The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 3 of the 17 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
ACT for All: The Effect of Mandatory College Entrance Exams on Postsecondary Attainment and Choice
Open accessAbstract
This paper examines the effects of requiring and paying for all public high school students to take a college entrance exam, a policy adopted by eleven states since 2001. I show that prior to the policy, for every ten poor students who score college-ready on the ACT or SAT, there are an additional five poor students who would score college-ready but who take neither exam. I use a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate the effects of the policy on postsecondary attainment and find small increases in enrollment at four-year institutions. The effects are concentrated among students less likely to take a college entrance exam in the absence of the policy and students in the poorest high schools. The students induced by the policy to enroll persist through college at approximately the same rate as their inframarginal peers. I calculate that the policy is more cost-effective than traditional student aid at boosting postsecondary attainment.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
Mandatory, state-paid college entrance exams in Michigan increased four-year college enrollment by 0.6 percentage points (2 percent), with larger gains among poor students, boys, high-poverty schools, and students unlikely to take the ACT otherwise. The policy also revealed a substantial pool of college-ready poor students who would not have taken an entrance exam, and induced enrollees persisted at rates similar to inframarginal students.
Key findings
- For every 100 poor students who took the ACT/SAT and scored college-ready, nearly 50 poor students did not take either exam but would have scored college-ready; the overall proportion of college-ready non-takers to takers was 0.227 (22.7 per 100).
- The mandatory ACT policy raised four-year college enrollment by 0.6 percentage points, or 2 percent, with larger effects for students with a low-to-mid predicted probability of ACT-taking (1.3 points, 5 percent), males (0.9 points, 3 percent), poor students (1.0 point, 6 percent), and students in high-poverty schools (1.3 points, 6 percent).
- Students induced to enroll by the policy persisted through college at approximately the same rate as inframarginal peers; the effect on enrolling and persisting to the fourth year was 0.7 percentage points, and the effect on earning a bachelor’s degree within four years was 0.5 percentage points (5.2 percent).
- The policy cost about $8,333 per student induced into college using a $50 per-student cost and the 0.6 percentage point effect, falling to under $4,000 if targeted at the poorest schools; this is more cost-effective than traditional student aid, estimated at about $21,000 per induced student.
Methods
- The paper uses an original student-level dataset covering six cohorts of Michigan public high school eleventh graders (2003-04 through 2008-09), with demographics, eighth- and eleventh-grade assessment scores, ACT/SAT scores, test-center locations, and National Student Clearinghouse postsecondary enrollment records.
- To estimate the supply of college-ready non-takers, the author uses post-policy ACT score distributions, reweighted to pre-policy student characteristics following DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996), and subtracts pre-policy test-taker scores to recover latent scores of non-takers.
- For causal effects, the paper uses a difference-in-differences design comparing schools without a pre-policy ACT test center to schools with one, using propensity score matching, school fixed effects, and standard errors clustered at the school level; heterogeneity is examined by predicted probability of ACT-taking, demographics, and school poverty share.
Limitations
- The paper states that the difference-in-differences estimate is likely a lower bound because some policy effects may be experienced equally by students at test-center and non-test-center schools and thus not captured; it also cannot disentangle effects for schools with a pre-policy center from other time-varying factors.
- The paper notes that short-run college capacity constraints could produce compositional effects, and that the policy’s implementation is too recent to accurately assess degree completion.
- Evident from the text: the design is observational and relies on parallel-trends and matching assumptions; standard errors do not account for propensity score matching, and several subgroup estimates are imprecise enough that equality across groups cannot be rejected.
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Claims the paper makes
81 Own result · 31 Own interpretation · 14 Own method · 13 No basis given · 7 Sources not found · 5 No full text of the sources · 3 Not checked yet · 2 Partly supported · 1 Supported · accuracy not yet measured
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“The cost per student induced into college from the class size decrease in the Tennessee STAR experiment is even larger: $400,000 (= $12,000 / 0.03) (Dynarski, Hyman, and Schanzenbach 2013).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
What the sources say
- Supportedcites Dynarski, Hyman, and Schanzenbach 2013 source
The Conclusion explicitly estimates the cost of reduced class size in Tennessee STAR at $12,000 per student and the amount spent to induce one child into college at $400,000, calculated as $12,000/0.03. (LLM, conf=0.95)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This is particularly pronounced among students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whose rate of ACT-taking more than doubles, from 35 percent to 85 percent.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 3. DATA
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Effects are also larger among males (0.9 points, 3 percent)”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“High school dropout is the primary source of noncompliance during the post-policy period.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 3. DATA
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Over 21 percent (26,717) of students not taking either exam would score at this level based on the distribution of latent scores (row 2).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All students take the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Of those who graduate high school, the test-taking rate is 97.8 percent.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 3. DATA
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“poor students (1.0 points, 6 percent)”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Of the 80 percent of the sample who are high school graduates and who do not take the special education version of the test, the fraction with a valid ACT score is 98.9 percent.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 3. DATA
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This overall effect masks important heterogeneity, with larger effects (1.3 points, 5 percent) for students with a low-to-mid-level probability of taking the ACT in the absence of the policy.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In table 2, column 1, I show that 58 percent (117,953 students) of ACT/SAT-takers pre-policy score at or above 20 (row 1).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All students take the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
- It may state two separate claims as one. 35
- Probably not a substantial claim. 17
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Although college entry has been rising in recent decades, college completion has remained flat (Bound, Lovenheim, and Turner 2010).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Do Marginal Enrollees Drop Out?
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites Bound, Lovenheim, and Turner 2010 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
Section I.B reports that college participation rose from 48.4% to 70.7% between the cohorts. But the paper reports that the completion rate among college entrants declined, rather than remaining flat: the Abstract gives a fall from 50.5% to 45.9%. (LLM, conf=0.91)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“All costs of other policies are in 2007 dollars and come from Levine and Zimmerman (2010) unless otherwise noted.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites Levine and Zimmerman (2010) sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction (pp. 9–11) describes a benefit–cost analysis of child-focused programs and compares earnings per $1,000 invested, supporting the citation as a source for policy-cost analysis. The passages do not establish that the citing document’s policy costs all come from this volume or that they are expressed in 2007 dollars. (LLM, conf=0.75)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“approximately half of public school students do not attend a high school with a test center in the school”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 2. COSTS, INFORMATION, AND MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Adding covariates does not alter the estimate but the inclusion of school fixed effects lowers the coefficient to 0.6 percentage points.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There is a somewhat larger (and statistically different) supply of male college-ready non-takers relative to female college-ready non-takers (columns 4 and 5).”
- Also stated in: § 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING · plain
“The proportion among men is 0.265, and among women it is 0.193.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All students take the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
- Also stated in: § 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The proportion of non-poor, college-ready non-takers to takers is near the levels we have seen thus far at 0.217, although the proportion for poor students is 0.480.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All students take the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These gains represent a near 3.5 percent increase for boys and a 6 percent increase for poor students relative to their pre-policy mean, and both point estimates are statistically significant at the 5 percent level.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Heterogeneity of Impacts
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Not only are schools with test centers much larger, but they tend to enroll students with higher academic achievement, higher ACT-taking rates, and higher educational attainment.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There is no DID effect on high school graduation or overall college enrollment, but a marginally statistically significant 0.8 percentage point increase in four-year enrollment.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The bottom row of table 7 shows that the effect on five-year degree receipt is 0.4 percentage points, or 2.4 percent compared to the 2.1 percent effect on enrollment.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Do Marginal Enrollees Drop Out?
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The average rate among the three post-policy cohorts is 0.589, or 1.9 percentage points higher.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The point estimate is between 0.3 and 0.5 percentage points, is statistically insignificant, and is fairly stable across the columns.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Schools with a test center are more likely to be in an urban or suburban area, and less likely to be in a rural area.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The two types of schools are similar across observed characteristics and have similarly sized supplies of college-goers pre-policy who could be potentially displaced by the new enrollees.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Capacity Constraints
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Despite the large impact on ACT-taking among students with a very low pre-policy probability, the effects on four-year enrollment are near zero for this group, as they are for students in the top two quintiles of the probability index.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Heterogeneity of Impacts
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“the per-student test fee, which for spring 2012 was $32 (a $2 discount off the price a student would pay privately)”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Lowering the threshold from 20 to 18 increases the proportion to about two-thirds, and raising the threshold from 20 to 22 decreases the proportion to just over one-third.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
The quote only partly states this claim.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although the effects among black students are imprecisely estimated, boys and poor students (those eligible for free lunch) appear to experience relatively large gains of approximately 1 percentage point.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Heterogeneity of Impacts
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The proportion of college-ready non-takers to takers is slightly lower among black students than among white students (table 2, row 3, columns 2 and 3), but the difference is not statistically significant.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
- The authors state this as an assumption: All students take the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
- The authors state this as an assumption: The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The effect on enrolling and persisting to the third year is again 0.4 percentage points (row 3, column 2), but on persisting to the fourth year is 0.7 percentage points (row 4, column 3; significant at the 10 percent level), and the same as the effect on enrolling for that sample.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Do Marginal Enrollees Drop Out?
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The increases are largest for students with the lowest pre-policy probability (row 1, columns 2-6), with no change for high-probability students.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Heterogeneity of Impacts
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The pre-policy proportion of college-ready non-takers to takers in panels (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) is 0.175, 0.221, 0.480, 0.217, 0.265, and 0.193, respectively.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“States can include the writing portion of the ACT for an additional $15 per test.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Mandatory college entrance exams provide a substantial change to the structure of the four-year college application process that reduces the monetary, psychic, and time cost of applying to college.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 2. COSTS, INFORMATION, AND MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: Traditionally, the ACT and SAT are offered on Saturday mornings, cost students between $30 and $50, and require students to travel to the nearest test center.
- Rests on an assumption: State-mandated exams are typically given during the school day, at no financial cost to the student, and at the student's high school.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Maine is a small and unique state, whereas Michigan is a large and more representative state.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The DID estimator used in this paper yields an effect that is arguably causal but is a lower bound of the true policy impact because some portion of the effect is likely experienced equally by students at both test center and non-test center schools, and is thus not captured by this methodology.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Second, I conduct a similar analysis, and find similar results, in several other mandatory ACT states, showing that the results in Michigan are generalizable.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Among the propensity score matched sample of schools, the effects of the policy on postsecondary outcomes are similar using the distance measure and show the same pattern of heterogeneity, with coefficients that are generally greater in magnitude and more precisely estimated.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Robustness Checks
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The results and pattern of heterogeneity are still similar when not restricting the analysis to the matched sample of schools, suggesting the effects of the policy can be extrapolated to the entire population of Michigan.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Robustness Checks
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If I trim the sample by 20 percent, my college enrollment results display the same pattern of heterogeneity and are slightly larger in magnitude.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Nevertheless, the results controlling for the pre-trends are slightly attenuated, but very similar to the main results.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Robustness Checks
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The LATE is the expected outcome gain for those induced to receive treatment through a change in the instrument (Imbens and Angrist 1994).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Interpretation of Effects
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Imbens and Angrist 1994 source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The pre-policy level of four-year college enrollment is higher in the matched sample of schools with a test center, presumably reflecting that some of the students induced into taking the ACT by having a center in their school subsequently enroll in a four-year college.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“By using microdata, I am able to show that this policy is in fact effective at reducing inequality, with effects on college enrollment concentrated among economically disadvantaged students and poor schools.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Bound and Turner (2007) find that a 10 percent increase in a state's cohort size leads to a 4 percent decrease in the fraction of students earning a BA from that state.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Capacity Constraints
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Bound and Turner (2007)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If I do not trim any of the test center schools with the highest propensity scores, the balance of covariates across the two types of schools is substantially worse and the pattern of heterogeneity is again the same, but slightly smaller in magnitude.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“if there are a fixed number of slots in the short run, the statewide effect of the policy should be weakly larger in the long run once supply can expand to meet demand and all new college-aspirants can attend.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Capacity Constraints
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This figure is an upper bound, given that the true cost is substantially less than $50 and the 0.6 percentage point effect is a likely lower bound.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This suggests that college enrollment would have continued to trend in parallel in the absence of the policy, satisfying one of the key identifying assumptions of my estimation strategy.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 5. EFFECTS OF THE MANDATORY ACT POLICY ON POSTSECONDARY OUTCOMES Effects on College Enrollment and Choice
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- The authors state this as an assumption: College enrollment would have continued to trend in parallel in the absence of the mandatory ACT policy.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This is convincing because the sample is indeed the population of all Michigan public school students, which is the population of interest.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“If the results were scalable, however, we would expect to see statewide increases in four-year enrollment rates of 18 percent as a result of the policy.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Interpretation of Effects
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“an inexpensive policy aimed at boosting postsecondary attainment that is currently operating at scale.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 1. INTRODUCTION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Mandatory college entrance exams could also alleviate information constraints in the college application process.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 2. COSTS, INFORMATION, AND MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“This result is consistent with the large treatment effects often realized by marginal students picked up by LATEs in the context of education policies (Card 1995).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Interpretation of Effects
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Card 1995
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In this context, these are post-policy ACT-takers who were enrolled in a high school without a pre-policy center and would not have taken a college entrance exam pre-policy in their high school, but would have if enrolled at a high school with a center.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Interpretation of Effects
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Taken together, our results suggest that high-achieving, low-income students in rural areas tend to get far enough in the college application process to take a college entrance exam, but then”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 4. SELECTION INTO COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAM-TAKING
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“More broadly, this policy has the potential to increase the college-going culture at a school, which has been shown to be an important instrument in increasing the postsecondary attainment of disadvantaged students (Jackson 2010).”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 2. COSTS, INFORMATION, AND MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Jackson 2010 source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“All mandatory ACT costs come from communications between the author and staff at state departments of education.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The authors state this as an assumption.
The average size of the cohorts is the same pre- and post-policy.
“under the assumptions that (1) the average size of the cohorts is the same pre-and post-policy”
The authors state this as an assumption.
All students take the ACT in the post period.
“(3) all students take the ACT in the post period.”
The authors state this as an assumption.
After DFL-reweighting, the only difference between the pre- and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.
“Assume that after DFL-reweighting the only difference between the pre-and post-policy cohorts is that nearly everyone takes the ACT in the post period.”
The authors state this as an assumption.
The post-policy ACT score distribution is the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.
“I treat the post-policy ACT score distribution as the distribution that would be observed pre-policy had all students taken the exam.”
The authors state this as an assumption.
The original sample is representative of the population of interest for bootstrapped standard errors.
“The main assumption for the validity of the bootstrapped standard errors is that the original sample is representative of the population of interest.”
The paper relies on this without support.
It costs less than $50 per student for states to implement the mandatory college entrance exam policy.
“Given that it costs less than $50 per student for states to implement this policy”
The paper relies on this without support.
Traditionally, the ACT and SAT are offered on Saturday mornings, cost students between $30 and $50, and require students to travel to the nearest test center.
“Traditionally, the ACT and SAT are offered on Saturday mornings, cost students between $30 and $50, and require students to travel to the nearest test center.”
The paper relies on this without support.
State-mandated exams are typically given during the school day, at no financial cost to the student, and at the student's high school.
“State-mandated exams are typically given during the school day, at no financial cost to the student, and at the student's high school.”
The authors state this as an assumption.
Any differential changes in college enrollment after the mandatory ACT policy between students in schools with and without a pre-policy test center are due to the effects of the policy; other similarly timed statewide education reforms or factors changing over time affect the two types of schools equally.
“The identifying assumption behind my estimation strategy is that any differential changes in college enrollment after the mandatory ACT policy between the students in these two groups of schools are due to the effects of the policy.Other similarly timed statewide education reforms or factors that are changing over time, and could affect college-going, are assumed to affect the two types of schools”
The authors state this as an assumption.
College enrollment would have continued to trend in parallel in the absence of the mandatory ACT policy.
“This suggests that college enrollment would have continued to trend in parallel in the absence of the policy, satisfying one of the key identifying assumptions of my estimation strategy.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Nearly a dozen states have incorporated the ACT or SAT into their eleventh grade statewide assessment, requiring that all public school students take a college entrance exam.
“Nearly a dozen states have incorporated the ACT or SAT into their eleventh grade statewide assessment, requiring that all public school students take a college entrance exam.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > Do Marginal Enrollees Drop Out?
“Columns 2 and 3 show the effect of dropping the most recent and two most recent post-policy cohorts, respectively, each yielding a point estimate of 0.07.”
§ ACT FOR ALL: THE EFFECT OF MANDATORY COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS ON POSTSECONDARY ATTAINMENT AND CHOICE > 7. CONCLUSION
“| Enroll within two years | 0.006 | 0.007 * | 0.007 | 0.321 |”
Citations
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An Introduction to the Bootstrap
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Matching as an econometric evaluation estimator: Evidence from evaluating a job training programme
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Identification and estimation of local average treatment effects
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The Power of Suggestion: Inertia in 401(k) Participation and Savings Behavior
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Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects
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Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities
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Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion
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Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities
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Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start
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The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students
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Earnings, Schooling, and Ability Revisited
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The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students
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Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hyman, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hyman, Joshua
- ORCID
- Hyman, Joshua
- Venue
- Education Finance and Policy
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2017-07
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 281-311
- ISSN
- 1557-3060 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-3079
- OpenAlex
- W2186284093
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 27.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Education Finance and Policy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Education
- Michigan Department of Education
- University of Michigan
- Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
- Institute of Education Sciences (R305E100008)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- ACT, SAT, college readiness, postsecondary attainment, college enrollment, college persistence, low-income students, high-poverty schools, student financial aid, cost-effectiveness, college choice, state education policy
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