Beyond Education Dollars: Does Social Safety Net Spending Affect High School Graduation Rates?

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between social safety net (SSN) spending and high school graduation rates for all students, as well as students belonging to minoritized groups. Also, to determine whether public SSN investments and PK-12 education are independent. METHODS: Using Common Core Data and the State-by-State Spending on Kids data, we estimated the effects of per-child SSN spending on graduation rates over time (2010-2016) using two-way fixed effects. RESULTS: SSN spending positively impacts high school graduation rates, with slightly larger magnitudes for students belonging to minoritized groups. The effects of public investments in SSN health, and PK-12 education on high school graduation rates are independent. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that the positive effects of SSN spending on high school graduation rates are independent of any impacts associated with education spending, suggesting that these two types of public investments affect high school graduation through different pathways.

Disentangling the relation between television viewing and cognitive processes in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comparison children.

OBJECTIVES: To develop causal hypotheses regarding the effects of television viewing on cognitive processes in children and to examine the proposition that deleterious effects of television may be stronger among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. DESIGN: Longitudinal study involving 2 phases occurring 18 months apart. SETTING: University research facilities in Lexington. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-nine children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 106 comparison children. The children's mean age was 7.18 years at phase 1 and 8.74 years at phase 2. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Laboratory measures of visual attention to television, cognitive engagement to televised stories, factual recall of televised stories, and causal recall of televised stories. Parental reports of a child's weekly television viewing. RESULTS: Among comparison children, phase 1 television viewing negatively predicted phase 2 visual attention and phase 2 cognitive engagement (after accounting for phase 1 levels of the outcome variables and any relevant demographic variables). Also among comparison children, phase 1 attention negatively predicted phase 2 television viewing, even after accounting for phase 1 levels of television viewing and relevant demographic variables. These patterns were not observed among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to recent arguments, television viewing was associated with cognitive abilities in comparison children but not children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, a finding that suggests more careful examinations of the relation between television viewing and children's cognitive abilities are in order. Future studies should consider the possibility that any effects of television may be limited to certain developmental periods.