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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.
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This paper was originally published by Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy
Economic Dynamism
The Price of Stagnation: Britain’s Retreat from Dynamism
We face a basic issue: we do not let cities or communities grow or die.
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London and the Architecture of Creative Growth
Preserving London's creative dynamism will require humility from policymakers and a commitment to keeping the city liveable.
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Is Economics a Failure?
Rather than ending with “economics is broken,” Alexander Rosenberg’s deliberately provocative book 'Blunt Instrument' argues that “economics is useful for a different reason than economists often say.” That is a serious and worthwhile thesis.
Locke, Meet Claude
The concern is not regulation per se. It is a regulation that outruns its justification by arriving before the evidence, foreclosing the technology before its benefits are understood, and insulating the powerful from competition that would otherwise discipline them. That is the pattern worth resisting.
