Research Library

This paper examines the impacts of the Michigan Merit Curriculum, a statewide college preparatory curriculum that applies to the high school graduating class of 2008 and later. The researchers use a student, longitudinal database for all public school students in Michigan for the main analyses, and complement this with analyses from a state-year panel. The study employs several nonexperimental approaches, including a comparative interrupted time series and a synthetic control method. The analyses suggest that the higher expectations embodied in the MMC has had little impact on student outcomes.