Exit and Switching Cost: Student Mobility in Michigan Persistently Lowest Achieving High Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: Influences and Outcomes: Examining Equity and Trends in Measurements of Student Achievement

Abstract

Identifying and labeling low-performing schools has become a common accountability practice in educational systems. Evidence on the relationship between school labeling and student achievement abounds, but research showing the impact of school labeling on structural changes in school composition is scarce. Using statewide longitudinal data from Michigan, this study examines the effects of the Persistently Lowest Achieving (PLA) school label on student mobility. Our first differenced estimates show that high schools labeled as PLA immediately lost about 3-4% of their student population. The effect was largely driven by a sharp decrease in first-time 9th grade student enrollment of about 15-18% as the PLA label has no impact on the attrition rate of prior enrolled students.

Authors

• Guan Saw, Michigan State University

• Elizabeth Covay Minor, National Louis University

• Barbara Schneider, Michigan State University

• Kenneth A. Frank, Michigan State University