Children Left behind -1 Children Left Behind: the Effects of Statewide Job Loss on Student Achievement

We examine effects of state-level job losses on student achievement. Job losses to 1% of states’ working-age populations decrease states’ eighth-grade math scores by .076 standard deviations. This result is an order of magnitude larger than effects in studies comparing students whose parents lose employment to otherwise similar students, suggesting that downturns affect all students, not just students whose parents lose jobs. Evidence is not consistent with a “downward spiral of behavior” leading to lower school performance; rather, our results suggest that lower income and increased stress likely inhibit performance. Results have implications for accountability schemes: states experiencing one-year job losses to 1% of their workers likely see an 8% increase in the share of their schools failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind. Children Left Behind 3