IES Predoctoral Seminar: Dr. Rucker Johnson

The University of Pennsylvania Predoctoral Training Program in Interdisciplinary Research Methods for Field-based Research in Education, sponsored by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), welcomes Dr. Rucker Johnson to our weekly seminar series.

Does Increased K-12 Funding Improve Student Learning and Narrow Achievement Gaps? New Evidence from California's Local Control Funding Formula
Presented by Dr. Rucker Johnson, University of California, Berkeley

 This study analyzes the efficacy of one of the most ambitious school funding reform efforts in California in a generation to reduce academic achievement gaps between socioeconomically disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts: the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). I link district- and school-level information on school resources and per-pupil spending with longitudinal student data for the full universe of public school students in California to analyze the determinants of student trajectories throughout their K-12 years. This student-level data includes more than 6.5 million students in each year across K-12 years. My analyses span 1995 - 2018/19 school years, across the 10,000 schools and 1,000 districts in the state. LCFF committed $18 billion over 8 years in increased public K-12 spending and introduced a new progressive funding formula (2013-2019), which I exploit to isolate policy-induced changes in school spending across cohorts and districts at each of grades K-12. Using quasi-experimental methods (2SLS-IV, difference-in-difference, and regression discontinuity designs) to facilitate causal inference, I analyze the causal effects of public K12 school spending on student achievement. This includes impacts on math and reading achievement in grades 3-8 and 11 high school graduation, and college readiness. This is the first comprehensive study of LCFF impacts on student outcomes across all grades.
I find positive and significant effects of LCFF-induced increases in per-pupil on academic achievement for every grade (3rd-8th and 11th), every subject (math and reading), and for every school that experienced this new infusion of state funds, which targeted lower-income districts and students. The impacts on student achievement increased with both school-age years of exposure to the greater funding and with the amount of increased funding that occurred due to LCFF. Furthermore, I find the increased school spending subsequently increased both college readiness and the likelihood of graduating from high school. Equally important, the results indicate a significant narrowing of the average achievement gap (by poverty status).  

More information
The IES Predoctoral Program’s weekly seminar series connects program fellows and affiliates to scholars and practitioners who engage in educational research and the development of research methods.

Seminars are likely of interest to doctoral students and faculty. If you are interested in attending virtually, please email Melanie Bahti for Zoom information.