Schools With Test-Based Promotion: Effects on Instructional Time Allocation and Student Learning in Third Grade

• In Event: 25.082 - Fairmont Royal York Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: 25.082-2 - The Effects of Accountability

Abstract

This study examines the effects of test-based promotion on teaching and learning in third grade through analyzing a national dataset, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) 1998-99. Using a propensity score-based causal inference procedure, we compare schools with and without test-based promotion practices in the amount of time teachers allocated to instruction in third grade. Using ECLS direct assessment scores that have not been used for any accountability decision making, we investigate the effects of having test-based promotion in school on third graders’ learning of reading and math, the core subjects in elementary schools. We also examine how the effects on learning differ by student prior academic ability levels.

Authors

• Yihua Hong, RTI International

• Guanglei Hong, University of Chicago