2-080 - Causal Inference in Developmental Research: Using Regression Discontinuity to Illuminate Academic, Brain, and Policy Outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research on development has enhanced our understanding of children’s academic and behavioral growth as well as health outcomes. However, a persistent challenge has been to reliably pinpoint the causal mechanisms by which development occurs in various contexts. Regression discontinuity (RD), a quasi-experimental design, has the potential to generate unbiased treatment effects by capitalizing on unique structural features that allow for participants to be separated post hoc into two groups—one that receives a treatment and one that does not. In RD, participants can be individuals, schools, and even geographic areas, and is particularly useful when random assignment is impractical or undesirable.

The current symposium will highlight three RD studies on children’s academic, electrophysiological, and policy outcomes. The symposium will not only demonstrate the utility and flexibility of the RD design to answer basic and policy-relevant questions related to child development and wellbeing, but will also present important empirical findings on the impact of schools and public policies on these outcomes. Matthew Kim will demonstrate that math and reading subskills are differentially influenced by early schooling experiences. Jennie Grammer will demonstrate that electrophysiological processes associated with executive functioning are sensitive to early schooling, even in the absence of behavioral change. Jade Marcus Jenkins will explore the impact of a school-based health insurance outreach initiative in North Carolina on county-level enrollment and well-child exam rates. Finally, Christina Weiland, an expert in measurement and causal inference, will provide integrative comments with a focus on important considerations when implementing RD in different contexts.

Sub Unit

• Methods, History, Theory

Chair

• Matthew H Kim, Educational Policy Improvement Center

Discussant

• Christina Weiland, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Schooling Effects on Early Academic Skills: Replication and Extension of a Natural Experiment - Presenting Author: Matthew H Kim, Educational Policy Improvement Center

• The Impact of School Experience on the Neural Substrates of Executive Function - Presenting Author: Jennie Grammer, UCLA; Chad J Hazlett, University of California, Los Angeles; Fred Morrison, University of Michigan; William J Gehring, University of Michigan

• Healthy and Ready to Learn: The Effects of a School-based Public Health Insurance Outreach Program for Kindergarten-aged Children - Presenting Author: Jade Jenkins, UC Irvine