgore Report
The Cognitive Tests for High School and Beyond
How Much Do High School Students Learn
Standardization and Component Analysis
| Unique citing works | 46 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,15 |
| Citation span | 1986 - 2018 (33) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 43 |