Selection effects for inequity in education: Identifying and evaluating a new type of educational effect via application of Airbag Moderation

Hall, James, Palardy, Greg and Malmberg, Lars Erik (2024) Selection effects for inequity in education: Identifying and evaluating a new type of educational effect via application of Airbag Moderation. 2024 Modern Modeling Methods Conference, University of Connecticut, Storrs, United States. 24 - 26 Jun 2024.

Abstract

Selection effects in education – who goes where, gets what, and how much – play a pivotal role in the formation and persistence of educational inequities. These include inequalities from preschool to higher education and as regards both student progress and attainment as well as the funding and resources of teachers, institutions, and districts. However, current statistical methods can struggle to simultaneously evaluate both the presence of a selection effect in education and its consequence for educational inequity. For example, where one group has a different access to an educational resource and this differential access may be the reason for group differences in educational outcome. Say for example geographic differences in access to educational opportunities. This paper responds with two empirical examples that overcome current methodological difficulties via the application of the new Hypothesis of ‘Airbag Moderation’. These examples use data from the USA and the UK and from two different phases of education (USA high school, UK preschool). Evidence is found of selection effects in education that both widen and narrow differences between groups of students in their education outcomes. Discussion focusses upon methodological requirements for extensions to this work, as well as implications for educational research, policy, and practice

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Contributors

Author: James Hall

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