Youth Outcomes in Communities Served by Engaged Institutions of Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Youth Outcomes: Civic Competencies and the Engaged Institution

Abstract

Educational outcomes in over 7,000 school districts nearby Campus Compact members between 2009 -2014 measure if relationships between engaged institutions and youth outcomes are present. Using fixed effects estimation, relationships between the capacity to serve communities (measured as a ratio of college students to district students) and the distance from the school district to the college are investigated and effects are uncovered are slightly larger than the study’s minimum detectable effect. A structural break associated with the retrenchment of a major federal funding source for higher education community engagement is detected consistent with the theoretically predicted direction. While the effects are extremely small, they may represent the lower bound of the actual effects and support theoretical contributions to the field.

Author

• Thomas A. Dahan, Rutgers University - Camden