Behavioral Economics Policy Impact and Future Directions (2023) / Chapter Skim
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9 Education
9 Education
Pages 157-166
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From page 157... ...
. But the urgency of addressing these negative effects of the pandemic comes in the context of decades of work to address persistent problems: to boost student achievement and attainment, reduce achievement gaps, and provide strong motivations for teachers and administrators to make choices that will benefit student learning.2 Behavioral economic interventions have the potential to address many of the factors that impede educational attainment and achievement, from students' motivations to bureaucratic challenges associated with securing admission and funding for postsecondary education.
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From page 158... ...
. This chapter focuses on the limited available research on parent–child interactions, access to postsecondary schooling, and ways to improve teacher performance, linking this literature to the five core principles.
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From page 159... ...
ACCESS TO POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION An area that has received significant research attention is the application of behavioral economic ideas for increasing college applications, applications for financial aid, and college enrollment for students who have completed high school. The benefits to both individuals and society when students complete high school and obtain postsecondary degrees are significant.
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From page 160... ...
These studies suggest that relatively simple changes in the way information is provided can overcome inaccurate beliefs and thus increase postsecondary applications and enrollments. Furthermore, these studies show that potential students tend to acquire information about college access and funding gradually, so it is important that interventions are repeated multiple times and aligned with the issues that potential students confront.
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From page 161... ...
. Looking across the available work, the interventions designed to encourage students to pursue further educational attainment either make the tasks involved easier or simply provide information and reminders about what needs to be done and thus aim to overcome inaccurate beliefs.3 Those that actually simplify the tasks, such as providing help with FAFSA forms, changing policy defaults, and providing consistent advising, show consistent positive results (e.g., Hurwitz et al., 2015; Barr & Castleman, 2021)
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From page 162... ...
The researchers found that this loss-framed incentive increased student performance and also reduced course dropout rates, although teachers prefer contracts with a gain frame.5 A similar study in the K–8 setting compared the efficacy of versions of a teacher incentive program that used either a gain- or loss-frame bonus system to target student performance on a math test; it showed significant positive effects for the loss-framed bonus and insignificant results for the gain-framed bonus (Fryer et al., 2022)
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From page 163... ...
FINDINGS Education is a central influence in children's and adolescents' lives, and efforts to improve educational performance can create large social returns. Researchers have produced research on ways to influence parent–child interactions, boost college attendance and applications for financial aid, and boost test scores through influencing teacher practice.
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From page 164... ...
These necessary safeguards make it more complex to perform studies in schools. Future behavioral economics research will require patience to plan and implement, following researchers from other disciplines who have conducted research in schools ethically and responsibly.
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From page 165... ...
Teacher incentive pay and the black–white test score gap. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(3)
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From page 166... ...
. No evidence that incentive pay for teacher teams improves student outcomes: Results from a randomized trial.
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