|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2017‒02‒05
thirty-two papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Dana Rotz; Brian Goesling; Molly Crofton; Jennifer Manlove; Kate Welti |
| Abstract: | This report presents final impact findings from a large-scale demonstration project and evaluation of the Teen Prevention Education Program (Teen PEP), an in-school, peer-to-peer sexual health promotion program that aims to reduce sexual risk behaviors and associated outcomes among high school students. |
| Keywords: | Sex education, adolescent health, peer-led, school-wide, teen pregnancy, unprotected sex, HIV, STIs, teens, contraceptives, abstinence |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:40fc2bb74d874e59a8e42463814a781e&r=edu |
| By: | Andrew Eyles; Stephen Machin; Sandra McNally |
| Abstract: | The change of government in 2010 provoked a large structural change in the English education landscape. Unexpectedly, the new government offered primary schools the chance to have ‘the freedom and the power to take control of their own destiny’, with better performing schools given a green light to convert to become an academy school on a fast track. In England, schools that become academies have more freedom over many ways in which they operate, including the curriculum, staff pay, the length of the school day and the shape of the academic year. However, the change to allow primary school academisation has been controversial. In this paper, we study the effect for the first primary schools that became academies. While the international literature provides growing evidence on the effects of school autonomy in a variety of contexts, little is known about the effects of autonomy on primary schools (which are typically much smaller than secondary schools) and in contexts where the school is not deemed to be failing or disadvantaged. The key finding is that schools did change their modes of operation after the exogenous policy change, but at the primary phase of schooling, academisation did not lead to improved pupil performance. |
| Keywords: | academies; pupil performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:69027&r=edu |
| By: | Torun, Huzeyfe (Central Bank of Turkey); Tumen, Semih (Central Bank of Turkey) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of vocational high school (VHS) education on employment likeli-hood relative to general high school (GHS) education in Turkey using census data. To address non-random selection into high school types, we collect construction dates of the VHSs at the town-level and use VHS availability in the town by age 13 as an instrumental variable. The first-stage estimates suggest that the availability of VHS does not affect the overall high school graduation rates, but gener-ates a substitution from GHS to VHS. The OLS estimates yield the result that the individuals with a VHS degree are around 5 percentage points more likely to be employed compared to those with a GHS de-gree. When we use the availability of VHS as an instrumental variable, we still find positive and statisti-cally significant effect of VHS degree on employment likelihood relative to GHS degree. However, once we include town-specific socio-economic variables to control for education, employment, and business activity levels in the town, the IV estimates get much smaller and become statistically insignificant. We conclude that although the VHS construction generates a substitution from GHS to VHS education, this substitution is not transformed into increased employment rates in a statistically significant way. We also argue that location-specific controls improve the reliability of the school construction/proximity instruments. |
| Keywords: | vocational education, employment, school construction, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | C26 I21 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10507&r=edu |
| By: | Hiep-Hung Pham; Kelly Farrell; Huyen-Minh Vu; Quan-Hoang Vuong; Nancy K. Napier |
| Abstract: | In today’s global higher education environment, international students represent not only an important source of external income for universities: the degree of cross-border student mobility also reflects the internationalization of higher education sector. Universities have engaged in efforts to sell themselves to prospective students and promotional videos are among the most widely used marketing tools for this purpose. This article reports the results of a study analyzing the content of 140 higher education promotional videos from 14 countries available on YouTube. The results reveal that while the pattern of use of YouTube for two-way communication with viewers, information contents and appeal messages among sampled universities is fairly homogenous, some marked differences emerge when cultural background and global position ranking of the university are taken into account. The implications of these findings are that, although transnational higher education has been profoundly globalized, culture still plays a significant role in marketing practice for the recruitment of mobile students. In addition, different universities have various student-targeted segments. These findings provide the basis of a series of recommendations for universities looking to optimize their use of YouTube and promotional video design to market to international students. |
| Keywords: | international student; promote; YouTube; content analysis; cross-culture; ranking |
| JEL: | A29 I21 P46 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/245595&r=edu |
| By: | Magali Jaoul-Grammare; Charlotte Le Chapelain |
| Abstract: | Building on the results of the Guizot Inquiry, carried out in autumn 1833 on the initiative of François Guizot, the minister of public instruction, this article examines the process of human capital accumulation in early nineteenth-century France. We rely on an original proxy for human capital – student achievement – to highlight the high level of heterogeneity in human capital accumulation in this period. We identify two types of schools in the French educational landscape: first, large schools, well-endowed in human and material resources, which contributed a great deal to human capital accumulation; second, small schools, characterised by some degree of amateurism and improvisation, which weakly contributed to human capital formation. We note that the use of literacy rates or school enrollment rates can be misleading with regard to the estimation of French human capital endowments, laying emphasis instead on the heterogeneity in the French educational landscape at the dawn of the nineteenth century, as the country embarked on the process of industrialisation. |
| Keywords: | Guizot Inquiry, Human Capital Accumulation, France, Nineteenth Century. |
| JEL: | C10 I21 N33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2017-01&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Rachel Upton; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin |
| Abstract: | This report summarizes findings from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of School Improvement Grants (SIG) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the practices schools used and examines the impact of SIG on student achievement. |
| Keywords: | SIG, School Improvement Grants, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:76bce3f4bb0944f29a481fae0dbc7cdb&r=edu |
| By: | Avitabile, Ciro (University of Surrey); Bobba, Matteo (Toulouse School of Economics); Pariguana, Marco (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | We study how a large household windfall affects sorting of relatively disadvantaged youth over high school tracks by exploiting the discontinuity in the assignment of a welfare program in Mexico. The in-cash transfer is found to significantly increase the probability of selecting vocational schools as the most preferred options vis-a-vis other more academically oriented education modalities. We find support for the hypothesis that the transfer relaxes the liquidity constraints preventing relatively poor students from choosing a schooling career with higher out-of-pocket expenditures and higher expected returns. The observed change in stated preferences across tracks effectively alters school placement, and bears a positive effect on on-time graduation. |
| Keywords: | school choice, tracking, financial constraints, vocational education, returns to education, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10506&r=edu |
| By: | Nicolas Grau; Daniel Hojman; Alejandra Mizala |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of school closure in the Chilean market-oriented educational system. Between 2000 and 2012 the system exhibited a large turnover: 1,651 schools closed -roughly one-sixth of the current stock- and 3,029 new schools entered, mostly private-voucher schools. We use a large panel of administrative data, which con- tains individual students’ academic achievement and socio-demographic characteristics, to estimate some of the potential educational costs of this dynamics. We identify a causal effect of school closures on school dropouts and grade retention. School closure increases the probability of high-school dropout between 46 and 62 percent (1.7 and 2.3 percentage points). Also, school exit implies a 78 percent increase in the probability of grade reten- tion in fifth grade. If we only consider those students that switch school at the end of the 4th grade we find an increase between 4.8 and 4.9 percentage points in grade retention. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp439&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Rachel Upton; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin |
| Abstract: | This brief summarizes findings from a new report from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of School Improvement Grants (SIG) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the practices schools used and examines the impact of SIG on student achievement. |
| Keywords: | SIG, School Improvement Grants, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:505a0a1db77d4da197b0c402fb646ada&r=edu |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia (CEMFI and Barcelona GSE); Annalisa Loviglio (UAB and Barcelona GSE) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | Grading on a curve, negative peer effects, school choice. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2017_1704&r=edu |
| By: | Anne Ardila Brenøe (University of Copenhagen); Shelly Lundberg (University of California Santa Barbara) |
| 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 J10 J20 J30 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-004&r=edu |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The persistence of social inequities in education – the fact that children of wealthy and highly educated parents tend to do better in school than children from less privileged families – is often seen as a difficult-to-reverse feature of education systems. Yet countries across the world share the goal of minimising any adverse impact of students’ socio-economic status on their performance in school. PISA shows that, rather than assuming that inequality of opportunity is set in stone, school systems can become more equitable over a relatively short time. |
| Date: | 2017–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:68-en&r=edu |
| By: | Magali Jaoul-Grammare |
| Abstract: | After a long historical process, the principle of coeducation became accepted within the French education system, and since the 1980s the fight against gender inequality has been at the heart of educational reforms. The rationale for equality is not simply moral: gender inequalities slow down human capital accumulation and thereby slow economic growth. The aim of this paper is to determine whether various recent reforms have led to a decrease in gender inequality, measured according to three dimensions: access to prestigious post-baccalaureate courses; access to “male” academic courses; and access to higher diplomas. We use a multinomial logistic regression to compare the Cereq databases Generation 1998 and 2010. Our results show that in spite of a reduction in inequality, access to prestigious courses and access to higher diplomas remain affected by gender inequality. We also show that some “male” academic courses remain highly gender-biased. In this sense, then, we can conclude that human capital accumulation in France is not yet optimal. |
| Keywords: | Access, France, Gender Inequalities, Higher Education, Human Capital Accumulation. |
| JEL: | C25 I23 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2017-02&r=edu |
| By: | Kimberly V. Smith; Claire Dye; Dana Rotz; Elizabeth Cook; Kristina Rosinsky; Mindy Scott |
| Abstract: | This report presents final impact findings from a demonstration project and evaluation of Gender Matters (Gen.M), an innovative comprehensive sexuality education program that aims to reduce teen pregnancy and associated risk behaviors among U.S. adolescents, in part by challenging commonly held perceptions of gender roles and promoting healthy, equitable relationships. |
| Keywords: | Pregnancy, unprotected sex, sex education, adolescents, teens, contraceptives, gender |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:cac8fdc602694c8fb8ce41d217192ab0&r=edu |
| By: | Jones, Michael S.; Rejesus, Roderick M.; Brown, Zachary S.; Yorobe, Jose M. |
| Abstract: | For genetically-modified (GM) maize with genes for insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin expression and glyphosate tolerance, there is ample developing world evidence demonstrating general increases in farmer average yields. However, little work carefully examines farmer profiles to explain mechanisms for heterogeneity in yield effects. In this article, we view Bt and stacked traits as simplifying input components, removing much complexity in farmer pest control needs. With panel data from the Philippines, we test whether these traits serve as substitutes or complements to human capital. We thus examine an oft-discussed but previously unexplored facet of Bt technology impacts. Results indicate GM traits are substitutes with proxies for human capital and pest control knowledge. For every year decrease in formal education and maize farming experience, farmers realize significantly higher yield gains from planting GM maize. This evidence provides additional insights about ‘pro-poor’ claims of many GM proponents, given small-scale, poor farmers tend to have lower levels of education. |
| Keywords: | genetically modified crops, Bt maize, education, Philippines, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea17:252822&r=edu |
| By: | Lisa Dragoset; Jaime Thomas; Mariesa Herrmann; John Deke; Susanne James-Burdumy; Cheryl Graczewski; Andrea Boyle; Rachel Upton; Courtney Tanenbaum; Jessica Giffin |
| Abstract: | This executive summary describes key findings from a report from Mathematica’s multiyear evaluation of School Improvement Grants (SIG) for the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. It describes the practices schools used and examines the impact of SIG on student achievement. |
| Keywords: | SIG, School Improvement Grants, education reform, school turnaround, school improvement |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7118ccb332c54f90a45a192bce350828&r=edu |
| By: | Chris van Wyk (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Anderson Gondwe (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Pierre de Villiers (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the study was to track learners as a group or cohort over a specified period of time. This longitudinal data cohort analysis was to determine how successful learners progressed through the Western Cape public education system and how many eventually dropped out of this system. The Central Education Management Information System (CEMIS) datasets from 2007-2014 were used to create a longitudinal dataset of individual learners. The study shows the importance of unit-level records. With the availability of unit-level learner records key questions can be answered such as: “What is the profile of the learners who dropped out of the system, or what is the profile of the learners who progressed without any repetition?” When individual learner-unit records are available one can track learners as a group or cohort over a specified period of time. Longitudinal cohort tracking provides a more complete picture and true reflection of the education system about the progress (dropout and repetition) of learners. In order to achieve the goals in this study, the following methods were used: cross-sectional analysis of patterns and trends in the flow of learners in the Western Cape between 2007 and 2014 and a longitudinal cohort analysis to determine progression of learners through the education system without repetition, repetition of learners who nevertheless remain in the system and dropping out of learners. The study clearly shows high repetition in primary school. Most learners progressed through the system without repeating, but a high percentage also repeated one or more grades but remained the system. The study shows evidence of high dropout in secondary school. This is in contrast with the primary school phase where a high repetition rate but a lower dropout was recorded. Although there is movement out of public schools into independent schools, and out of the Western Cape to other provinces, the most likely cause of dropping out of the CEMIS data in high schools is actual dropping out of school. Furthermore, the study has shown a particularly high repetition rate of Grade 9 learners and a high dropout of learners after Grade 9. Hence, it was informative to follow a number of Grade 9 cohorts in order to determine the consistency of trends in repetition, dropout and completion over time. Perhaps more important is the clear evidence that repetition in Grade 9 is the precursor to almost inevitable dropping out of school without completing matric. |
| Keywords: | longitudinal cohort analysis, unit-level records, cross-sectional analysis, repetition, unique identifier, pseudo cohorts, primary school, secondary school |
| JEL: | I21 C55 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers278&r=edu |
| By: | Emily McDool (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | Evidence of the existence of neighbourhood effects upon educational attainment remains inconclusive, though recently receiving increased attention. This study adds to the existing literature to identify whether neighbourhood deprivation impacts upon the educational outcomes of 16 year olds, adopting Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) data. Using propensity score matching methods, the main results indicate that individuals living in a deprived neighbourhood are 4 percentage points less likely to obtain the expected age 16 educational outcomes relative to characteristically similar individuals living in non-deprived neighbourhoods. Additionally, significant differential neighbourhood effects are identified for individuals with parents educated to at least post-16 level, relative to individuals with below post-16 level educated parents. Findings suggest that individuals with educated parents are disadvantaged by living in a deprived neighbourhood to a greater extent than individuals with less educated parents. |
| Keywords: | Neighbourhoods, education, deprivation, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | R23 I20 I32 C40 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2017002&r=edu |
| By: | Tony Beatton; Michael P. Kidd; Stephen Machin; Dipa Sarkar |
| Abstract: | This paper reports new evidence on the causal link between education and male youth crime using individual level state-wide administrative data for Queensland, Australia. Enactment of the Earning or Learning education reform of 2006, with a mandatory increase in minimum school leaving age, is used to identify a causal impact of schooling on male youth crime. The richness of the matched (across agency) individual level panel data enables the analysis to shed significant light on the extent to which the causal impact reflects incapacitation, or whether more schooling acts to reduce crime after youths have left compulsory schooling. The empirical analysis uncovers a significant incapacitation effect, as remaining in school for longer reduces crime whilst in school, but also a sizeable crime reducing impact of education for young men in their late teens and early twenties. We also carry out analysis by major crime type and differentiate between single and multiple offending behaviour. Crime reduction effects are concentrated in property crime and single crime incidence, rather than altering the behaviour of the recalcitrant persistent offender |
| Keywords: | youth crime; schooling |
| JEL: | I2 K42 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:69033&r=edu |
| By: | Tolan, Songül; Kemptner, Daniel |
| Abstract: | We analyze the relevance of time-inconsistent preferences in educational decision making and corresponding policies within a structural dynamic choice model. Using a novel identification approach based on exclusion restrictions, we exploit the variation in average years invested in degree attainment through various educational reforms to identify the discount factor of a decision maker with 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 (BaföG) as a way to affect short-run costs while at school and (2) an increase in the state grant as a loan which will have to be payed back five years after the end of the education. |
| JEL: | C61 D91 I21 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145756&r=edu |
| By: | Govert E. Bijwaard; Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Per Tynelius; Finn Rasmussen |
| Abstract: | For many causes of death a negative educational gradient has been found. This association may be partly explained by confounding factors that affect both education attainment and mortality. We correct the cause-specific educational gradient for observed individual background and unobserved family factors, using an innovative method based on months lost due to a specific cause of death re-weighted by the probability to attain a higher education level. We use men with brothers in the Swedish Military Conscription Registry (1951-1983), linked to administrative Swedish registers. These data, comprising 700,000 men, allow us to distinguish five education levels and many causes of death. The empirical results reveal that improving education from primary to higher education would lead to 20 months longer survival between 18 and 63. The reduction in death due to external causes when improving education is attributable to most of these gains. Ignoring confounding would underestimate the educational gains, especially for the low educated. Implied by our results is that if 50,000 men from the 1951 cohort had had the 1983 education distribution they would have saved 22% of the person-years between ages 18 and 63 that were lost to death. |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2017-003&r=edu |
| By: | Emily McDool (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the impact of primary converter academies on pupil progress, using data from the National Pupil Database. Adopting a difference-in-differences methodology, a positive influence of converter academies upon pupil outcomes is identified when comparing individuals exposed to academy conversion with those who complete primary school before conversion. Attending a converter academy increases a pupil’s ranking within their cohort, according to the average point score, by between 1.1 and 2.6 percentile points. Primary converter academies are found to consistently improve pupil outcomes within areas of low deprivation whereas in areas of high deprivation, the identified effect may be much greater but is more variable across years of conversion and cohorts. White pupils and pupils not in receipt of free school meals are also consistently found to benefit from converter academy attendance. |
| Keywords: | Academies, pupil performance, education policy, children |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2016013&r=edu |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia (CEMFI and Barcelona GSE); Annalisa Loviglio (UAB and Barcelona GSE) |
| Abstract: | Having a unique cut-off to determine when children can access school induces a large heterogeneity in maturity to coexist in a classroom. We use rich administrative data of the universe of public schools in Catalonia to show that: 1) Relatively younger children do significantly worse both in tests administered at the school level and at the regional level, and they experience greater retention; 2) Younger children in our data exhibit higher dropout rates and chose the academic track in secondary school less often; 3) The effect is homogeneous across SES and significant across the whole ability distribution; 4) Younger children are more frequently diagnosed with learning disabilities. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, educational economics, kindergarten cutoff. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2016_1613&r=edu |
| By: | Haisken-DeNew, John; Hasan, Syed; Jha, Nikhil; Sinning, Mathias |
| Abstract: | The Australian Government launched the My School website in 2010 to provide standardised information about the quality of schools to the Australian public. This paper combines data from this website with home sales data for the state of Victoria to estimate the effect of the publication of school quality information on property prices. We use a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the causal effect of the release of information about high-quality and low-quality schools relative to mediumquality schools in the neighborhood and find that the release of information about high-quality schools increases property prices by 3.6 percent, whereas the release of information about low-quality schools has no significant effect. The findings indicate that many buyers are unaware of the relevance of school quality information and that real estate agents pursue a strategy of disclosing information about high-quality schools to increase the sales price. Results from a survey of Victorian real estate agents provide evidence in favor of this strategy. |
| Keywords: | school quality,housing markets,information asymmetry,public policy evaluation,difference-in-difference estimation |
| JEL: | D82 D84 I24 R31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:667&r=edu |
| By: | Patricia Troppe; Anthony T. Milanowski; Camilla Heid; Brian Gill; Christine Ross |
| Abstract: | This report examines implementation of program initiatives promoted through Title I and Title II-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) during the 2013–14 school year. |
| Keywords: | Title I, Title II-A, ESEA Flexibility, state content standards, assessments, school accountability, teacher evaluation, principal evaluation, priority schools, focus schools, schools in restructuring, schools in corrective action, schools in need of improvement, annual measurable objectives (AMOs), Common Core State Standards (CCSS), student proficiency, graduation rates, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:9a91e3dbb55940acb35931d3ad07a674&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua Goodman |
| Abstract: | Despite great focus on and public investment in STEM education, little causal evidence connects quantitative coursework to students’ economic outcomes. I show that state changes in minimum high school math requirements substantially increase black students’ completed math coursework and their later earnings. The marginal student’s return to an additional math course is 10 percent, roughly half the return to a year of high school, and is partly explained by a shift toward more cognitively skilled occupations. Whites’ coursework and earnings are unaffected. Rigorous standards for quantitative coursework can close meaningful portions of racial gaps in economic outcomes. |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23063&r=edu |
| By: | Patricia Troppe; Anthony T. Milanowski; Camilla Heid; Brian Gill; Christine Ross |
| Abstract: | This report examines implementation of program initiatives promoted through Title I and Title II-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) during the 2013–14 school year. |
| Keywords: | Title I, Title II-A, ESEA Flexibility, state content standards, assessments, school accountability, teacher evaluation, principal evaluation, priority schools, focus schools, schools in restructuring, schools in corrective action, schools in need of improvement, annual measurable objectives (AMOs), Common Core State Standards (CCSS), student proficiency, graduation rates, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:a22870a212f540bc9560db47eb4d3b1e&r=edu |
| By: | O'Hara, Jeffrey K.; Benson, Matthew |
| Abstract: | While use of local foods in U.S. school meal programs has increased dramatically since the 1990s, supply constraints are often cited as an impediment. We use responses from the nationally administered 2015 Farm to School Census to estimate a double hurdle model exploring how local food purchases by schools are influenced by local agricultural conditions. We find that direct to consumer agricultural production and milk production had a positive impact on local non-milk and local milk purchases, respectively. We find this result is robust to endogeneity and sample selection tests. |
| Keywords: | Child nutrition, farm to school, local food, school meals, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea17:252669&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander Cappelen (Norwegian School of Economics); John List (University of Chicago); Anya Samek (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Bertil Tungodden (Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We present results from the first study to examine the causal impact of early childhood education on social preferences of children. We compare children who, at 3-4 years old, were randomized into either a full-time preschool, a parenting program with incentives, or to a control group. We returned to the same children when they reached 7-8 years old and conducted a series of incentivized experiments to elicit their social preferences. We find that early childhood education has a strong causal impact on social preferences several years after the intervention: attending preschool makes children more egalitarian in their fairness view and the parenting program enhances the importance children place on efficiency relative to fairness. Our findings highlight the importance of taking a broad perspective when designing and evaluating early childhood educational programs, and provide evidence of how differences in institutional exposure may contribute to explaining heterogeneity in social preferences in society. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, social preferences, child experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J23 J33 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-002&r=edu |
| By: | Tewari, Rachna; Luitel, Kishor; Mehlhorn, Joey; Pruitt, J. Ross; Parrott, Scott; Crews Garcia, Jessica |
| Abstract: | A clear majority of agribusiness programs require their graduates to successfully complete relevant coursework in both quantitative and theoretical areas. Instructors often make use of group projects to promote student participation, inculcate team working skills, and to enhance students’ soft skills for service related jobs in the agricultural industry. In these projects, student groups work on project milestones followed by instructor feedback for improvement. Project completion is marked by student teams’ engagement in interactive group activities such as presentations, debates, and sales pitches. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of group projects for enhancing student learning in various agribusiness courses using an online survey tool. It is observed that students’ performance and the overall learning experience is enhanced using group work in agribusiness courses. Results indicate that students find value in these interactive projects, which facilitates a higher level of learning. Students also feel confident about their soft skills, and can better enunciate and express their viewpoints among an audience. |
| Keywords: | agribusiness, group projects, student learning, survey data, Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, A22, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea17:252765&r=edu |
| By: | Alexander D. Gromov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In Russia, resources available for higher education institutions (HEIs) have been reduced while the expectations of their results have grown. This raises questions about the efficiency of Russian HEIs and the factors influencing it. In this paper, estimations of the efficiency of Russian HEIs for the 2012/13-2014/15 academic years and its determinants are presented. Ratios of weighted outputs and weighted inputs constructed with data envelopment analysis (DEA) are used as the HEIs efficiency measure. Total financial resources of HEIs are used as the input and measures of education and research results are used as the outputs. For the analysis of changes in efficiency the Malmquist index is used. The relation between efficiency scores and the characteristics of HEIs are investigated using a Tobit regression. This research is based on data about 120 public HEIs collected from various sources. The results show that the potential for an increase in the efficiency still remains. An outward shift of the efficiency frontier, i.e. a technological improvement, was found. According to estimations, most institutions operate at decreasing returns to scale and reducing their size will increase their efficiency. However, the substantial growth of the number of HEIs with increasing returns to scale implies that the policy of resource consolidation could be a reasonable response to current challenges. A positive relationship between HEIs efficiency and the diversification of fields of study was revealed. |
| Keywords: | higher education, efficiency analysis, data envelopment analysis, returns to scale, Malmquist index. |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:40edu2017&r=edu |
| By: | Michela Tincani (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Using a theoretical model where students care about achievement rank, I study effort choices in the classroom and show that rank concerns generate peer effects. The model’s key empirical prediction is that the effect on own achievement of increasing the dispersion in peer cost of effort is heterogeneous, depending on a student’s own cost of effort. To test this, I construct a longitudinal multi-cohort dataset of students, with data on the geographic propagation of building damages from the Chilean 2010 earthquake. I find that higher dispersion in home damages among one’s classmates led, on average, to lower own Mathematics and Spanish test scores. To be able to test the theory, I develop a novel nonlinear difference-in-differences model that estimates effect heterogeneity and that relates observed damages to unobserved cost of effort. I find that some students at the tails of the predicted cost of effort distribution benefit from higher dispersion in peer cost of effort, as predicted by the theoretical model. This finding suggests that observed peer effects on test scores are, at least partly, governed by rank concerns. |
| Keywords: | ability peer effects, rank preferences, semiparametric model, structural model |
| JEL: | I20 C14 C50 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2017-006&r=edu |