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on Education |
|
Issue of 2007‒04‒09
fourteen papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Justine S. Hastings; Jeffrey M. Weinstein |
| Abstract: | Several recent education reform measures, including the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), couple school choice with accountability measures to allow parents of children in under-performing schools the opportunity to choose higher-performing schools. We use the introduction of NCLB in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District to determine if the choice component had an impact on the schools parents chose and if those changed choices led to academic gains. We find that 16% of parents responded to NCLB notification by choosing schools that had on average 1 standard deviation higher average test scores than their current NCLB school. We then use the lottery assignment of students to chosen schools to test if changed choices led to improved academic outcomes. On average, lottery winners experience a significant decline in suspension rates relative to lottery losers. We also find that students winning lotteries to attend substantially better (above-median) schools experience significant gains in test scores. Because proximity to high-scoring schools drives both the probability of choosing an alternative school and the average test score at the school chosen, our results suggest that the availability of proximate and high-scoring schools is an important factor in determining the degree to which school choice and accountability programs can succeed at increasing choice and immediate academic outcomes for students at under-performing schools. |
| JEL: | D8 I2 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13009&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Kemnitz (Institut für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik (IVS)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how the abolishment of a ban on tuition fees affects the quality of higher education with centralized and decentralized decision making. It is shown that tuition fees fully crowd public funds under centralization and quality of university education does not improve. However, with decentralized decisions total higher education spending increases in the tuition level. Therefore, decentralization can lead to a higher quality of university education than centralization although the opposite holds when funding is restricted to be public. |
| JEL: | H77 I22 D78 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mea:ivswpa:617&r=edu |
| By: | Kenn Ariga (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University); Giorgio Brunello (Department of Economics, University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | There is substantial cross - country variation in secondary school design, with some countries tracking students into different ability schools very early, and other countries with little or no tracking at all. Does tracking length affects school performance, as measured by standardized test scores? We use the international data from the International Adult Literacy Survey to estimate the relationship between the experienced tracking length and the performance in standardized cognitive test scores of young adults, aged between 16 and the mid - twenties. Our IV estimates suggest that the contribution of tracking to performance is positive and statistically significant: conditional on total years of schooling, one additional year spent in a track raises average performance by 3.3 to 3.4 percentage points, depending on the estimates. |
| Keywords: | tracking, secondary schools, efficiency |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:630&r=edu |
| By: | Justine S. Hastings; Richard Van Weelden; Jeffrey Weinstein |
| Abstract: | The incentives and outcomes generated by public school choice depend to a large degree on parents' choice behavior. There is growing empirical evidence that low-income parents place lower weights on academics when choosing schools, but there is little evidence as to why. We use a field experiment in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School district (CMS) to examine the degree to which information costs impact parental choices and their revealed preferences for academic achievement. We provided simplified information sheets on school average test scores or test scores coupled with estimated odds of admission to students in randomly selected schools along with their CMS school choice forms. We find that receiving simplified information leads to a significant increase in the average test score of the school chosen. This increase is equivalent to a doubling in the implicit preference for academic performance in a random utility model of school choice. Receiving information on odds of admission further increases the effect of simplified test score information on preferences for test scores among low-income families, but dampens the effect among higher-income families. Using within-family changes in choice behavior, we provide evidence that the estimated impact of simplified information is more consistent with lowered information costs than with suggestion or saliency. |
| JEL: | D8 I2 L3 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12995&r=edu |
| By: | Marcus Tamm |
| Abstract: | The German schooling system selects children into different secondary school tracks already at a very early stage in life. School track choice heavily influences choices and opportunities later in life. It has often been observed that secondary schooling achievements display a strong correlation with parental income.We use sibling fixed effects models and information on a natural experiment in order to analyze whether this correlation is due to a causal effect of income or due to unobservable factors that themselves might be correlated across generations. Our main findings suggest that income has no positive causal effect on school choice and that differences between high- and low-income households are driven by unobserved heterogeneity, e.g. differences in motivation. |
| Keywords: | Child poverty, educational attainment, secondary schools, sibling differences, natural experiment |
| JEL: | D31 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:dpaper:0055&r=edu |
| By: | Mihhailova, Gerda |
| Abstract: | Purpose – Use of e-learning opens up a whole new range of business expansion and internationalization opportunities for many companies including higher education institutions. The paper seeks to explore the challenges a business college may encounter using e-learning as internationalization strategy. E-learning-related problems are analyzed from two main internal interest groups’ point of view – lecturers and students. The aim of the case study presented in the paper is to find out what are the major challenges from a student and academic personnel perspective using e-learning. This kind of analyses should be the first step introducing e-learning as a strategic tool for business expansion. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires, in-depth interviewing and semi-structured group interviews were used to find answers to the posed research questions. Research took place in two phases. In phase one, two types of questionnaires were distributed – Type A to lecturers (ten respondents) and Type B to students (115 respondents), Both types were constructed by the author. In phase two, two in-depth interviews and two semi-structured group interviews were conducted (ten students in one group of interview, eight lecturers in the second group of interview). Findings – The main problem areas for lecturers related to e-learning are: lack of time, lack of interest/motivation, lack of co-operation, compensation system does not take into account the specifics of e-learning and lecturers are concerned about the quality of teaching in a virtual environment. The most problematic of them appear to be lack of time and inappropriate compensation system. Students appear to have interest in e-courses, but the level of knowledge regarding specifics of web-based learning as well as about e-courses offered was unexpectedly low. This is an especially problematic case as open university students were the main target group for whom the e-courses were designed in the first place. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on one case study and thus the conclusions made may not exactly reflect the situation in all universities of Estonia. But due to the shared economic, cultural and historical background, at least to some extent the case study reflects the main problem areas of all Estonian universities using e-learning. Originality/value – The originality of the paper stems from an interdisciplinary approach to e-learning – use of e-learning as a tool for internationalization. The paper presents results of a case study research, conducted in an East-European business college and the results of the study are discussed in respect of historical, social and economic specifics of Estonia. |
| Keywords: | E-learning; Higher education; Students; Academic staff; Estonia |
| JEL: | M1 M10 M12 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2578&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Kemnitz (Institut für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik (IVS)) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of university finance reforms on teaching quality. It is shown that the graduate tax can achieve efficiency with tuition fees administered by the government, while student grants, pure and income contingent loans are bound to fail. All options are inefficient when universities have the autonomy to set tuition fees. Then, pure loans dominate the graduate tax and are more efficient than income contingent loans unless peer group effects are strong. However, properly chosen uniform administered fees create an even higher surplus. Moreover, pure loans may make the majority of students worse off than a central assignment system with very poor quality incentives. |
| JEL: | H52 I22 L13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mea:ivswpa:610&r=edu |
| By: | Asma Hyder (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the magnitude of public/private wage differentials in Pakistan using data drawn from the 2001-02 Labour Force Survey. Pakistan Labour Force Survey is a nationwide survey containing micro data from all over the country containing demographic and employment information. As in many other countries, public sector workers in Pakistan tend to have higher average pay and educational levels as compared to their private sector counterparts. First, this paper presents the inter-sectoral earning equations for the three main sectors of the economy, i.e., public, private, and state-owned enterprises. These results are further decomposed into “treatment” and “endowment effect”. To examine the role of human capital in wage gap, the rate of return to different levels of schooling is calculated. These rates of return to education may be important for policy formulation. The relative earning share is also worked out to look into the distribution of wages across the occupational categories. The earning equations are estimated with and without correction for selectivity, which is also the main objective of the study, i.e., to find out if any non-random selection is taking place within these three sectors of employment |
| Keywords: | Wage Differentials, Rate of Return to Education, Public Sector Labour Markets |
| JEL: | J32 J45 J24 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:17&r=edu |
| By: | Erich Neuwirth |
| Abstract: | As noted in the OECD's PISA 2000 Technical Report (OECD, 2002), the Austrian sample for the PISA 2000 assessment did not adequately cover students enrolled in combined school and work-based vocational programmes as required by the OECD's technical standards for PISA. The purpose of this working paper is to quantify the comparability problems resulting from the inadequate coverage of the PISA target population in the Austrian PISA 2000 assessment and to establish adjustments that could be used to correct for this and thus to allow reliable comparisons between the 2000 and 2003 data. Using the supplementary data for the number of students in the PISA strata provided by the Austrian Ministry Education, this report presents adjusted student weights for analysing the PISA 2000 Austrian data. |
| Date: | 2006–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:5-en&r=edu |
| By: | Ferrante, Francesco; Sabatini, Fabio |
| Abstract: | There is wide consensus that entrepreneurial talent is the ability to discover and exploit market opportunities by taking the relevant risky decisions. Discovery and exploitation are separate but interlinked features of entrepreneurship requiring, in different proportions, the exploitation of innate and acquired skills. Institutions and technology, by determining the nature of the discovery and exploitation process and the need for such skills, play an essential role in shaping the nature of entrepreneurial talent and the specific role of education in entrepreneurial selection and performance. Empirical studies on entrepreneurship do not offer a neat picture of the actual contribution of education to entrepreneurial human capital or entrepreneurial talent. This unsatisfactory outcome is not surprising and is due to an inadequate assessment of the context-dependent factors shaping the latter. Building on these premises, the aim of our research work is to carry out a in depth analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurship in Italy, thus accounting for the role that variables like the educational qualification, the family background, and social capital play in determining the entrepreneurial selection. This paper attempts to constitute a first step for the improvement of our understanding by means of a preliminary, exploratory, analysis on the Italian data and a series of probit analyses aimed at identifying the main determinants founding the entrepreneurial choice. Rough data are taken from an original dataset built by the authors partly drawing on the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) carried out by the Bank of Italy. The latter has been integrated with a wide variety of environmental variables drawn from different data sources describing the social and institutional context of the entrepreneurial activity. |
| Keywords: | Education; Work status; Employment; Self-employment; Entrepreneurship; Human capital; Social capital; Cognitive abilities |
| JEL: | I21 M13 J24 J23 I2 Z13 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2451&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | As higher education has grown and state funding has been constrained, the financial sustainability of institutions of higher education has become an issue for policy makers and for those who govern and manage these institutions. The challenge for governments is to ensure that increasingly autonomous institutions respond to public interest agendas while taking a greater responsibility for their own financial sustainability. The challenge for institutions is to manage an increasingly complex portfolio of aims and funding. This report examines the conditions needed to secure financial sustainability for the future from the national (policy) and institutional (management) perspectives. <BR>A mesure que l’enseignement supérieur se développe et que le financement par l’Etat se restreint, la viabilité financière des établissements d’enseignement supérieur devient un enjeu pour les décideurs, ainsi que pour ceux qui gouvernent et gèrent ces établissements. Le défi auquel les gouvernements doivent faire face est de s’assurer que les établissements de plus en plus autonomes continuent de répondre à l’ensemble des intérêts publics tout en assumant une plus grande responsabilité pour leur propre viabilité financière. Quant aux établissements, leur défi réside dans la gestion d’un portefeuille d’objectifs et de financements de plus en plus complexe. Le présent rapport examine les conditions nécessaires pour garantir la pérennité financière dans l’avenir, d’un point de vue national (politiques) et institutionnel (gestion). |
| Date: | 2007–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:7-en&r=edu |
| By: | John Schmitt; Ben Zipperer |
| Abstract: | This paper finds that the United States fares worse than Europe on a range of social and economic indicators, including most measures of poverty, health, education and crime. |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2006-17&r=edu |
| By: | Heather Boushey |
| Abstract: | Many Americans cannot afford the luxury of sitting down together for dinner. This report finds that parents with lower incomes and less education are more likely to work alternating schedules than richer and more educated families. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2006-20&r=edu |
| By: | Santiago Herrera; Gaobo Pang |
| Abstract: | Governments of developing countries typically spend between15 and 30 percent of GDP. Hence, small changes in the efficiency of public spending could have a major impact on GDP and on the attainment of the government’s objectives. The first challenge that stakeholders face is measuring efficiency. This paper attempts such quantification and has two major parts. The first one estimates efficiency as the distance between observed input-output combinations and an efficiency frontier (defined as the maximum attainable out put for a given level of inputs). This frontier is estimated for several health and education output indicators by means of the Free Disposable Hull (FDH) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques. Both input-inefficiency (excess input consumption to achieve a level of output) and output-inefficiency (output shortfall for a given level of inputs) are scored in a sample of 140 countries using data from 1975 to 2002. The second part of the paper seeks to verify empirical regularities of the cross-country variation in efficiency. Results show that countries with higher expenditure levels register lower efficiency scores, as well as countries where the wage bill is a larger share of the government’s budget. Similarly, countries with higher ratios of public to private financing of the service provision score lower efficiency, as do countries plagued by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and those with higher income inequality. Countries with higher aid-dependency ratios also tend to score lower in efficiency, probably due to the volatility of this type of funding that impedes medium term planning and budgeting. Though no causality may be inferred from this exercise, it points at different factors to understand why some countries might need more resources than others to achieve similar educational and health outcomes. |
| Date: | 2006–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001035:002900&r=edu |