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  3. American Economic Review
  4. November 2023
  5. Beyond Teachers: Estimating Individual School Counselors' Effects on Educational Attainment

Beyond Teachers: Estimating Individual School Counselors' Effects on Educational Attainment

  • Christine Mulhern
American Economic Review
vol. 113, no. 11, November 2023
(pp. 2846-93)
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Abstract

Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. I estimate counselors' causal effects using quasi-random assignment policies in Massachusetts. Counselors vary substantially in their effectiveness at increasing high school graduation and college attendance, selectivity, and persistence. Counselor effects on educational attainment are similar in magnitude to teacher effects, but they flow through improved information and assistance more than cognitive or noncognitive skill development. Counselor effectiveness is most important for low-income and low-achieving students, so improving access to effective counseling may be a promising way to increase educational attainment and close socioeconomic gaps in education.

Citation

Mulhern, Christine. 2023. "Beyond Teachers: Estimating Individual School Counselors' Effects on Educational Attainment." American Economic Review, 113 (11): 2846-93. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20200847

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I24 Education and Inequality
  • I28 Education: Government Policy