District‐wide school reform and student performance: Evidence from Montgomery County, Maryland

Abstract

AbstractIn the early 2000s, the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public School system implemented district‐wide changes to funding, curriculum, staffing, and technology. Using data from 1995 to 2014, we employ a difference‐in‐differences strategy to show that the reforms significantly increased the percentage of students in Montgomery County who scored advanced on third‐ and fifth‐grade math and reading tests. Using an event study strategy, we find that the positive impacts extended through the end of the panel. Our results contribute to the literature on school reform by finding positive impacts of school reform in a district that was high performing prior to reforms.