School-based Learning Community Impact on Future Earnings

Purpose: Achieving higher future wages post-college remains a challenge. The decision to pursue higher education for occupational aspirations can be influenced by lifelong earnings expectations. The League of Innovative Schools (LIS) was created in 2011 by professionals in the New England region in the United States of America to promote school-based learning communities. Methodology: The research adopted desktop literature review. Previous research has indicated that the LIS outperforms in science, reading, and has higher graduation rates than traditional schools. Furthermore, previous studies suggested that individuals who enroll in a US college with an average Standardized test score of 100 points higher will see a 3 to 7 percent increase in their lifetime earnings. The present study evaluates the impact of the school-based Professional Learning Community on US Standardized test scores and lifetime earnings change by using a propensity score matching and an inverse weighting method. Findings: The findings provide strong evidence that high school educators at state and regional forums who collaborate and share innovative practices will improve overall school performance and boost standardized test scores of participating schools. Despite the absence of causality in our study, we found a positive correlation between the school-based community learning program and future earnings, giving convincing evidence to school districts and state education policymakers concerning future funding decisions regarding the school-based professional learning community. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Additionally, our conclusions provide Private Operators and Donors to School-based Professional Learning Communities with evaluation information on the effectiveness of their program, (1) facilitate the use of an econometric model framework by economists and researchers for similar studies, (2) initiate discussions with states and counties to examine the success of school-based professional learning communities in boosting overall exam scores, (3) lastly, it suggests a future in-depth examination of the differences between the old and new standardized exam formats, which could impact test variability.