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Are School Counselors a Cost-Effective Education Input?

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  • Mark Hoekstra

Abstract

While much is known about the effects of class size and teacher quality on achievement, there is little evidence on whether policymakers can improve education by utilizing non-instructional resources. We exploit plausibly exogenous within-school variation in counselors and find that one additional counselor increases boys’ reading and math achievement by over one percentile point, and reduces misbehavior of both boys and girls. Estimates imply the marginal counselor has the same impact on overall achievement as increasing the quality of every teacher in the school by nearly one-third of a standard deviation, and is twice as effective as reducing class size by hiring an additional teacher.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Hoekstra, 2010. "Are School Counselors a Cost-Effective Education Input?," Working Paper 396, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Jan 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:pit:wpaper:396
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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