MASchools {AER} | R Documentation |
Massachusetts Test Score Data
Description
The dataset contains data on test performance, school characteristics and student demographic backgrounds for school districts in Massachusetts.
Usage
data("MASchools")
Format
A data frame containing 220 observations on 16 variables.
- district
character. District code.
- municipality
character. Municipality name.
- expreg
Expenditures per pupil, regular.
- expspecial
Expenditures per pupil, special needs.
- expbil
Expenditures per pupil, bilingual.
- expocc
Expenditures per pupil, occupational.
- exptot
Expenditures per pupil, total.
- scratio
Students per computer.
- special
Special education students (per cent).
- lunch
Percent qualifying for reduced-price lunch.
- stratio
Student-teacher ratio.
- income
Per capita income.
- score4
4th grade score (math + English + science).
- score8
8th grade score (math + English + science).
- salary
Average teacher salary.
- english
Percent of English learners.
Details
The Massachusetts data are district-wide averages for public elementary school districts in 1998. The test score is taken from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test, administered to all fourth graders in Massachusetts public schools in the spring of 1998. The test is sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education and is mandatory for all public schools. The data analyzed here are the overall total score, which is the sum of the scores on the English, Math, and Science portions of the test. Data on the student-teacher ratio, the percent of students receiving a subsidized lunch and on the percent of students still learning english are averages for each elementary school district for the 1997–1998 school year and were obtained from the Massachusetts department of education. Data on average district income are from the 1990 US Census.
Source
Online complements to Stock and Watson (2007).
References
Stock, J. H. and Watson, M. W. (2007). Introduction to Econometrics, 2nd ed. Boston: Addison Wesley.
See Also
Examples
## Massachusetts
data("MASchools")
## compare with California
data("CASchools")
CASchools$stratio <- with(CASchools, students/teachers)
CASchools$score4 <- with(CASchools, (math + read)/2)
## Stock and Watson, parts of Table 9.1, p. 330
vars <- c("score4", "stratio", "english", "lunch", "income")
cbind(
CA_mean = sapply(CASchools[, vars], mean),
CA_sd = sapply(CASchools[, vars], sd),
MA_mean = sapply(MASchools[, vars], mean),
MA_sd = sapply(MASchools[, vars], sd))
## Stock and Watson, Table 9.2, p. 332, col. (1)
fm1 <- lm(score4 ~ stratio, data = MASchools)
coeftest(fm1, vcov = vcovHC(fm1, type = "HC1"))
## More examples, notably the entire Table 9.2, can be found in:
## help("StockWatson2007")