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on Education |
| By: | Ivan Zilic (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies the causal effect of an educational reform implemented in Croatia in 1975/76 and 1977/78 on educational and labor market outcomes. High-school education was split into two phases which resulted in reduced tracking and extended general curriculum for pupils attending vocational training. Exploiting the rules on elementary school entry and timing of the reform, we use a regression discontinuity design and pooled Labor Force Surveys 2000–2012 to analyze the effect of the reform on educational attainment and labor market outcomes. We find that the reform, on average, reduced the probability of having university education, which we contribute to attaching professional context to once purely academic and general high-school programs. We also observe heterogeneity of the effects across gender, as for males we find that the probability of finishing high school decreased, while for the females we do not observe any adverse effects, only an increase in the probability of having some university education. We explain this heterogeneity with different selection into schooling for males and females. Reform did not positively affect individuals’ labor market perspectives; therefore, we conclude that the observed general-vocational wage differential is mainly driven by self-selection into the type of high school. |
| Keywords: | general education, vocational training, reform |
| JEL: | I21 J24 P20 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iez:wpaper:1608&r=edu |
| By: | Paulo Bastos; Julian Cristia (Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank, United States); Beomsoo Kim (Department of Economics, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea) |
| Abstract: | How much do schools differ in their effectiveness? Answering this question has been complicated by the selection of heterogeneous students into schools, which has made it difficult to distinguish between the influence of school inputs, student selection and peer effects. We exploit universal random assignment of students to high schools in certain areas of South Korea to provide clean estimates of the influence of school inputs. We find statistically significant differences across schools in the effects they have on scores in college entrance exams. However, school effects explain only 0.5% of the variation in learning outcomes in areas where students are randomized to schools. These results suggest that school inputs play a limited role in explaining variation in learning outcomes. |
| JEL: | D44 H75 I21 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iek:wpaper:1607&r=edu |
| By: | Brenøe, Anne Ardila (University of Copenhagen); Lundberg, Evelina (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the differential effects of family disadvantage on the education and adult labor market outcomes of men and women using high-quality administrative data on the entire population of Denmark born between 1966 and 1995. We link parental education and family structure during childhood to male-female and brother-sister differences in teenage outcomes, educational attainment, and adult earnings and employment. Our results are consistent with U.S. findings that boys benefit more from an advantageous family environment than do girls in terms of the behavior and grade-school outcomes. Father's education, which has not been examined in previous studies, is particularly important for sons. However, we find a very different pattern of parental influence on adult outcomes. The gender gaps in educational attainment, employment, and earnings are increasing in maternal education, benefiting daughters. Paternal education decreases the gender gaps in educational attainment (favoring sons) and labor market outcomes (favoring daughters). We conclude that differences in the behavior of school-aged boys and girls are a poor proxy for differences in skills that drive longer-term outcomes. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, parental education, family structure, education, labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | I20 J1 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10313&r=edu |
| By: | Franz Westermaier |
| Abstract: | In the 2000s, a major educational reform in Germany reduced the academic high school duration by one year while keeping constant the total number of instructional hours before graduation. The instructional hours from the eliminated school year shifted to lower grade levels, which increased the time younger students spend at school. This study explores the impact of the reform on youth crime rates and substance abuse using administrative police crime statistics, administrative student enrollment data, and a student drug survey. The staggered implementation of the reform in different Länder-age-groups allows for a difference-in-difference approach. I find that the reform resulted in a decline in crime rates, which is almost exclusively driven by a reduction in violent crime and illegal substance abuse. Regarding the latter, the rate of illegal cannabis consumption strongly declined; however, no significant effect is detected on cannabis dealers or the consumption of other illegal drugs. The survey evidence further suggests that decreased cannabis consumption was not driven by a shift of consumption into `school hours'. The results point to an `incapacitation' effect of schooling due to the increased instructional hours at lower grade levels. |
| Keywords: | illegal substance abuse, school reform, difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | I12 I28 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1616&r=edu |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia; Annalisa Loviglio |
| Abstract: | Student access to education levels, tracks or majors is usually determined by their previous performance, measured either by internal exams, designed and graded by teachers in school, or external exams, designed and graded by central authorities. We say teachers grade on a curve whenever having better peers harms the evaluation obtained by a given student. We use rich administrative records from public schools in Catalonia to provide evidence that teachers indeed grade on a curve, leading to negative peer effects. We find suggestive evidence that school choice is impacted only the year when internal grades matter for future prospects. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:940&r=edu |
| By: | Zelda Brutti (Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB)) |
| Abstract: | Looking at the decentralized provision of public education in a middle income country, this paper estimates the impact of local autonomy on service quality, finding large heterogeneity in the effect across different levels of local development. Colombian municipalities were assigned to administer their public education service autonomously solely on the basis of whether they exceeded the 100 thousand inhabitants threshold. Exploiting this discontinuity, I estimate the impact that autonomy has had on student test scores across municipalities, using a regression discontinuity design and fixed-effects regression on a discontinuity sample. I find a test score gap arising between autonomous municipalities in the top quartile and those in the bottom quartile of the development range, in a trend that reinforces over time. From analysis of detailed municipal balance sheet data, I show that the autonomous high-developed municipalities invest in education more than the ad hoc transfers they receive, supplementing these with own financial resources. Indicators of municipal administration quality also show significant differences between the two groups of cities, helping to explain the education outcome patterns. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, public education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I28 H41 H75 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2016-26&r=edu |
| By: | Burgess, Simon (University of Bristol); Metcalfe, Robert (University of Chicago); Sadoff, Sally (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of incentivizing students' effort during the school year on performance on high-stakes assessments in a field experiment with 63 low-income high schools and over 10,000 students. We contribute to the literature on education incentives by incentivising inputs rather than output, by focusing on high stakes outcomes, and by comparing financial and non-financial rewards. We take advantage of our large sample and rich data to explore heterogeneity in the effects of incentives, and identify a "right tail" of underperforming students who experience a significant impact on high stakes assessments. Among students in the upper half of the distribution of incentive effectiveness, exam scores improve by 10% to 20% of a standard deviation, equal to about half the attainment gap between poor and non-poor students. |
| Keywords: | test scores, pupil incentives, pupil behaviour |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10284&r=edu |
| By: | Animesh Giri (Cornerstone Research, Washington DC); Vinish Shrestha (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of increases in schools constructed during the late 1980s and early 1990s on educational outcomes in Nepal. We use a difference-in-differences framework by combining the across- district differences in the number of new schools with variation in exposure to these schools created by the virtue of individuals being of school-going-age. Our results indicate that an additional school constructed (per 1,000 kilometer square) increased the probability to read and write among females by 1.5 percentage points and increased the highest level of schooling attained by 0.12 units but did not affect basic literacy skills among males. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that on average the increase in the number of schools can explain about a fourth of the total differences in the reading and writing outcomes between the treated and control groups of women. These results underscore the continued importance of increasing access to schooling in developing countries like Nepal. |
| Keywords: | School construction, access to education, female education, female literacy. |
| JEL: | I2 O1 H52 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2016-18&r=edu |
| By: | Bredtmann, Julia (RWI); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate sibling correlations in educational outcomes, which serve as a broad measure of the importance of family and community background. Making use of rich longitudinal survey and register data for Denmark, our main aim is to identify the parental background characteristics that are able to explain the resemblance in educational outcomes among siblings. We find sibling correlations in educational outcomes in the range of 15 to 33 percent, suggesting that up to a third of the variation in educational achievement can be explained by family and community background. Our results further reveal that parents' socio-economic background can account for a large part of the sibling correlation. Other family characteristics such as family structure, the incidence of social problems, and parents' educational preferences also play a role, though these factors only contribute to explaining sibling similarities at lower levels of the educational distribution. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, sibling correlations, education |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10286&r=edu |
| By: | Hampf, Franziska (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | It has been argued that vocational education facilitates the school-to-work transition but reduces later adaptability to changing environments. Using the recent international PIAAC data, we confirm such a trade-off over the life-cycle in a difference-in-differences model that compares employment rates across education type and age. An initial employment advantage of individuals with vocational compared to general education turns into a disadvantage later in life. Results are strongest in apprenticeship countries that provide the highest intensity of industry-based vocational education. |
| Keywords: | vocational education, apprenticeship, employment, life-cycle, PIAAC |
| JEL: | J24 J64 I20 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10298&r=edu |
| By: | Julie Berry Cullen (University of California San Diego); Cory Koedel (University of Missouri); Eric Parsons (University of Missouri) |
| Abstract: | Improving public sector workforce quality is challenging in sectors such as education where worker productivity is difficult to assess and manager incentives are muted by political and bureaucratic constraints. In this paper, we study how providing information to principals about teacher effectiveness and encouraging them to use the information in personnel decisions affects the composition of teacher turnovers. Our setting is the Houston Independent School District, which recently implemented a rigorous teacher evaluation system. Prior to the new system teacher effectiveness was negatively correlated with district exit and we show that the policy significantly strengthened this relationship, primarily by increasing the relative likelihood of exit for teachers in the bottom quintile of the quality distribution. Low-performing teachers working in low-achieving schools were especially likely to leave. However, despite the success, the implied change to the quality of the workforce overall is too small to have a detectable impact on student achievement. |
| Keywords: | Teacher quality, teacher evaluation, teacher attrition, education workforce quality, public sector management |
| JEL: | I20 J45 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1614&r=edu |
| By: | Dominique Lemmermann; Regina T. Riphahn |
| Abstract: | We investigate the causal effect of age at migration on subsequent educational attainment in the destination country. To identify the causal effect we compare the educational attainment of siblings at age 21, exploiting the fact that they typically migrate at different ages within a given family. We consider several education outcomes conditional on family fixed effects. We take advantage of long running and detailed data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which entails an oversample of immigrants and provides information on language skills. We find significant effects of age at migration on educational attainment and a critical age of migration around age 6. The educational attainment of female immigrants responds more strongly to a high age at immigration than that of males. |
| Keywords: | immigration, education, integration, school attainment, Germany, causal estimation, family fixed effect |
| JEL: | I21 J61 C21 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:166_lemmermannriphahn&r=edu |
| By: | Johanna Lacoe |
| Abstract: | A safe environment is a prerequisite for productive learning. Using a unique panel data set of survey responses from New York City middle school students, the article provides insight into the relationship between feelings of safety in the classroom and academic achievement. |
| Keywords: | middle school, school safety, urban, social, violence, adolescent subjects |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:88ec34c3f227460fba1e5aea0c7449c3&r=edu |
| By: | Muralidharan, K.; Singh, A.; Ganimian, A. J. |
| Abstract: | Technology-aided instruction has the potential to sharply increase productivity in delivering education, but its promise has yet to be realized. This paper presents experimental evidence on the impact of a technology-aided after-school instruction program on secondary school learning outcomes in urban India. We report five main findings. First, students in this setting are several grade-levels behind their enrolled grade, and this gap grows with every grade. Second, the offer of the program led to large increases in student test scores of 0.36? in math and 0.22? in Hindi over a 4.5-month period, which represent a two-fold increase in math and a 2.5 times increase in Hindi test score value-added relative to non-participants. IV estimates suggest that attending the program for 90 days increases math and Hindi test scores by of 0.59? and 0.36? respectively. Third, absolute treatment effects are large and similar at all levels of baseline scores, but the relative gain is much greater for academically weaker students because their ?business as usual? rate of learning is close to zero. Fourth, we show that the program precisely targets instruction to students? preparation level, thus catering to wide variation within a single grade. Fifth, the program is highly cost-effective, both in terms of productivity per dollar and unit of time. Our results suggest that well-designed technology-aided instruction programs can sharply improve productivity in education by relaxing multiple constraints to effective teaching and learning. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:467377&r=edu |
| By: | Berthelon, Matias (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez); Kruger, Diana (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez); Vienne, Veronica (University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of longer school schedules on children's 2nd grade reading comprehension skills in Chile. In a setting where families choose schools, we identify the causal effect of longer schedules with instrumental variables, using the local availability of full-day schools as an instrument. We find that lower-income families are more likely to choose full-day schools, and after controlling for selection, longer school schedules lead to an increase of 0.14 standard deviations in reading comprehension. Effects are heterogeneous, with greater benefits among children attending public (municipal) and urban schools, and among girls. We also find that the benefits of longer school days accumulate over time. |
| Keywords: | reading comprehension skills, full-day schooling, school schedules, SIMCE, Chile |
| JEL: | I21 I28 I26 H43 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10282&r=edu |
| By: | Ann Person |
| Abstract: | Competency-based education (CBE) has ignited a great deal of public interest in recent years because it allows students to learn and progress at a flexible pace and holds promise for filling workforce skills gaps. What makes it different? |
| Keywords: | competency, based, education, in, focus |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:1e0e7b2451354ff9a9e2afa78f862e44&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Jeffrey Max; Philip Gleason; Matthew Johnson; Jonah Deutsch; Michael Hansen |
| Abstract: | This report examines whether low-income students are taught by less effective teachers than high-income students, and if so, whether reducing this inequity would close the student achievement gap. It also describes how the hiring of teachers and their subsequent movement into and out of schools could affect low-income students’ access to effective teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, achievement gap, access to effective teachers, teacher hiring, teacher mobility, teacher attrition |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:ce9ae6b49ff34e388113f31ca621bfa8&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin; Rachel Upton |
| Abstract: | This report summarizes findings from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of Race to the Top (RTT) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the policies and practices states reported using in spring 2013 and examines the relationship between RTT and student achievement. |
| Keywords: | RTT, Race to the Top, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:4169441544e144b08777d967ea983893&r=edu |
| By: | Clark, Damon (University of California, Irvine); Gill, David (Purdue University); Prowse, Victoria L. (Purdue University); Rush, Mark (University of Florida) |
| Abstract: | Will college students who set goals for themselves work harder and perform better? In theory, setting goals can help time-inconsistent students to mitigate their self-control problem. In practice, there is little credible evidence on the causal effects of goal setting for college students. We report the results of two field experiments that involved almost four thousand college students in total. One experiment asked treated students to set goals for performance in the course; the other asked treated students to set goals for a particular task (completing online practice exams). We find that performance-based goals had no discernible impact on course performance. In contrast, task-based goals had large and robust positive effects on the level of task completion, and task-based goals also increased course performance. Further empirical analysis indicates that the increase in task completion induced by setting task-based goals caused the increase in course performance. We also find that task-based goals were more effective for male students. We develop new theory that reinforces our empirical results by suggesting two key reasons why task-based goals might be more effective than performance-based goals: overconfidence and uncertainty about performance. Since task-based goal setting is low-cost, scaleable and logistically simple, we conclude that our findings have important implications for educational practice and future research. |
| Keywords: | goal, goal setting, higher education, field experiment, self-control, present bias, time inconsistency, commitment device, loss aversion, reference point, task-based goal, performance-based goal, self-set goal, performance uncertainty, overconfidence, student effort, student performance, educational attainment, MOOC |
| JEL: | I23 C93 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10283&r=edu |
| By: | Chris Ryan (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | While reading to children affects the development of their own early reading skills, the set of numeracy activities studied here and undertaken by Australian parents with children before they start school had no impact on their Year 4 achievement in mathematics. It is possible that other, unmeasured parental activities affect the early numeracy skills of children, but just what these activities might be is unclear from the available literature. Activities undertaken prior to starting school other than reading to children also appear to contribute little to the early reading skills of children. Broader measures of activities, better measurement and study design are necessary to make progress in understanding how the home learning environment affects early child learning. |
| Keywords: | Child development, numeracy, parental investments, achievement |
| JEL: | I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2016n34&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Jeffrey Max; Philip Gleason; Matthew Johnson; Jonah Deutsch; Michael Hansen |
| Abstract: | This snapshot examines whether low-income students are taught by less effective teachers than high-income students, and if so, whether reducing this inequity would close the student achievement gap. It also describes how the hiring of teachers and their subsequent movement into and out of schools could affect low-income students’ access to effective teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, achievement gap, access to effective teachers, teacher hiring, teacher mobility, teacher attrition |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:11959fb30e464bce8e2401905768ac6f&r=edu |
| By: | Michael Insler (United States Naval Academy); Jimmy Karam (United States Naval Academy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the infl uence of intercollegiate athletic participation on grades using data from the U.S. Naval Academy. Athletic participation is an endogenous decision with respect to educational outcomes. To identify a causal effect, we develop an instrument via the Academy's random assignment of students into peer groups. Instrumental variables estimates reveal that sports participation reduces athletes' grades, on average, by nearly one-quarter of a letter grade. This finding has implications beyond college, as we also show that grades--not athletic participation--are most strongly associated with post-collegiate outcomes such as military tenure and promotion rates. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usn:usnawp:50&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin; Rachel Upton |
| Abstract: | This brief summarizes findings from a new report from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of Race to the Top (RTT) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the policies and practices states reported using in spring 2013 and examines the relationship between RTT and student achievement. |
| Keywords: | RTT, Race to the Top, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:8cbff851778f477899b6763c38fce3d3&r=edu |
| By: | Borisov, Gleb V. (St. Petersburg State University); Pissarides, Christopher A. (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We make use of longitudinal data for the Russian economy over 1994-2013 to obtain earnings and education information about parents and children. We estimate the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment and earning capacity and find high intergenerational correlation of earnings for both sons and daughters independently of educational qualifications. We attribute them to the impact of informal networks. We also find high correlation of educational qualifications but with critical variations due to labour market conditions. At the time of transition around 1990 children's educational attainment fell well below parents but recovered a decade later when the economy was booming. |
| Keywords: | human capital, intergenerational education mobility, intergenerational earnings elasticity, Russia |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 J62 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10300&r=edu |
| By: | Eric Isenberg; Jeffrey Max; Philip Gleason; Matthew Johnson; Jonah Deutsch; Michael Hansen |
| Abstract: | This executive summary examines whether low-income students are taught by less effective teachers than high-income students, and if so, whether reducing this inequity would close the student achievement gap. It also describes how the hiring of teachers and their subsequent movement into and out of schools could affect low-income students’ access to effective teachers. |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, achievement gap, access to effective teachers, teacher hiring, teacher mobility, teacher attrition |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:e72d7867b978403b8ea456f095fee286&r=edu |
| By: | Nora Lustig (Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Economics, Tulane University.) |
| Abstract: | Here, I examine the level, redistributive impact and pro-poorness of government spending on education and health for thirteen developing countries from the Commitment to Equity project. Social spending as a share of total income is high by historical standards, and it rises with income per capita and income inequality. Spending on education and health lowers inequality and its marginal contribution to the overall decline in inequality is, on average, 69 percent. There appears to be no “Robin Hood Paradox:” redistribution increases with income inequality, even if one controls for per capita income. Concentration coefficients indicate that spending on pre-school, primary and secondary education is pro-poor in twelve countries. Spending on tertiary education is regressive and unequalizing in three countries, and progressive and equalizing (but not pro-poor) in ten. Health spending is pro-poor in five countries. Of the remaining eight, health spending per capita is roughly equal across the income distribution in three, and progressive and equalizing (but not pro-poor) in five. |
| Keywords: | fiscal incidence, social spending, inequality, developing countries |
| JEL: | H22 D31 I3 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:ceqwps:1330&r=edu |
| By: | Stacey H. Chen (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies); Yen-Chien Chen (National Chi-Nan University, Taiwan); Jin-Tan Liu (National Taiwan University and NBER) |
| Abstract: | Parents preferring sons tend to go on to have more children until a boy is born, and to concentrate investment in boys for a given number of children (sibsize). Thus, having a brother may affect child education in two ways: an indirect effect by keeping sibsize lower and a direct rivalry effect where sibsize remains constant. We estimate the direct and indirect effects of a next brother on the first child fs education conditional on potential sibsize. We address endogenous sibsize using twins. We find new evidence of sibling rivalry and gender bias that cannot be detected by conventional methods. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:16-20&r=edu |