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Noninstructional Spending Improves Noncognitive Outcomes: Discontinuity Evidence from a Unique Elementary School Counselor Financing System

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  • Randall Reback

    (Barnard College, Columbia University)

Abstract

Children's noncognitive skills, mental health, and behavior are important predictors of future earnings and educational attainment. Their behavior in the classroom also affects their peers' behavior and achievement. There is limited prior evidence, however, concerning the impact of school resources on student behavior. Some elementary schools employ counselors whose primary purpose is to help improve students' behavior, mental health, and noncognitive skill acquisition. This article estimates regression discontinuity models exploiting Alabama's unique financing system for school counselors. Alabama fully subsidizes counselor appointments for all elementary schools, with the number of appointments based on schools' prior year enrollments using discrete enrollment cutoffs. The results suggest that greater counselor subsidies reduce the frequency of disciplinary incidents but do not strongly influence mean student achievement test scores. Increases in counselors moderate relatively severe behavioral problems without necessarily improving systemic behavior affecting classroom learning. © 2010 American Education Finance Association

Suggested Citation

  • Randall Reback, 2010. "Noninstructional Spending Improves Noncognitive Outcomes: Discontinuity Evidence from a Unique Elementary School Counselor Financing System," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 5(2), pages 105-137, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:5:y:2010:i:2:p:105-137
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    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/edfp.2010.5.2.5201
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    Cited by:

    1. Naven, Matthew, 2019. "Human-Capital Formation During Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from School Quality and Postsecondary Success in California," MPRA Paper 97716, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Matthew Ridley & Camille Terrier, 2018. "Fiscal and education spillovers from charter school expansion," CEP Discussion Papers dp1577, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. C. Kirabo Jackson & Rucker C. Johnson & Claudia Persico, 2016. "The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 157-218.
    4. Asker, Erdal & Brunner, Eric & Ross, Steve, 2024. "JUE insight: The impact of school spending on civic engagement: Evidence from school finance reforms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Carrell, Scott E. & Hoekstra, Mark, 2014. "Are school counselors an effective education input?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 66-69.
    6. Benjamin Castleman & Joshua Goodman, 2018. "Intensive College Counseling and the Enrollment and Persistence of Low-Income Students," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(1), pages 19-41, Winter.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    noninstructional spending; school counseling; school counselor financing; elementary schools; student behavior; student mental health; noncognitive skill acquisition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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