Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households
In this study we conduct a quasi-experimental analysis comparing students who enrolled in Early Award Scholarship Program (EASP) (formerly Promise Scholars) at any time during the 2016–17 or 2017–18 school year with their counterparts who did not enroll in the program during this time. We employed a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Economies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/3/82 |
| _version_ | 1797612283401076736 |
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| author | William Elliott Nick Sorensen Haotian Zheng Megan O’Brien |
| author_facet | William Elliott Nick Sorensen Haotian Zheng Megan O’Brien |
| author_sort | William Elliott |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this study we conduct a quasi-experimental analysis comparing students who enrolled in Early Award Scholarship Program (EASP) (formerly Promise Scholars) at any time during the 2016–17 or 2017–18 school year with their counterparts who did not enroll in the program during this time. We employed an inverse-propensity weighting (IPW) design to adjust for baseline differences in characteristics between students who did enroll in EASP (treatment) and students who did not enroll in the program (comparison) using pretreatment administrative data from 2015–16. This IPW approach successfully removed baseline differences for baseline equivalence between a treatment and comparison group. Our findings show that participation in EASP results in significant educational benefits—higher state math test scores and improved attendance—for students from lower-income households (students receiving free/reduced lunch) but not their economically more advantaged peers. No impacts were found for ELA test scores. In short, these findings suggest that <i>EASP</i> may be an effective gap-closing program that improves math achievement and attendance for students from lower-income households. Effects are stronger for students who earned more award dollars by participating in more incentivized engagement activities across the 2016–17 and 2017–18 school years. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:40:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8ce580024ef4548a979d4e8cb15ce42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7099 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:40:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Economies |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8ce580024ef4548a979d4e8cb15ce422023-11-17T10:40:58ZengMDPI AGEconomies2227-70992023-03-011138210.3390/economies11030082Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income HouseholdsWilliam Elliott0Nick Sorensen1Haotian Zheng2Megan O’Brien3School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USASummitlab Corporation, Research Institute in Evergreen, Summitlab 29029 Upper Bear Creek Road, Evergreen, CO 80439, USACenter for Social Development, University of Washington St Louis Brown School, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USASchool of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USAIn this study we conduct a quasi-experimental analysis comparing students who enrolled in Early Award Scholarship Program (EASP) (formerly Promise Scholars) at any time during the 2016–17 or 2017–18 school year with their counterparts who did not enroll in the program during this time. We employed an inverse-propensity weighting (IPW) design to adjust for baseline differences in characteristics between students who did enroll in EASP (treatment) and students who did not enroll in the program (comparison) using pretreatment administrative data from 2015–16. This IPW approach successfully removed baseline differences for baseline equivalence between a treatment and comparison group. Our findings show that participation in EASP results in significant educational benefits—higher state math test scores and improved attendance—for students from lower-income households (students receiving free/reduced lunch) but not their economically more advantaged peers. No impacts were found for ELA test scores. In short, these findings suggest that <i>EASP</i> may be an effective gap-closing program that improves math achievement and attendance for students from lower-income households. Effects are stronger for students who earned more award dollars by participating in more incentivized engagement activities across the 2016–17 and 2017–18 school years.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/3/82children’s savings accountsassetsearly award scholarshiplow incomeelementary educationacademic achievement |
| spellingShingle | William Elliott Nick Sorensen Haotian Zheng Megan O’Brien Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households Economies children’s savings accounts assets early award scholarship low income elementary education academic achievement |
| title | Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households |
| title_full | Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households |
| title_fullStr | Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households |
| title_short | Early Award Scholarship Program Results in Improved Attendance and State Math Test Scores for Students from Lower-Income Households |
| title_sort | early award scholarship program results in improved attendance and state math test scores for students from lower income households |
| topic | children’s savings accounts assets early award scholarship low income elementary education academic achievement |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/3/82 |
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