The Role of Specific Subjects in Education Production Functions: Evidence from Morning Classes in Chicago Public High Schools

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. Absences in Chicago Public High Schools are 3-7 days per year higher in first period than at other times of the day. This study exploits this empirical regularity and the essentially random variation between students in the ordering of classes over the day to measure how the returns to classroom learning vary by course subject, and how much attendance in one class spills over into learning in other subjects. We find that having a class in first period reduces grades in that course and has little effect on long-term grades or grades in related subjects. We also find moderately-sized negative effects of having a class in first period on test scores in that subject and in related subjects, particularly for math classes.JEL Classification: I20, I21, J13

What We’re Missing

“…Class period plays an important role in absences. The absence rate by period is U shaped, with the greatest percentage of absences from first period, followed by seventh period, and lower rates of absence from classes in the middle of the day by up to 2 percentage points, similar to the trend for four core classes in Chicago Public Schools reported by Cortes et al (2012).…”

“…The underestimation of school absence is problematic, especially if part-day absence has similar detrimental effects on student learning and development to full-day absence. The only published study we know of that uses class-level absences data leverages the fact that students are de facto randomly assigned to whether they take a given class subject during first period versus later in the day, and it finds that having a first-period class reduces grades in that subject by 0.09 to 0.17 points but has little spillover effects on other subjects (Cortes, Bricker, & Rohlfs, 2012). 6 Unfortunately, the authors could not determine whether this negative effect is due to higher absences or more grogginess in first period than in other periods.…”

Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’

“…The underlying science of this time-in-day effect arises from waking too early in the biological circadian cycle, the eveningness of older adolescents and the day-long impact of this on cognition (Lockley et al 2008;Scheer et al 2008). These findings of particularly poor performance in the first period are supported by analysis of data from 82 Chicago high schools showing similar poor performance in early first period lessons (Cortes, Bricker, and Rohlfs 2010).…”

The educational effects of school start times

“…This hypothesis is supported by research that finds that college students perform better in classes that meet later in the day [6]. Similarly, in Chicago public high schools, both attendance and achievement are significantly lower in first-period classes than in other periods; this effect is particularly strong for mathematics classes [7]. While these studies begin to shed light on the relationship between time of day and learning, the estimated effects are likely biased due to students' ability to select their classes.…”

“…At many schools, attendance is lower in early classes, and the later the start time, the higher the attendance in firstperiod classes [7]. However, class attendance is mandatory at the US Air Force Academy, which implies that the negative effects of early school start times are not driven solely by absences or tardiness.…”