Current Research:

Dissertation

The Effects of College Selectivity on Labor Market Success: Race, Gender, and Horizontal Stratification in Higher Education

S. Michael Gaddis

Abstract: Does graduating from a selective college give students an advantage in the labor market? Is this advantage the same for students from all social backgrounds? These questions are important to families, educators, policymakers, and researchers but the answers are not clear. Students select into colleges and majors on unobserved characteristics, introducing bias into observational models. Previous methods are unable to isolate mechanisms of the effect of college selectivity. My dissertation addresses these shortcomings through use of the first-ever computerized audit study of educational credentials. Using matched candidate pairs, I apply for 1080 jobs, varying college selectivity, major, race, and gender. I aim to establish the causal effect of college selectivity on labor market success and examine how race and gender moderate the effect. My dissertation contributes to our theoretical and empirical understanding of the possibilities and limits of education in reducing social inequality.

Social Capital

What's In a Relationship? An Examination of Social Capital, Race, and Class in Mentoring Relationships

S. Michael Gaddis

Forthcoming in Social Forces

Abstract: After twenty-five years of intense scrutiny, social capital remains an important yet highly debated concept in social science research. This research uses data from youths and mentors in several chapters of Big Brothers/Big Sisters to assess the importance of different mentoring relationship characteristics in creating positive outcomes among youths. The literature on social capital suggests that key characteristics are: (1) the amount of time spent between individuals, (2) racial similarity, (3) level of trust, (4) social class difference, and (5) intergenerational closure. I examine the effects of these social capital measures on academic and deviant behavioral outcomes and run models using propensity score weights to address selection bias. The results indicate that both the amount of time spent in a relationship and the level of trust consistently have positive effects for youths. Counter to what some theory suggests, race-matching and closure between parent and mentor have limited effects and social class difference between individuals has no significant effect on any of the examined outcomes. These findings have important implications for future work on social capital and adolescent relationships in general.

Educational Accountability under NCLB

Shining a Light or Fumbling in the Dark? The Effects of NCLB's Subgroup-Specific Accountability on Student Achievement

Douglas L. Lauen and S. Michael Gaddis

Forthcoming in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Abstract: The theory of action behind NCLB is that “shining a light” on subgroup performance will increase reading and math test scores. Using a panel of all students in grades 3-8 in North Carolina from 2000-2008 (N=1.7 million students in 1800 schools), we construct a placebo test and estimate double- and triple-differenced models with school fixed effects. We find that subgroup-specific accountability threats from NCLB have positive effects for minority and disadvantaged students. Larger positive effects emerge for the lowest achieving schools rather than schools near the margin of passing. We find some evidence of education triage based on student prior achievement in math, but not in reading, a finding we attribute to increases in the rigor of state standards in math.

The Role of Schools in Narrowing the Black-White Academic Achievement Gap: Accountability and School Racial and Poverty Composition

S. Michael Gaddis and Douglas L. Lauen

Abstract: Since at least the 1960s, researchers have closely examined the role of families, neighborhoods, and schools in the black-white achievement gap. Although many researchers minimize the ability of schools to eliminate achievement gaps, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has increased pressure on schools to do so by 2014. In this study, we examine the effects of changes in NCLB subgroup-specific accountability pressure on changes in black-white math and reading test score gaps using a school-level panel dataset on all North Carolina public elementary and middle schools between 2001 and 2009. Using difference-in-difference and triple-differenced models with school fixed effects, we find that accountability pressure reduces black-white achievement gaps by raising mean black achievement without harming mean white achievement. We find no differential effects of accountability pressure based on the racial composition of schools, but schools with more affluent populations are the most successful at reducing the black-white math achievement gap. Thus, our findings suggest that existing institutional inequality plays a significant role in the ability of schools to reduce racial inequality.

School Poverty

Peer Contextual Effects or Selection? Exposure to High Poverty Classrooms and Test Score Growth

Douglas L. Lauen and S. Michael Gaddis

Abstract: Social scientists and policymakers generally share the widely held belief that impoverished contexts have harmful effects on children. Disentangling the influence of the effects of individual and family background from the effects of context, however, is conceptually and methodologically complex, making causal claims about contextual effects suspect. This study examines the effect of exposure to high poverty classrooms on student test score growth using data on a complete cohort of North Carolina chiildren who entered third grade in 2001 and were followed up through grade eight. Using cross-sectional methods, we establish a negative association between exposure to high poverty classroom and math test score which becomes especially large for middle school students. Evidence from multilevel growth models, however, shows no effect of peer poverty exposure on math test score growth. Evidence from student fixed effect, which control for time-invariant unobservables, and marginal structural models with inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting, which properly adjust for time-dependent confounding also produce null effects of the peer poverty exposure on test score growth. These findings suggest that causal claims about the effects of peer poverty exposure on student test scores may not be warranted.

Cultural Capital

The Influence of Habitus in the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status, Cultural Capital, and Academic Success

S. Michael Gaddis

Abstract: Scholars routinely use cultural capital theory in an effort to explain class differences in academic success but often overlook the key concept of habitus. Rich, longstanding debates within the literature suggest the need for a closer examination of the individual effects of cultural capital and habitus. Drawing upon the writings of Pierre Bourdieu, I use a longitudinal dataset to examine the effects of multiple operationalizations of cultural capital and test habitus as a mediator. Using first difference models to control for time-invariant unobserved characteristics, I find that typical operationalizations of cultural capital (e.g. high-arts participation and reading habits) have positive effects on GPA that are completely mediated through habitus. The results provide some support for the cultural mobility thesis: only poor youth benefit from cultural capital, although all youth benefit from habitus. Overall, these results stress the importance of habitus in the relationship between SES, cultural capital, and academic success.