Bayesian Causal Forests for Longitudinal Data: Assessing the Impact of Part-Time Work on Growth in High School Mathematics Achievement

TL;DR

This paper introduces a longitudinal Bayesian Causal Forest model to estimate how part-time work affects high school students' math achievement growth, revealing negative overall effects but potential benefits for certain students.

Contribution

It develops a novel longitudinal extension of Bayesian Causal Forests to flexibly estimate heterogeneous causal effects from educational longitudinal data.

Findings

Part-time work generally negatively impacts math achievement growth.

Students with low school belonging may benefit from part-time work.

Achievement gaps between high and low achievers are widening.

Abstract

Modelling growth in student achievement is a significant challenge in the field of education. Understanding how interventions or experiences such as part-time work can influence this growth is also important. Traditional methods like difference-in-differences are effective for estimating causal effects from longitudinal data. Meanwhile, Bayesian non-parametric methods have recently become popular for estimating causal effects from single time point observational studies. However, there remains a scarcity of methods capable of combining the strengths of these two approaches to flexibly estimate heterogeneous causal effects from longitudinal data. Motivated by two waves of data from the High School Longitudinal Study, the NCES' most recent longitudinal study which tracks a representative sample of over 20,000 students in the US, our study introduces a longitudinal extension of Bayesian Causal Forests. This model allows for the flexible identification of both individual growth in mathematical ability and the effects of participation in part-time work. Simulation studies demonstrate the predictive performance and reliable uncertainty quantification of the proposed model. Results reveal the negative impact of part time work for most students, but hint at potential benefits for those students with an initially low sense of school belonging. Clear signs of a widening achievement gap between students with high and low academic achievement are also identified. Potential policy implications are discussed, along with promising areas for future research.