College of Education
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Item Unconditional cash transfers and maternal substance use: findings from a randomized control trial of low-income mothers with infants in the U.S.(Springer Nature, 2022-05-05) Yoo, Paul Y.; Duncan, Greg J.; Magnuson, Katherine; Fox, Nathan A.; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Halpern-Meekin, Sarah; Noble, Kimberly G.Policy debates over anti-poverty programs are often marked by pernicious stereotypes suggesting that direct cash transfers to people residing in poverty encourage health-risking behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and other substance use. Causal evidence on this issue is limited in the U.S. Given the prominent role of child allowances and other forms of cash assistance in the 2021 American Rescue Plan and proposed Build Back Better legislation, evidence on the extent to which a monthly unconditional cash gift changes substance use patterns among low-income mothers with infants warrants attention, particularly in the context of economic supports that can help improve early environments of children. We employ a multi-site, parallel-group, randomized control trial in which 1,000 low-income mothers in the U.S. with newborns were recruited from hospitals shortly after the infant’s birth and randomly assigned to receive either a substantial ($333) or a nominal ($20) monthly cash gift during the early years of the infant’s life. We estimate the effect of the unconditional cash transfer on self-report measures of maternal substance use (i.e., alcohol, cigarette, or opioid use) and household expenditures on alcohol and cigarettes after one year of cash gifts. The cash gift difference of $313 per month had small and statistically nonsignificant impacts on group differences in maternal reports of substance use and household expenditures on alcohol or cigarettes. Effect sizes ranged between − 0.067 standard deviations and + 0.072 standard deviations. The estimated share of the $313 group difference spent on alcohol and tobacco was less than 1%. Our randomized control trial of monthly cash gifts to mothers with newborn infants finds that a cash gift difference of $313 per month did not significantly change maternal use of alcohol, cigarettes, or opioids or household expenditures on alcohol or cigarettes. Although the structure of our cash gifts differs somewhat from that of a government-provided child allowance, our null effect findings suggest that unconditional cash transfers aimed at families living in poverty are unlikely to induce large changes in substance use and expenditures by recipients.Item Evaluation of an Alternative School's Impact on the Graduation Rate Overall and for Students Receiving Free or Reduced Price Meals in One Local School System(2017) Zimmerman, Wendy Lynn; Imig, David; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Free and reduced meals (FARM) students in one Maryland school system are dropping out of school at a rate almost five times greater than non-FARM students. In order to address the overall and the FARM subgroup dropout rate an intervention program was implemented. The program invited students with the greatest risk of dropping out to attend. Small class sizes and faculty that focused on building relationships and meeting each individual student’s social and emotional needs are hallmarks of the intervention. The effectiveness of the program was established through three tests: 1. Finding the average overall dropout rate before the inception of the program compared to dropout rate after the implementation; 2. A logistic regression to determine the probability of a student graduating from high school based on data from a group of students who attended the intervention as compared to a demographically matched group of students who did not attend; 3. A logistic regression to determine the probability of a student graduating based on data from a group of students who attended the program as compared to a pooled group of students who where invited to attend, but did not. The results suggest the program is effective; however, the reader should be cautioned as the results are based on a small sample size. The county experienced a 5.35% decrease in the overall dropout rate and a 6.80% decrease in the FARM dropout rate after the implementation of the program. Matched students who attended the program were almost fifteen times more likely to graduate than their peers who did not attend the program, and matched FARM students were fourteen times more likely to graduate. Students who attended the program had an almost nine times greater chance of graduating, and FARM students had an eight times greater probability of graduating, than students who were invited to attend but did not. The results show a relationship between the implementation of the dropout intervention program and a decrease in the dropout rate for the county and for the FARM subgroup.Item The Impact of An Online Learning Credit Recovery Program on the Graduation Rate of Students Receiving Free and Reduced Meals(2017) Heibel, Jake; Imig, David G.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Low-income students are five times more likely to drop out of high school than their high-income peers (Chapman, Laird, Ifill, & KewalRamani, 2011). While race, geography, economic conditions, access to high quality teachers, gender, and age are measures often used to determine if a student is likely to drop out of school, economic conditions are the single variable that most closely predicts dropout potential (Mid-Atlantic State Department of Education). As an intervention tool, “online coursework may lead to increased self-efficacy in at-risk students if adequate supports are in place to help them to succeed” (Lewis, Whiteside, and Dikkers, 2014). According to Lips (2010), “Online learning could address many discrepancies in American education in terms of the disparate access to high-quality teachers and instruction caused by socioeconomic and geographic differences” (p. 4). Describing the impact of online learning on at risk students, Archambault et al. (2010) said, “Virtual school programs find that taking advantages of the technology, various curriculum programs and being able to individualize instruction are effective strategies for meeting the needs of at-risk students” (p. 7). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an online learning credit recovery program on the graduation rates of students receiving free and reduced meal benefits at a high school in the Great Lakes Public Schools (a pseudonym) located in Mid-Atlantic State. The study compared the graduation rates of FARMS students who participated in the APEX online learning program against FARMS students who did not participate in the program. The results failed to reject the null hypothesis indicating that there was no statistical difference between the two groups. This study may be useful as the district seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of its intervention programs for struggling students.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS' EFFORTS TO SERVE STUDENTS WHO ARE HOMELESS: THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED KNOWLEDGE, PREPARATION, ADVOCACY ROLE, AND SELF-EFFICACY TO THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN RECOMMENDED INTERVENTIONS AND PARTNERSHIP PRACTICES(2012) Gaenzle, Stacey Anita; Bryan, Julia A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With the array of challenges faced by children and youth who are homeless, approaches to support their needs must be systemic and involve partnerships with all key stakeholders. This study examined school counselors' involvement in partnership practices and interventions to meet the needs of students who are homeless. Further, this study explored relationships between school counselors' preparation to work with students who are homeless, their perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and their involvement in partnership practices and interventions to work with students who are homeless. An online questionnaire, which was a combination of the School Counselor Involvement in Partnerships Survey (SCIPS) and the revised Knowledge and Skills with Homeless Students Survey (KSHSS) was emailed to a random sample of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members. Further, descriptive statistics and regression analyses were run to determine relationships between variables. The results of the study suggested that school counselors are involved in practices to support students who are homeless that are more individual and school-based. They are involved less in practices that require collaboration and partnerships. The results of this research also suggest that there are relationships between school counselors' perceptions of their specific knowledge of homelessness, self-efficacy, and advocacy role and their involvement in interventions and partnership practices to support students who homeless.