Abstract
This study investigated how the organization of the mathematics curriculum in U.S. high schools affects how much students learn in that subject. The study used data on the background and academic proficiency of 3,056 high school seniors in 123 public high schools from the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. These data were linked with information from students’ high school transcripts and with information from their high schools about courses offered during that period. To accommodate the nested structure of the data and research questions, we used Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) methods, including a subroutine (HLM2PV) that simplifies the proper use of multiple plausible values estimates for NAEP proficiency scores. Results provide support for our hypothesis about curriculum constraint: Students learn more in schools that offer them a narrow curriculum composed mostly of academic courses. Difficulties in conducting school effects studies using NAEP proficiency score outcomes, particularly the procedures for estimating plausible values, are discussed.
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