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Working Paper
Prior Knowledge, Module Design, and Student Dropout in Online K-12 Education
We examine student dropout in online K-12 education coursework using administrative data for 442,000 students, 64 economics and personal finance modules, and 2.1 million module assignments between 2014 and 2025. We find that module length, prior knowledge, embedded formative assessments, and school district demographics independently predict whether students complete assigned modules. Each additional page is associated with a 0.24-percentage-point decrease in completion probability, but this relationship is 30 percent weaker for students with above-median prior knowledge. Embedded knowledge ...
Working Paper
On the Complementarity of K-12 Personal Finance and Economic Education: Evidence from Online Modules
We compile data from 2.4 million economics and personal finance module assignments completed by 513,000 K-12 students on an educational online platform. We exploit variation in the order in which these students complete the modules–economics or personal finance first– to estimate directional spillovers. The spillover runs one way. Controlling for school demographics, students who take economics first score 3.42 points higher on personal finance post-tests; taking personal finance first raises economics post-tests by 0.15 points on the same specification. A placebo using exposure that ...