Workshop on Human Potential (Susan Dynarski, University of Michigan)

Susan Dynarski, Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, School of Education, and Department of Economics, University of Michigan, will present, "Stand and Deliver: Lottery-Based Estimates of the Effect of Charter Schools on College Preparation, Entry and Choice."

Dynarski's co-authored report on Boston Charter schools, released May 22, 2013.

Abstract: We use admissions lotteries to estimate the effect of charter school attendance on college preparation, attendance and choice. Attending a charter high school increases the likelihood a student will take and pass an Advanced Placement exam, especially AP Calculus. Charter attendance does not increase the likelihood of taking the SAT (the main college-entrance exam in the state), but shifts the distribution of scores rightward, moving students into the top and second quartiles of the state distribution. Charter school students are also substantially more likely to pass the high-stakes exam that is required for graduation in the state. We find no impact of charter schools on college entry, but we do find large effects on college choice, with students shifting toward four-year colleges and away from two-year colleges. The results suggest that high-performing charter schools can substantially decrease income and racial gaps in college preparation and college choice.

Bio: Susan M. Dynarski is professor of public policy, education and economics at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Education Policy Initiative. Dynarski’s research focuses on charter schools, demand for private schooling, historical trends in inequality in educational attainment, and the optimal design of financial aid. Her research explores the impact of grants and loans on educational attainment and the distributional consequences of tax incentives for college saving. Dynarski has testified to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the President's Commission on Tax Reform. Her research has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, Russell Sage Foundation and the National Institute of Aging. Dynarski holds a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MS in public policy and an AB in social studies from Harvard University.

This event is co-sponsored with the University of Chicago Workshop on Education and the Urban Network.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential is one of the core intellectual activities of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. It is an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students, post docs, and faculty whose work concerns behavior, health, and well-being across the lifespan and the ways in which technology and public policy shape human potential and achievement. The Workshop/Working group has active members in the areas of the social, behavioral, health, and policy sciences.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.