Eric Bettinger

Biography

Research

Impact evaluations of educational interventions in primary and secondary school

• Financially rewarding elementary school students for test completion effectively improved test scores in math but not in reading, social science or science.
• The winners of vouchers for partial coverage of private secondary school tuition in Colombia were ca. 10% more likely to have finished 8th grade and scored 0.2 standard deviations higher on achievement tests three years later, and raised secondary school completion rates in the long-term by 15-20%, with the benefits to participants likely exceeding the $24 of additional cost to the government of supplying vouchers instead of public school places.
• Test scores of charter school students don't improve, and may actually decline, relative to those of public school students, suggesting that charter schools have had little or no effect on test scores in neighbouring public schools.

  Impact evaluations of educational interventions in higher education

• Students in remediation are more likely to persist in college compared to students with similar backgrounds who were not required to take remedial courses.
• Providing low-income individuals assistance with applying for student aid and/or information comparing student aid with college tuition costs results in increased college attendance, persistence, and aid receipt, suggesting a broad spectrum of applications for personal assistance.
• Pell Grants are found to reduce college drop-out and suggest a relationship between need-based aid and college completion.
• Female teachers positively influence female students' selection of courses and choice of major in some disciplines, which is coherent with a role model effect, though no such effect is found in male-dominated fields.
• Adjuncts appear to have a small, positive effect on student enrollment patterns in higher education, in particular in fields related to specific occupations.
• Student coaching effectively increases college persistence, even one year after coaching ended, and proved cost effective compared to e.g. increased financial aid for students.