.webp)
Do Lower Student to Counselor Ratios Reduce School Disciplinary Problems?
Although numerous studies in the education literature show that school counselors play a positive role in educating children, to our knowledge, this is the first study answering the question of whether lower student to counselor ratios, all else equal, improve student outcomes.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends that there be no morethan 250 students to each school counselor. Although numerous studies in the education literatureshow that school counselors play a positive role in educating children, to our knowledge, this isthe first study answering the question of whether lower student to counselor ratios, all else equal,improve student outcomes. Using data provided to us by Florida’s Alachua County School Districtand the University of Florida Counselor Education Department, we show that lower student tocounselor ratios decrease both the recurrence of student disciplinary problems and the share ofstudents involved in a disciplinary incident. These effects are greater for minority and low-incomestudents. The fixed-effect models used, control for all unobserved heterogeneity across schools,isolating the effects on discipline from the within-school changes in the student-to-counselor ratio.The empirical methodologies employed produce unbiased estimates as long as the variation in thestudent to counselor ratio is not driven by unobserved factors that affect disciplinary outcomes.
Read the Full Paper
This paper was originally published by Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy
Economic Dynamism
Automated Detection of Emotion in Central Bank Communication: A Warning
Can LLMs help us better understand the role of emotion in central bank communication?
Defending Technological Dynamism & the Freedom to Innovate in the Age of AI
Human flourishing, economic growth, and geopolitical resilience requires innovation—especially in artificial intelligence.
Firm Investment and the User Cost of Capital: New U.S. Corporate Tax Reform Evidence
This working paper analyzes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to examine how corporate tax reform impacts rates of investment.
It’s Not Easy, but We Can All Learn to Think like Adam Smith
To truly understand what a dynamic economy requires, we would do well to recover the 18th-century sensibility that understood dynamism as a social and cultural phenomenon as much as an economic one.
.webp)
AI on the Brain
A new study predicts a "likely decrease in learning skills, as LLMs reduce the cognitive effort required for writing," translating to poorer long-term knowledge retention.
Escape From New York
With Mamdani rising in New York, Texas can now offer New York’s leading businesses a package deal: relocate to Texas and list on the TXSE. Call it the Texas Two-Step.
