NAYOUNG HWANG • PHD
NAYOUNG HWANG • PHD
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
We use data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to examine the relationship between alternative teacher certification and student perceptions of the classroom learning environment. Our results show that students from marginalized communities are more likely to be taught by alternatively certified math and science teachers. Using student and subject fixed effects models, we find that, on average, there is no significant difference in classroom learning environments between alternatively certified teachers and traditionally certified teachers. Alternatively certified math teachers are less effective in enhancing some aspects of positive classroom learning environments, yet this evidence is limited. Our findings contribute to the ongoing conversation on teacher certification pathways and teaching effectiveness by providing empirical evidence on how students differentially perceive the classroom learning environment depending on the type of certification their mathematics and science teachers hold.
We evaluate the effects of grade retention on students’ academic, attendance, and disciplinary outcomes in Indiana. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that third-grade retention increases achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and math immediately and substantially, and the effects persist into middle school. We find no evidence of grade retention effects on student attendance or disciplinary incidents, again into middle school. Our findings combine to show that Indiana’s third-grade retention policy improves achievement for retained students without adverse impacts along (measured) nonacademic dimensions.
Using administrative data from elementary school students in Indiana, I investigate the effects of having the same teacher for two consecutive years on school disciplinary outcomes. Controlling for student and teacher fixed effects, I find that student-teacher rematches reduce the probability of receiving exclusionary school discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, and these effects are larger for students enrolled in special education services and students with prior disciplinary records. My results provide empirical evidence that repeated student-teacher matching can result in positive disciplinary outcomes. The findings of this study highlight the importance of having familiar teachers for students’ development, particularly for those who often find it difficult to build close relationships with teachers.
Studies persistently show disparities in exclusionary discipline across racial/ethnic groups in U.S. schools. Using administrative data from kindergartners through fifth graders in Indiana, we examine the effects of student-teacher race/ethnicity matching on disciplinary outcomes. We find that Black students exhibit lower rates of suspension and expulsion when they study with Black teachers—driven mainly by fewer defiance and profanity offenses. By contrast, for Latinx and White students, having a teacher of the same race/ethnicity is not associated with suspension and expulsion. In light of the shortage of Black teachers in the teacher workforce, our findings underscore the vulnerability of Black students to exclusionary discipline in the early stages of schooling.
Existing research examines whether studying with teachers of the same race/ethnicity affects student achievement, but little is known about whether those effects vary by timing and frequency. We use seven years of administrative data from third through eighth graders in Indiana to estimate the heterogeneous links between same race/ethnicity teachers and achievement by school level (i.e., elementary vs. middle schools) and self-contained classroom (i.e., self-contained vs. departmentalized classrooms). We find that the positive links between same race/ethnicity teachers and improved achievement are stronger for elementary school students and students in self-contained classrooms, particularly for Black students. Our findings highlight the importance of timing and frequent exposure to same race/ethnicity teachers in academic trajectories.
Concerns around disparities in suspensions and expulsions from schools in the United States have resulted in a concerted effort to reduce the use of exclusionary school discipline. In this article, the authors describe trends in the use of exclusionary discipline in Indiana and Oregon, two U.S. states with different school discipline policy climates. The findings point to a substantial decline in the use of suspensions and other forms of exclusionary discipline in both states. The authors further find that racial and socioeconomic disparities have recently narrowed in both states, though Black students and students who were identified as economically disadvantaged remain likely to be disproportionately exposed to exclusionary discipline. These trends, and their timing, illustrate the broad-based change in disciplinary norms that has occurred in the U.S. over the past decade.
Although the majority of elementary school teachers cover all major subjects in self-contained classrooms, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in elementary schools. We find that teacher specialization leads to lower teaching effectiveness in math and reading, and the negative effects are larger when teaching students who are more likely to experience obstacles in school. Moreover, we find no evidence that increasing the proportion of teacher specialists at the school level generates improvements in indicators of school quality. Our findings underscore the importance of fostering opportunities to develop stronger student–teacher relationships.
Schools can approach the task of sorting students to privileged learning opportunities in different ways, potentially creating distinct and durable educational inequality regimes. We test this idea by exploring variation in socioeconomic inequalities in advanced mathematics course-taking across California middle schools during a statewide algebra-for-all initiative. This case provides unique insight into local stratification processes since the state pressured schools to boost advanced course enrollments but provided little guidance about how to do so. We distinguish two critical organizational processes: the provision of different types of opportunities and the allocation of students to opportunities. The former, we argue, creates the potential for inequality; the latter determines what level of inequality is realized. Using panel data for all public middle schools in the state over a decade, we demonstrate a curvilinear association between opportunities and inequality, with disparities highest when opportunities are most differentiated. However, allocations at most schools were less unequal than would be expected under a test-based meritocratic allocation regime. Further, we find substantial school-level variation which is systematically related to organizational characteristics and consistent over time. These patterns provide evidence for local educational inequality regimes.
NaYoung Hwang, Jahyeong Lee, and Kihye Yi. (2012) “The Determinants of Working Hours of Adolescents in South Korea: Focusing on Family Background, Educational Aspirations and School Engagement” Studies on Korean Youth 23(1), 223-250.
NaYoung Hwang, and Jahyeong Lee. (2011) “The Meaning of Part-time Job Experience for Vocational High School Students in South Korea'' Anthropology of Education 14(3), 233-260.
NaYoung Hwang, Yeo-jung Hwang, and Kyung-keun Kim. (2011) “Could English Program in Korea (EPIK) Be an Effective Policy?” Korean Journal of Sociology of Education 21(4), 235-262.