Int Adv Econ Res (2011) 17:116-118 DOI 10.1007/s11294-010-9279-7 Public School Performance: An Empirical Investigation Arif Sultan Published online: 18 October 2010 © International Atlantic Economic Society 2010 JEL - 121 - 128 There are persistent and widespread concerns on performance of the public school system, especially in terms of student academic achievement, which have made schooling a serious public policy issue. Some earlier studies on public schools” performances highlighted that schools differ dramatically in quality but not because of the rudimentary factors that many studies have examined. For example, variations in the quality do not seem to reflect differences in expenditures, class sizes, or other measurable attributes of schools and teachers. Rather, they appear to result from teacher experience and some neighborhood factors, including household background and income. To investigate whether increased spending can improve education quality, some earlier studies found that the amount of public spending on schooling and student performance are not positively correlated [Hanushek (2002, Publicly Provided Education, in Handbook of Public Economics); Ryan and Adams (1999, Education Quarterly Review); Sun (1999, Social Science Research); and Leventhal and Brooks-Gunn (2000, Psychological Bulletin)]. A plausible interpretation of the evidence is that some schools use resources more effectively than others. Student academic achievement may be related to class size. Small classes might be beneficial in certain circumstances depending on the teachers and the subject matter. There exists, however, no evidence of this relationship universally. Kruger and Whitmore (2001, Economic Journal) found that students who were assigned to the smaller classes were more likely to take a college entrance exam. In contrast to above evidence, Hoxby (2000, AER) studied effect of class size on kindergarten A. Sultan (5) Department of Economics, Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Road, University Center, MI 48710, USA e-mail: asultan@svsu.edu © SpringerPublic School Performance: An Empirical Investigation 7 students and found that class size had no discernible effect on test scores. Also, Jepsen and Rivkin (2002, What is the Trade-off Between Smaller Classes and Teacher Quality, NBER) found that the advantages of the smaller classes were offset by the deterioration of teacher quality. Recently, private school competition is one of the measures proposed in improving the public school system by offering educational vouchers and allowing more charter schools to operate. Hoxby (2003, School Choice and School Productivity) examined what happened to regular public schools when they were exposed to competition from the introduction of charter schools. It was found that regular public schools that faced competition increased their student achievement test scores relative to regular public schools that did not face such competition. Some other factors such as teaching practices, family involvement, peer effects, and neighborhood environment might influence student academic competency, but they are not widely examined. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine whether teacher experience and household income influence academic achievement of students at the elementary level. To investigate that, this paper used academic performance of grade 3 students in mathematics across the province of Ontario in Canada. This study uses several sources of data. Data on the public school performance come from the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). Data on school characteristics such as average teacher experience and total enrollment comes from the Ontario Ministry of Education. Canadian Census 2006 provides neighborhood demographic data. L used the following model, which is a modified version of that used by some earlier studies: Q =f +8,(TEXP) + B:(ENROLMENT) + 63(LOCATION) + B,(HINCOME) + 8;(SYEAR) + € (1) Where Q represents the average test score of public school; TEXP represents teacher experience; ENROLMENT represents total students enrollment in a school; LOCATION is a dummy variable equaling 1 if the school was located in a rural area and 0 otherwise; HINCOME represents income of a household and SYEAR is a dummy variable equaling 1 if the survey year was 2005-06. Three versions of the model are estimated. First, I estimated the original model as shown in (1). Second, I estimated the model adding squared of both INCOME OF HOUSEHOLD and TEACHER EXPERIENCE to the model. Third, I added squared and tripled of both the variables in the model. This was done to see the non-linearity effects between these variables and the dependent variable. This procedure also allowed me to better understand the effects of these variables on the estimate of school performance. The results show that the estimated coefficients of both TEACHER EXPERIENCE (B1) and HOUSEHOLD INCOME (8,4) are positive and significant at 10% and 1% level, respectively, implying that teachers experience and household income have significantly impacted performance of public schools. By adding squared and tripled of both INCOME OF HOUSEHOLD and TEACHER EXPERIENCE variables to the basic model, the estimated coefficients remain significant. Therefore, teacher D Springerus A. Sultan experience and household income have a positive impact on the public school performance. These results are consistent with earlier empirical studies on the subject. This study implies that teacher “skills,” which they gain through experience, and household income have some impact on student academic achievement because households with higher income live in better neighborhoods, and they are most likely to be educated and involved in the academic learning of their children. © Springer