A Path Toward Citizenship: The Effects of Early College High Schools on Criminal Convictions and Voting

• In Event: 43.036 - Citizenship, the Public, and Education in the 21st Century

Abstract

This study examines the effects of attending an Early College High School (ECHS) on an individual’s propensity to vote or be convicted of a crime. Previous studies have found positive academic effects of ECHS, but no study has examined long term civic outcomes. Using population level administrative data from seven cohorts of North Carolina students and young adults followed up until age 25 and a matching design we show that early college students are less likely to be convicted of crimes and more likely to have voted. We find that effects of ECHSs are generally larger for disadvantaged students, non-white students, and males, but differences are not always statistically significant.

Authors

• Douglas L. Lauen, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Sarah Crittenden Fuller, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Tom Swiderski, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Fatih Unlu, RAND Corporation