THE EFFECT OF STATE LAWS MANDATING ADVANCED PLACEMENT PROGRAMS IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS ON EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM ARKANSAS
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation consists of two essays on the impact of state-mandated Advanced Placement (AP) programs in public high schools on student outcomes. In the first essay, I examine the effects of a 2004 state-mandate in Arkansas on student achievement (measured by test scores), high school graduation and dropout rates, and student composition within a school. In the second essay, using the same policy, I study the effects of the mandate on college enrollment measures, as well as high school completion. The first essay examines the effect of a state mandate to offer Advanced Placement (AP) programs at all public high schools on student outcomes. Requiring schools to offer a program they may otherwise not have offered could produce unintended consequences through the shifting of resources or re-sorting among students. To investigate these possibilities, I take advantage of a 2004 state-wide mandate to offer AP programs in Arkansas and use a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to identify the effects of the policy on graduation and attendance rates, student achievement measures, and student composition within a school. Results suggest that on average, the 4-year graduation rate increases by 3.3 percentage points and the dropout rate increases by nearly one percentage point at schools required to comply with the mandate. I find no effect on student achievement (measured by end-of-course exams and ACT scores) attributable to the mandate, however. Additionally, the share of students choosing to attend an out-of-district school increases by almost two percentage points and the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch decreases by more than three percentage points, which suggests that the policy may have important sorting effects. In the second essay, I build on the work from the previous chapter of this thesis by examining the impact of state-mandated Advanced Placement (AP) programs on college enrollment and high school graduation rates.…
abstract: This dissertation consists of two essays on the impact of state-mandated Advanced Placement (AP) programs in public high schools on student outcomes. In the first essay, I examine the effects of a 2004 state-mandate in Arkansas on student achievement (measured by test scores), high school graduation and dropout rates, and student composition within a school. In the second essay, using the same policy, I study the effects of the mandate on college enrollment measures, as well as high school completion. The first essay examines the effect of a state mandate to offer Advanced Placement (AP) programs at all public high schools on student outcomes. Requiring schools to offer a program they may otherwise not have offered could produce unintended consequences through the shifting of resources or re-sorting among students. To investigate these possibilities, I take advantage of a 2004 state-wide mandate to offer AP programs in Arkansas and use a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to identify the effects of the policy on graduation and attendance rates, student achievement measures, and student composition within a school. Results suggest that on average, the 4-year graduation rate increases by 3.3 percentage points and the dropout rate increases by nearly one percentage point at schools required to comply with the mandate. I find no effect on student achievement (measured by end-of-course exams and ACT scores) attributable to the mandate, however. Additionally, the share of students choosing to attend an out-of-district school increases by almost two percentage points and the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch decreases by more than three percentage points, which suggests that the policy may have important sorting effects. In the second essay, I build on the work from the previous chapter of this thesis by examining the impact of state-mandated Advanced Placement (AP) programs on college enrollment and high school graduation rates.…
author: Arce-Trigatti, Maria Paula
language: eng
keywords: Mandated Advanced Placement programs, High school curriculum policies, Arkansas Advanced Placement programs
date published: 2014-05
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:32:32Z
provider: University of Houston
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Houston

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10657/869