AMY ELLEN SCHWARTZ

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Can Reorganizing K-8 Education Improve Academic
Performance? The Impact of Grade Span on Student
Achievement

• AMY ELLEN SCHWARTZ
• NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
•  
• LEANNA STIEFEL
• NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
•  
• ROSS RUBENSTEIN
• SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
•  
• JEFFREY ZABEL
• TUFTS UNIVERSITY

US Department of Education Institute for
Education Sciences grant R305E040096 provided
support for work leading to this paper.
2
Overview

• Motivation and lit review
• Why might grade span matter?
• Data and description of NYC grade spans
• Analysis and Results
• Conclusions

3
Motivation for Study

• Why might grade span matter?
• Indirect effects through relationships with
• Timing and number of school transitions
• Student-school matching
• School culture

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Conceptual Model Grade Span and Student
Performance
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Previous Literature

• Much attention to, and controversy over, middle
  schools (6-8)
• Four previous good quality studies
• Middle schools lower on-time high school
  graduation
• K-8s in Philadelphia outperform middle schools
• Higher self-esteem and perceived safety in K-8
  vs. middle schools
• 6th graders in elementary school have fewer
  behavioral problems relative to those in middle
  school

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Considerable experimentation but little evidence

• Five-fold increase in percentage of middle
  schools (6-8) between 1971 and 2002
• Recent trend toward K-8 schools
• Considerable experimentation with grade span as
  policy reform, but little rigorous evidence on
  effects for different types of students

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Contributions of Current Study

• Exploits grade span variation in nations largest
  district (New York City)
• Uses longitudinal student data to track cohorts
  over five years
• Examines transitions across grades and across
  schools, rather a single point in time
• Measure gains in academic performance between
  third grade and the eighth grade
• Eighth grade critical juncture for high school
  readiness

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Data

• Elementary and middle grades in NYC
• 915 schools
• Approximately 28 grade span configurations
• Include students making Standard Academic
  Progress (SAP) from 4th to 8th grade
• Track students academic paths
• Sequence of grade span configurations a student
  might attend between 4th and 8th grades (e.g. K-5
  to 6-8)

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Trends in Grade Span

• More K-5 and 6-8
• Fewer K-6 and 7-8
• More K-8

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Many Paths From 4th to 8th Grade
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Analyses

• Basic models
• Regress eighth grade scores (math and reading)
  on academic paths, controlling for third grade
  scores and a variety of student characteristics
• Sensitivity analyses
• Attrition
• Non-SAP students
• Interactions with race and performance

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Do Grade Spans Look Different?

• Yes!
• For example K-8 compared to 6-8-- start with
  lower performance in 3rd grade-- end with higher
  performance in 8th grade-- have lower percentage
  of white and Asian-- have higher percentage of
  black-- have poorer studentsImportant to
  control for these differences

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Academic Paths 8th graders in 2001-2002, SAP
Cohort
Math Math Reading Reading Reading Reading
K-8 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.18
K-6 to 7-8
K-4 to 5-8
K-5 to 6-9
Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream Articulate on Time and Joined in Midstream
K-6 to 6-8
K-6 to 7-9
K-5 to 5-8
K-6 to 5-8 0.10 0.10 0.12
K-5 to K-8 0.16 0.16 0.19
Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level Articulate Early to be on Time at Next Level
K-6 to 6-8 early
K-8 to 6-8
K-5 to 5-8 early
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Threats to Validity and Unanswered Questions

• Attrition bias from exclusion of exiting and
  retained students
• Approach Correction for non-random attrition in
  panel data
• Are effects different for non-SAP students who
  enter later?
• Approach Model of short-term gains for retained
  and exiting students
• Are effects different by sub-groups?
• Approach Interactions between grade span and
  student characteristics (race, low performance)

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What happens when correct for attrition out of
SAP?

• Still find comparatively better performance in
  math and reading for students in
• K-8 whole time
• Switch into K-8
• A few others (K-6/5-8)

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Students who enter late or are retained

• Do they do as well in K-8s as SAP students who
  have been there since 3rd grade?
• Yes and sometimes better
• from 7th to 8th grade for students in SAP and
  latecomers
• SAP always do better in K-8
• New entrants and retainees do better even or the
  same

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Subgroup Analysis 8th Graders in 2001-02

• Do lower achieving students do better in some
  paths? (Compared to K-5/6-8)
• Yes, but only in math. They do better in K-8
• In reading, they do worse in K-8 and most other
  paths.
• Do black, Hispanic or Asian Students do better in
  some paths?
• No particular paths stand out

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Conclusions

• Grade span appears to matter
• Significantly larger long-term gains for students
  in K-8
• Effects hold in various specifications and for
  students not making standard academic progress
• Little evidence of differential effects for
  minority and low-performing students

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Cautions and unanswered questions

• What features of K-8 are particularly effective?
• Would scaling up to all K-8 have same effects?
• Experimental designs could improve validity of
  results