Beyond Teachers: Estimating Individual School Counselors’ Effects on Educational Attainment
利用马萨诸塞州的准随机分配政策，估计学校辅导员对高中毕业和大学入学等教育成就的因果影响，发现辅导员效应与教师效应相当，且对低收入和低成就学生尤为重要。
Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. I estimate counselors’ causal effects using quasi-random assignment policies in Massachusetts. Counselors vary substantially in their effectiveness at increasing high school graduation and college attendance, selectivity, and persistence. Counselor effects on educational attainment are similar in magnitude to teacher effects, but they flow through improved information and assistance more than cognitive or noncognitive skill development. Counselor effectiveness is most important for low-income and low-achieving students, so improving access to effective counseling may be a promising way to increase educational attainment and close socioeconomic gaps in education.