Chapter 1: Since the launch of the ConnectED initiative in 2013, there has been a significant surge in digital learning classrooms, driven by the Obama Administration's goal to provide 99% of schools with high-speed wireless broadband. This mission was later integrated into the E-rate program, a national initiative offering discounts to schools and libraries to facilitate internet access. In spite of the anticipated advantages, the educational impact of Wi-Fi integration in schools remains unclear. Utilizing school district-level Wi-Fi deployment data and student performance data, this paper investigates the effects of school district Wi-Fi investments on student academic and disciplinary outcomes. The findings suggest that, on average, the introduction of Wi-Fi in schools widens the achievement gap between racial groups, particularly negatively affecting disadvantaged subgroups. This effect is more pronounced in economically disadvantaged regions, including those with more rural schools or higher levels of racial segregation, as well as in technologically lagging areas characterized by larger household internet access disparities. When exploring potential mechanisms, this study finds evidence that Wi-Fi-equipped school districts did not necessarily invest more in supplementary resources to effectively utilize Wi-Fi, while student disciplinary problems arising from Wi-Fi usage seemed to be of lesser concern.Chapter 2: This study investigates the impact of third-grade retention policies across the United States, focusing on how these policies influence retention rates among Kindergarten to second-grade students and adjust kindergarten entrance ages. Since the implementation of such policies, starting with California in 1998, there has been a notable shift towards retaining students who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade—a critical transition point from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Utilizing data from the October Current Population Survey, the analysis reveals that the introduction of retention policies is associated with a decrease in retention rates for boys in kindergarten and second grade and a reduction in kindergarten entrance age for girls by approximately one month. These findings underscore the importance of considering both educational outcomes and the perspectives of children and parents in assessing the effectiveness of retention policies. This study highlights the varied impacts of these policies on students of different genders and from various socioeconomic backgrounds, and can guide improvements in how schools and families address early reading challenges.Chapter 3: Educators and policymakers have been concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to substantial delays in learning due to disruptions, anxiety, and remote schooling. We study student achievement patterns over the pandemic using a combination of state summative and higher frequency benchmark assessments for middle school students in Michigan. Comparing pre-pandemic to post-pandemic cohorts we find that math and ELA achievement growth dropped by 0.20, and 0.03 standard deviations more than expected, respectively, between 2019 and 2022. These drops were larger for Black, Latino, and economically disadvantaged students, as well as students in districts that were at least partially remote in 2021-22. Benchmark assessment results are consistent with summative assessments and show sharp drops in 2020-21 followed by a partial recovery and potential stall-out in 2021-22.
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