|
on Education |
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Issue of 2016‒12‒18
twenty-six papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Barrow, Lisa (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago); Sartain , Lauren (University of Chicago); de la Torre, Marisa (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether elite Chicago public high schools can help close the achievement gap between high-achieving students from more and less affluent neighborhoods. Seats are allocated based on prior achievement with 70 percent reserved for high-achieving applicants from four neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) categories. Using regression discontinuity design, we find no effect on test scores or college attendance for students from high- or low-SES neighborhoods and positive effects on student reports of their experiences. For students from low-SES neighborhoods, we estimate significant negative effects on rank in high school, grades and the probability of attending a selective college. |
| Keywords: | Educational equalization; high school; low-income; regression analysis; universities and colleges admission |
| JEL: | I22 I24 |
| Date: | 2016–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2016-17&r=edu |
| By: | Karthik Muralidharan; Abhijeet Singh; Alejandro J. Ganimian |
| Abstract: | We present experimental evidence on the impact of a technology-aided after-school instruction program on learning outcomes in middle school grades in urban India, using a lottery that provided students with a voucher to cover program costs. A key feature of the program was its ability to individually customize educational content to match the level and rate of progress of each student. We find that lottery winners had large increases in test scores of 0.36σ in math and 0.22σ in Hindi over just a 4.5-month period. IV estimates suggest that attending the program for 90 days would increase math and Hindi test scores by 0.59σ and 0.36σ respectively. We find similar absolute test score gains for all students, but the relative gain was much greater for academically-weaker students because their rate of learning in the control group was close to zero. We show that the program precisely targets instruction to students' preparation level, thus catering effectively to the very wide variation in student learning levels within a single grade. The program was 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 delivering education. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22923&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut); Zhentao Shi (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | Studies that can distinguish between exogenous and endogenous peer effects of social interactions are relatively rare. One recent identification strategy exploits partial overlapping groups of peers. If a student has two groups of separated peers, the peer choices are correlated through that specific student's choice, but one group's attributes are assumed to directly influence neither the other peer group's attributes nor the choices. In the context of academic performance in higher education, however, the evidence of peer effects on academic outcomes has been mixed, creating a potential for weak instruments. We utilize a period of transition when students were being reassigned to dormitories from a new campus to an old campus. Many groups of roommates were broken up at the end of freshman year, and then combined with other groups of students from the same school in the sophomore year. We find reduced-form evidence that information about a student's previous year roommates can explain the current test scores of their new roommates. However, due to weak instruments, the estimated endogenous effects appear unreasonably large. We draw on weak-IV robust tests, namely the Anderson-Rubin-type S-test (Stock and Wright, 2000) and Kleibergen's Lagrangian multiplier test (Kleibergen, 2005), to provide properly-sized tests for the endogenous effects between the test scores of current roommates and to calculate lower bounds of such effects. These tests strongly reject the null hypothesis of no endogenous effects. |
| Keywords: | academic performance, hypothesis testing, endogenous peer effects, random assignment, weak instruments |
| JEL: | C26 C51 I23 J00 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2016-033&r=edu |
| By: | Andrew Bibler (Institute of Social and Economic Reesarch, Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage) |
| Abstract: | Dual language classrooms provide English Language Learners (ELLs) an opportunity to receive instruction in their native language as they transition to English ?uency. This might allow ELLs to build a stronger foundation in core subjects and lead to better academic outcomes. Dual language education has also grown substantially in popularity among English speaking families across the U.S., as it presents an option to learn content in, and presumably become ?uent in, a second language. Despite the spike in practice, there is little causal evidence on what e?ect attending a dual language school has on student achievement. I examine dual language education and student achievement using school choice lotteries from Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, ?nding local average treatment e?ects on math and reading exam scores of more than 0.06 standard deviations per year for participants who were eligible for English second language (ESL) services or designated limited English pro?cient (LEP). There is also some evidence that attending a dual language school led to a lower probability of having limited English pro?cient status starting in third grade. For applicants who were not eligible for ESL services or designated as LEP, attending a dual language school has resulted in higher end of grade exam scores of about 0.09 and 0.05 standard deviations per year in math and reading, respectively. |
| Keywords: | education |
| JEL: | I21 D00 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ala:wpaper:2016-02&r=edu |
| By: | Debora Di Gioacchino; Laura Sabani; Simone Tedeschi |
| Abstract: | The design of the educational system affects the degree of students’ equality of opportunities and the intergenerational social mobility. The topic is therefore of paramount importance. In this paper, we document differences in educational systems among OECD countries and argue that the system observed in a country is the result of a complex interaction between preferences for education and political competition. To analyse individual preferences over education funding, we build a model that allows us to study the effects of public funding on the welfare of agents, which are heterogeneous in terms of income and human capital. The model takes into account the hierarchical nature of the educational system and emphasises the role played by family background. Our theoretical results might help to explain why some OECD countries seem to remain stuck in “low education†traps. |
| Keywords: | basic and tertiary education, equality of opportunity, individual preferences, parental education, political economy. |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp177&r=edu |
| By: | Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut); Zhentao Shi (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | Studies that can distinguish between exogenous and endogenous peer effects of social interactions are relatively rare. One recent identification strategy exploits partial overlapping groups of peers. If a student has two groups of separated peers, the peer choices are correlated through that specific student's choice, but one group's attributes are assumed to directly influence neither the other peer group's attributes nor the choices. In the context of academic performance in higher education, however, the evidence of peer effects on academic outcomes has been mixed, creating a potential for weak instruments. We utilize a period of transition when students were being reassigned to dormitories from a new campus to an old campus. Many groups of roommates were broken up at the end of freshman year, and then combined with other groups of students from the same school in the sophomore year. We find reduced-form evidence that information about a student's previous year roommates can explain the current test scores of their new roommates. However, due to weak instruments, the estimated endogenous effects appear unreasonably large. We draw on weak-IV robust tests, namely the Anderson-Rubin-type S-test (Stock and Wright, 2000) and Kleibergen's Lagrangian multiplier test (Kleibergen, 2005), to provide properly-sized tests for the endogenous effects between the test scores of current roommates and to calculate lower bounds of such effects. These tests strongly reject the null hypothesis of no endogenous effects. JEL Classification: C26, C51, I23, J00 Key words: academic performance, hypothesis testing, endogenous peer effects, random assignment, weak instruments |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2016-37&r=edu |
| By: | Anton-Erxleben, Katharina; Kibriya, Shahriar; Zhang, Yu |
| Abstract: | Worldwide, at least 20% of students are regularly bullied in school. Research from developed countries has associated bullying with several negative outcomes, but little is known about the relationship between bullying and academic achievement, especially in developing countries. Here, data from three African countries participating in the 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Sciences Study and Progress in Reading and Literacy Study were analyzed, including 36,602 participants aged 12 to 16. Results show that bullying is pervasive in all three countries, is one of the root causes of low academic performance, and is more influential than other variables commonly associated with low achievement. This indicates that school violence must become a priority for international development and country level efforts in education. |
| Keywords: | School bullying, academic achievement, Africa |
| JEL: | I12 I20 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75555&r=edu |
| By: | Mellander, Erik (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Register data are described, in general terms and in specific terms, focusing on informational content from an educational science perspective. Arguments are provided for why educational scientists can benefit from register data. It is concluded that register data contain lots of information relevant for educational science. Furthermore, two specific features of register data are considered: their panel data nature, implying that register data analyses under certain conditions can account for aspects on which the registers are not informative, and that they contain intergenerational links, facilitating the separation of genetic and environmental influences on learning. It is observed that while register data do not contain direct links between students and teachers this shortcoming can be overcome by merging register data with survey data on these links. Being population data, register data enable analyses which are not feasible to conduct by means of survey data. An illustration is provided of how quantitative and qualitative researchers can benefit from combining register-based statistical analyses with in-depth case studies. The use of register data in evaluations of causal effects of educational interventions is also described. To facilitate the exploitation of the aforementioned advantages, a discussion of how to get access to register data is included. |
| Keywords: | register data; Nordic; panel data; intergenerational links; ethical review; combining quantitative and qualitative methods; causal effect valuations |
| JEL: | C81 H43 H52 I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2016–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_022&r=edu |
| By: | Rosangela Bando; Francisco Gallego; Paul Gertler; Dario Romero |
| Abstract: | Information and communication technologies, such as laptops, can be used for educational purposes as they provide users with computational tools, information storage and communication opportunities, but these devices may also pose as distractors that may tamper with the learning process. This paper presents results from a randomized controlled trial in which laptops replaced traditional textbook provision in elementary schools in high poverty communities in Honduras in 2013 through the program Educatracho. We show that at the end of one school year, the substitution of laptops for textbooks did not make a significant difference in student learning. We additionally conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis, which demonstrated that given the low marginal costs of digital textbook provision, the substitution of three additional textbooks in the program (for a total of five) would guarantee computers to be more cost-effective than textbooks. Therefore, textbook substitution by laptops may be a cost-effective manner to provide classroom learning content. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22928&r=edu |
| By: | Amy Ellen Schwartz (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Agustina Laurito (New York University); Johanna Lacoe (Mathematica Policy Research); Patrick Sharkey (New York University); Ingrid Gould Ellen (New York University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of repeated exposure to violent crime on test scores in New York City. We use two distinct empirical strategies; value-added models linking student performance on standardized exams to violent crimes on a student’s residential block, and a regression discontinuity approach that identifies the acute effect of an additional crime exposure within a one-week window. Exposure to violent crime reduces academic performance. Value added models suggest the average effect is very small; approximately -0.01 standard deviations in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. RD models suggest a larger effect, particularly among children previously exposed. The marginal acute effect is as large as -0.04 standard deviations for students with two or more prior exposures. Among these, it is even larger for black students, almost a 10th of a standard deviation. We provide credible causal evidence that repeated exposure to neighborhood violence harms test scores, and this negative effect increases with exposure. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood Effects; Crime; Academic Performance; Racial Disparities; Educational Outcomes |
| JEL: | I20 I21 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:195&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, has become the world’s premier yardstick for evaluating the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems. This special issue of the PISA in Focus series highlights the results of the first two volumes of the PISA 2015 initial report: Excellence and Equity in Education; and Policies and Practices for Successful Schools. |
| Date: | 2016–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:67-en&r=edu |
| By: | Daniel Kemptner; Songül Tolan |
| Abstract: | We analyze the implication of time-inconsistent preferences in educational decision making and corresponding policies using a structural dynamic choice model. Based on a novel identification approach, we exploit variation in average years invested in degree attainment through various educational reforms to identify the discount factor of hyperbolic time preferences. We make two important research contributions. First, we estimate our model using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (soep) and provide quantitative evidence for time-inconsistent behavior in educational decision making. Second, we evaluate the relevance of time-inconsistent behavior for the effectiveness of education policies. For this purpose, we simulate policies where time preferences may play an important role: (1) an increase in the state grant for students as a way to affect short-term costs while at school and (2) an increase in the state grant as a loan that must be paid back after education is completed. We find substantial differences in the educational outcomes when comparing them to the outcomes based on a model specification with exponential discounting. Hence, the common assumption of exponential discounting in educational decisions may be too restrictive. |
| Keywords: | Time preferences, hyperbolic discounting, structural estimation, dynamic discrete choice, education |
| JEL: | C61 D91 I21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1628&r=edu |
| By: | Ashwini Deshpande (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics); Rajesh Ramachandran (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Goethe University, Frankfurt) |
| Abstract: | How persistent are traditional socioeconomic hierarchies in the face of marketization, significant structural shifts in the economy, and increased political representation of lower-ranked groups, and do preferential policies have a role in addressing these inequities among social groups? We answer these questions in the context of India by comparing successive age cohorts of three broad social groups - Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC-STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and "Others" (proxy for upper castes) - and provide the first disaggregated picture of the evolution of inter-caste disparities since Indian independence in 1947. Based on data from the National Sample Survey (NSS), our results show convergence in terms of literacy and primary education. However, in terms of access to higher education, white-collar jobs, average household expenditure and daily wages, we find evidence of divergence over time. As the NSS does not directly contain data on beneficiaries of affirmative action, we implement an identification strategy that exploits the fact that access to preferential policies are jointly determined by both the age and the social group of the individual. The first- and second-order effects of affirmative action show that extending job quotas to OBCs in 1993 had direct positive effects on access to government jobs, as well as indirect effects on secondary school attainment. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action, quotas, caste, India, education, occupation |
| JEL: | I24 O15 J45 J78 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:267&r=edu |
| By: | Mikal Davis; Nick Ingwersen; Harounan Kazianga; Leigh Linden; Arif Mamun; Ali Protik; Matt Sloan |
| Abstract: | This report presents details on the evaluation design of the BRIGHT program and impact findings from the evaluation 10 years after the program's launch. |
| Keywords: | Burkina Faso, BRIGHT Program, International |
| JEL: | F Z |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:2ecdd42bb503422b802ce20da2bf64b7&r=edu |
| By: | Glewwe, Paul; Huang, Qiuqiong; Park, Albert |
| Abstract: | Economists have long recognized the important role of formal schooling and cognitive skills on labor market participation and wages. More recently, increasing attention has turned to the role of personality traits, or noncognitive skills. This study is among the first to examine how both cognitive and noncognitive skills measured in childhood predict educational attainment and early labor market outcomes in a developing country setting. Analyzing longitudinal data on rural children from one of China's poorest provinces, we find that both cognitive and noncognitive skills, measured when children are 9-12, 13-16, and 17-21 years old, are important predictors of whether they remain in school or enter the work force at age 17-21. The predictive power of specific skill variables differ between boys and girls. Conditioning on years of schooling, there is no strong evidence that skills measured in childhood predict wages in the early years of labor market participation. |
| Keywords: | China; cognitive; noncognitive; schooling; skills |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11705&r=edu |
| By: | Bütikofer, Aline (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Mølland, Eirin (Agderforskning); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | While a growing literature documents the short-term effects of public programs providing children with nutritious food, there is scarce evidence of the long-term effects of such programs. This paper studies the long-term consequences of access to nutritious food using the rollout of a free school breakfast program in Norwegian cities. This program provided children with nutritious food and replaced a hot school meal at the end of the day with similar caloric value but less micronutrients. Our results indicate that access to a nutritious school breakfast increases education by 0.1 years and earnings by 2-4 percent. |
| Keywords: | Nutritious School breakfast; education; malnutrition; health |
| JEL: | I38 |
| Date: | 2016–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2016_015&r=edu |
| By: | Danilo Paula de Souza; Mauro Rodrigues Junior |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the role of education quality in the convergence process of GDP per capita through teachers quality impact in human capital formation. The simple two-period OLG model suggests initial level of teacher's human capital is important to explain non-convergence, even when education quality return is decreasing. This non-convergence arises because an initially low level of teachers' human capital translates into a low level of human capital transferred to students, which means a low level of teachers' human capital in the next period, and so on. It is also shown an education quantity-quality trade-off, despite all dynamics coming from quality evolution. This trade-off helps to explain why developing countries did not reached high GDP levels, despite recent evolution of average years of schooling in these countries. The paper, therefore, provides an alternative explanation for why countries income does not converge, even when differences in other inputs, such as capital stock, are not accounted for. |
| Keywords: | human capital; education quality; economic growth |
| JEL: | O40 J24 I25 |
| Date: | 2016–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2016wpecon24&r=edu |
| By: | Raj Chetty; David Grusky; Maximilian Hell; Nathaniel Hendren; Robert Manduca; Jimmy Narang |
| Abstract: | We estimate rates of “absolute income mobility” – the fraction of children who earn more than their parents – by combining historical data from Census and CPS cross-sections with panel data for recent birth cohorts from de-identified tax records. Our approach overcomes the key data limitation that has hampered research on trends in intergenerational mobility: the lack of large panel datasets linking parents and children. We find that rates of absolute mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s. The result that absolute mobility has fallen sharply over the past half century is robust to the choice of price deflator, the definition of income, and accounting for taxes and transfers. In counterfactual simulations, we find that increasing GDP growth rates alone cannot restore absolute mobility to the rates experienced by children born in the 1940s. In contrast, changing the distribution of growth across income groups to the more equal distribution experienced by the 1940 birth cohort would reverse more than 70% of the decline in mobility. These results imply that reviving the “American Dream” of high rates of absolute mobility would require economic growth that is spread more broadly across the income distribution. |
| JEL: | H0 J0 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22910&r=edu |
| By: | Gilat Levy; Ronny Razin |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the coevolution of segregation into private and state schools, beliefs about the educational merits of di¤erent schools, and labour market discrimination. In a dynamic model, we characterize a necessary and sufficient condition on initial levels of segregation and beliefs under which full polarisation of beliefs and long run labour market discrimination are sustainable. The model suggests a new perspective on the long term e¤ects of different policy interventions, such as integration, school vouchers and policies that are directly targeted towards influencing beliefs. |
| JEL: | D0 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:68532&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua C. Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Alex Peck (Webster-Schroeder High School); Marta Podemska-Mikluch (Gustavus Adolphus College, Department of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | In this brief educational note, we provide several examples of directed classroom activities for the high school economics classroom using the long-running television show The Simpsons. In doing so, we provide an overview of the scholarly literature on using popular culture to teach economics. Our examples highlight how popular culture can be successfully employed at the secondary level to engage and teach students through active learning. We conclude with some thoughts for secondary social studies teachers looking to enhance economic instruction. |
| Keywords: | Economic Pedagogy, Student Engagement Techniques |
| JEL: | A22 D01 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:16-19&r=edu |
| By: | Jaime Alonso-Carrera; Jordi Caballé; Xavier Raurich |
| Abstract: | We analyze the determinants of occupational and educational decisions in a model of dynastic altruism where individuals invest in the education of their children. We show that the relevant wage gaps that drive these two decisions are associated with the expected skill premium and the expected premium that each skill class faces when choosing a more effort-demanding occupation. As the occupational and educational decisions determine the relative frequency of high wages, we analyze how these wage gaps affect the frequency of high wages within each skilled class. We show that the results from this analysis are consistent with empirical evidence based on cross-country data for several European economies. |
| Keywords: | wages; skills; occupational decision; education |
| JEL: | I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:945&r=edu |
| By: | Pedro H. Leivas; Anderson M.A. dos Santos |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyse the patterns and trends of group-based inequalities in Brazil in the past 30 years. Using data from the last four demographic censuses (1980, 1991, 2000, and 2010), we estimate numerous measures to analyse inequalities between different ‘ethnic’ groups. Our results show that the trend toward greater equality in Brazil shown in other analyses of vertical inequality is also found in terms of horizontal inequalities along racial, gender, and regional lines between 1980 and 2010. Nevertheless, horizontal inequalities in terms of race and gender in particular remain pronounced; as shown using various measures, race is highly correlated with income and education. We show that municipalities with low ethnic diversity and low income and education inequality tend to be located in the South region. In regression analysis, we note that ethnic diversity negatively affects the institutional quality of Brazilian municipalities. |
| Keywords: | Brazil, group-based inequality, ethnic diversity, institutional quality, spatial econometrics, vertical inequality |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2016-127&r=edu |
| By: | Ekaterina A. Orel (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Alena A. Kulikova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent research indicates that behavioral problems may lead to low academic performance. The present study is aimed to discover, what differences exist between primary school students who meet a sufficient number of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) criteria and those who do not experience any behavioral problems, in terms of academic achievements in reading and mathematics, annual progress in these subjects and personal, social and emotional development, based on the Russian sample of first-graders. This paper is a part of Russian iPIPS project and the instruments developed as part of this study were used. The sample consists of 3021 first-graders from two big regions of the Russian Federation. The results showed significant differences in both cognitive and social-emotional development but no differences in annual progress. The absence of differences in progress means that the development of children with behavior problems within the school system goes with the same speed but from the lower start level compared to other children. The results of the study provide important knowledge for the teachers and open a large area of further investigations in the field of ADHD in Russian school settings |
| Keywords: | behavioral problems, ADHD, first-graders, primary school, iPIPS, cognitive development, social and emotional development |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:66psy2016&r=edu |
| By: | Emily Chamlee-Wright (Washington College); Joshua C. Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Laura E. Grube (Beloit College, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we describe the Miller Upton Programs, launched by the Department of Economics at Beloit College in 2008. The Miller Upton Programs aim to advance student understanding of the nature and causes of wealth and well-being. After describing core elements of the program, we discuss the ways in which they leverage economic discourse as a means to advance liberal learning. We argue that programs of this kind advance liberal learning by cultivating the skills required to engage the great questions of human flourishing, by fostering the development of a students’ economic imagination, and by enhancing students’ ability to engage in genuine intellectual discovery. So that readers can identify specific elements of the program that may be appropriate to replicate at their home institutions, we provide details on the history and resource commitments associated with various aspects of the program. |
| Keywords: | economic education, pedagogy, liberal education |
| JEL: | A22 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:16-18&r=edu |
| By: | Hong Son Nghiem (Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology); Ha Trong Nguyen (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin University); Luke B Connelly (Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the efficiency of schools in Australia and its determinants using the gain in NAPLAN test scores of students in 6,774 schools in 2009-2011. The results show that, based on empirical input-output combinations, the growth of NAPLAN test scores in Australian schools could be improved by 64 per cent by learning from best practice, on average. At the primary level, Catholic and independent schools are less efficient than public schools. At the secondary school level, though, public schools are found to be less efficient than other (non-public) schools. |
| Keywords: | DEA, Australia, double bootstrap, gain of test scores |
| JEL: | I21 D24 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ozl:bcecwp:wp1603&r=edu |
| By: | Jonathan Heathcote (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis); Zhifeng Cai (The University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | We develop a quantitative model to explore the impact of rising income inequality on college tuition. The framework is one in which households value college quality, and where quality reflects both resources devoted to tuition and the average ability of the student body. Thus colleges are ``club goods'' where students are both inputs to production and consumers of output. Assuming a competitive, profit-maximizing environment, we show that observed changes in household income inequality can account for (i) the observed rise in average tuition, (ii) the rise in tuition dispersion across colleges, (iii) the rise in tuition dispersion within colleges, and (iv) the observed stagnation in aggregate college attendance. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1623&r=edu |