Tuesday, January 26, 2021

The Impact of the El Dorado Promise Scholarship on Student Achievement

This study examines whether the El Dorado Promise, a guaranteed college scholarship program for students in the El Dorado School District (EDSD), affected elementary and middle school achievement using a quasi-experimental matching design, first matching the EDSD with similar districts to create a pool of potential comparison students, then matching students on prior achievement and demographics. 

The Promise leads to an estimated 0.11 standard deviation gain in math achievement; this effect is statistically significant and practically meaningful. Results are similar from district-level synthetic control and difference-in-differences analyses. There are larger effects on students with above-average prior achievement. 

The researchers were unable to construct an appropriate comparison group to estimate the impact of the Promise on literacy achievement

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