In this study, we took advantage of the randomized allocation of the US EPA's funding for school bus replacements and retrofits to causally assess the impacts of upgrading buses on student attendance through the EPA’s national School Bus Rebate Program. Specifically, we used classical intent-to-treat analyses for randomized controlled trials to compare the change in school district level attendance rates after vs before the 2012 through 2017 lotteries by funding selection status . We used overall district attendance rates since rates were not available for only school-bus riders.
Pedde, M., Szpiro, A., Hirth, R. et al. Randomized design evidence of the attendance benefits of the EPA School Bus Rebate Program. Nat Sustain (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01088-7
In this study, we took advantage of the randomized allocation of the US EPA's funding for school bus replacements and retrofits to causally assess the impacts of upgrading buses on students' educational performance through the EPA’s national School Bus Rebate Program. Specifically, we used classical intent-to-treat analyses for randomized controlled trials to compare the change in school district level reading and language arts and math standardized test scores after vs before the 2012 through 2016 lotteries by funding selection status . We used overall district average standardized test scores since rates were not available for only school-bus riders.
