What's in a Label? The Impacts of Reading and Math Proficiency Labels on Young Adult Outcomes (Poster 35)

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

Despite previous research demonstrating that test score labels in high-stakes environments shape educational inequality, prior analyses overlooked the role of receiving a proficiency label in low-stakes environments on postsecondary outcomes and labor market performance. Using a novel dataset linking Oregon statewide administrative data with IRS tax records provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and postsecondary records from the National Student Clearinghouse (2005-2019), I investigate the long-term effects of math and reading proficiency labels received in third grade from low-stakes annual state standardized exams, examining how these effects operate through middle and high school achievement onto early adulthood outcomes. Employing a regression-discontinuity (RD) design, I estimate the plausibly causal impact of receiving a lower-status proficiency label on college enrollment, persistence, employment, and wages. Preliminary findings suggest that, while these tests do not officially define consequences for the students, the feedback--in the form of a test score label—that parents and their students received about their test performance are still consequential. Surprisingly, students scoring just below the state level proficiency category fare better academically than their counterparts who scored just above this threshold. This finding may be attributed to the “bubble kid” phenomenon (Booher-Jennings, 2005), where teachers pay more attention to students who are perceived as good candidates for moving into meeting the state proficiency threshold. Both the unique dataset and RD approach will reveal new insights on the effect of proficiency labels that eluded prior studies. Findings from the study can inform policies related to student assessment and proficiency labels.

Author

• Tanya Natasha Sanabria, California State University - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author