Clara (Yehyun) Kyung

Resources or Rewards? The Impacts of School District Funding and Incentives on Student Outcomes

with Haruka Uchida

Abstract: School funding and accountability are prevalent policy tools in public education, but their efficacy in improving student outcomes remains contested. We study the impacts of a statewide education reform in Texas that (1) changed the formula that links school district characteristics to funding, and, in a novel shift from test-based accountability, (2) introduced financial bonuses for districts based on high school graduates' attainment outcomes, including college enrollment and industry-based certification. Using policy-driven, between-district variation in district spending and incentives, we find that both spending and incentives improved the composite attainment outcome targeted by the bonus policy. Relative to funding increases, incentives produced comparable gains at a lower government cost. Effects on attainment are driven by industry-based certifications, with little effect on college enrollment. However, by focusing on high school graduates’ outcomes, the bonus structure inadvertently incentivized districts to reduce graduation rates among 12th graders who were unlikely to meet the attainment criteria: incentives decreased graduation rates and increased dropout rates. Consequently, we find mixed evidence on college and career outcomes one year after 12th grade: neither district spending nor incentives affected the share of students who were employed or enrolled in college, but incentives increased earnings. Our results highlight both the potential promise and design challenges of attainment-based incentive policies.

Outside Opportunities and Teacher Attrition

This paper investigates the impact of outside labor market opportunities on teacher attrition separately for teachers trained through traditional vs alternative certification pathways. To combat teacher shortages, the majority of states have developed alternative teacher certification pathways, which allow individuals who did not receive education training in college to become certified to teach. While training teachers through alternative pathways can increase the supply of teachers, past work has shown that teachers with an alternative certification have higher attrition rates than teachers with a traditional certification. Consequently, expanding alternative certification without addressing attrition fails to deliver a viable long-term solution. This project addresses a hypothesized key driver of this attrition: outside (i.e., non-teaching) labor market opportunities. While past studies document that outside opportunities impact teacher attrition, they do not distinguish between certification pathways. Using hazard models applied to Texas administrative teacher-level data, I estimate the impact of outside labor market opportunities on teacher attrition separately for teachers trained in traditional vs alternative certification pathways. To assess the implications for student outcomes, I investigate the types of teachers (i.e., those with high vs low value-added, those certified to teach certain subjects) who leave when they have better outside opportunities.