SSP Forum: 2023 Senior Honors Presentations
The
Symbolic Systems Forum
presents
Annual Presentation of Honors Theses
Senior Honors Students, Class of 2023
Symbolic Systems Program
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
4:30-5:20 pm
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460), Room 126
SCHEDULE:
4:30 Welcoming Remarks
4:35 Tiffany Liu, "Unequal Provision of Educational Accommodations: Impacts of a Nationwide SAT Policy Change on Receipt of Accommodations" (Primary Advisor: Michelle Jackson, Sociology; Second Readers: Nick Haber, Education, and Rebecca Gleit, Sociology)
Abstract: Educational accommodations are provided to support students with disabilities in the classroom. Previous research shows that students of privileged backgrounds obtain accommodations at higher rates than minority and low-income students, although research is inconclusive with respect to why these disparities exist. In this paper, I present causal evidence on the impact of an exogenous change in the incentive to obtain an accommodation. In 2016, the College Board introduced a policy stating that the accommodations provided in a student's 504 plan would automatically carry over to the SAT. By streamlining the receipt of accommodations for the SAT via 504 plans, this policy created a new incentive to seek a 504 plan, as 504 plans could now confer desirable advantages on a high-stakes college admissions test. To estimate the effect of this policy change, I employ a difference-in-differences approach using administrative data from over 9,000 public schools in the United States. I find that the policy change significantly increased 504 plan receipt among white students at wealthy high schools, but not among comparable subgroups like minority students at wealthy schools or white students at high-poverty schools. These findings shed light on some of the motivations that may lie behind accommodations-seeking, and demonstrate how current practices of accommodations provision may inadvertently perpetuate educational inequality.
4:50 Fernanda Kramer, "Distinguishing News, Journalism, and Promotional Content in the Digital Age" (Primary Advisor: Todd Davies, Symbolic Systems; Second Reader: Cheryl Phillips, Communication)
Abstract: The rise of digital news consumption has led to a blurring of the lines between what is news and what lies outside it. In this project, we examine existing definitions of news and journalism, and propose a procedure for identifying different types of news organizations via a mixed-methods case study of the grants committed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our procedure is based on the definition of journalism developed by Shapiro (2014). Our coding scheme identifies three subcategories of news organizations: journalistic organizations, non-promotional news republishers, and promotional news organizations. We find that the vast majority of BMGF grantees publish promotional news on the Internet, much of which has all of Shapiro's other features of journalism. This finding illustrates one of the underappreciated ways in which foundation funding can influence "news" coverage online.
5:05 Refreshments and Honors Reception
A NOTE ON THE RECORDING OF EVENTS:
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