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on Education |
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Issue of 2012‒09‒16
six papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon |
| By: | Traag Tanja; Lubbers Miranda Jessica; Velden Rolf van der (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate if peer relations affect a student’s risk of early school-leaving. Weuse the sociometric data collection from the Dutch “Secondary Education Pupil Cohort 1999” toidentify peer relations in a sample of almost 20,000 students in the first grade of secondaryeducation (mean age 13). This information is matched to data on educational attainment from 1999to 2010 for these students, to measure later early school-leaving by both the focal students aswell as their peers. Our results show that both being friends with future early school-leavers aswell as popularity among future early school-leavers increases the risk of students to be earlyschool-leavers later in their educational career while other characteristics of the peer groupsuch as gender composition, ethnic composition, average (non)cognitive skills and averagesocioeconomic background have no effects on the risk of early school-leaving. And whilecharacteristics like gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background play an important role inpeer selection, the future dropout status does not have a major impact on peer selection. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012023&r=edu |
| By: | Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I examine how student academic achievements and behavior were affected by a school finance policy experiment undertaken in elementary schools in Israel. Begun in 2004, the funding formula changed from a budget set per class to a budget set per student, with more weight given to students from lower socioeconomic and lower educational backgrounds. The experiment altered teaching budgets, the length of the school week, and the allocation of time devoted to core subjects. The results suggest that spending more money and spending more time at school and on key tasks all lead to increasing academic achievements with no behavioral costs. I find that the overall budget per class has positive and significant effects on students' average test scores and that this effect is symmetric and identical for schools that gained or lost resources due to the funding reform. Separate estimations of the effect of increasing the length of the school week and the subject-specific instructional time per week also show positive and significant effects on math, science, and English test scores. However, no cross effects of additional instructional time across subjects emerge, suggesting that the effect of overall weekly school instruction time on test scores reflects only the effect of additional instructional time in these particular subjects. As a robustness check of the validity of the identification strategy, I also use an alternative method that exploits variation in the instruction time of different subjects. Remarkably, this alternative identification strategy yields almost identical results to the results obtained based on the school funding reform. Additional results suggest that the effect on test scores is similar for boys and girls but it is much larger for pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds and it is also more pronounced in schools populated with students from homogenous socioeconomic backgrounds. The evidence also shows that a longer school week increases the time that students spend on homework without reducing social and school satisfaction and without increasing school violence. |
| JEL: | I21 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18369&r=edu |
| By: | Lionel Perini (Institute of economic research IRENE, Faculty of Economics, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates educational peer effects at the lower secondary level in Switzerland where different tracking systems coexist. Using a cross-sectional survey based on standardized questionnaires, the structure and magnitude of social interactions among classmates are analyzed. The results are used to find out if grouping students in a completely non-selective way could increase efficiency and equality of opportunity. Empirical findings suggest that mixing students in reading and science classes could enhance efficiency and equity while a similar practice in mathematics courses could only improve equity without any gain in efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, ability tracking, family background, equality of opportunity, quantile regression. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irn:wpaper:12-01&r=edu |
| By: | Sally Sambrook (Bangor Business School) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide clarification of the concepts of academic study leave and the sabbatical, which are somewhat contested in the increasingly complex, managerialist and performative higher education context. A critical review of academic literature is employed to help clarify our understanding of the concepts, but also to identify potential contradictions. In addition, examples are provided, drawn from university web pages. The analysis identifies similarities and differences between the two concepts suggesting complimentary and competing meanings. The paper illuminates the shifting concept of the sabbatical, a term rooted in religious history, to more contemporary notions of academic study leave. This shift is not without difficulty given the complexity and increasing ambiguity associated with academic work. Defining characteristics of sabbatical/academic study leave can help provide clearer operational definitions to assist academic managers and faculty better manage and enhance these two subtly different experiences. This is of growing importance as scholars are confronted with escalating demands for publications in top ranked journals, which are increasingly used as objective measures in the bludgeoning use of performance management systems, to the potential detriment to other dimensions of academic practice, particularly teaching and enhancing the student experience. |
| Keywords: | sabbatical, academic study leave, concept analysis, managerialism, performativity, higher education |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bng:wpaper:12009&r=edu |
| By: | Büchner Charlotte; Cörvers Frank; Traag Tanja; Velden Rolf van der (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes four different transmission mechanisms, through which father’s earnings affectson’s earnings: the educational attainment, cognitive skills, the cultural capital of the familyand the social capital in the neighborhood. Using a unique data set that combines panel data froma birth cohort with earnings data from a large nationwide income survey and national tax files,our findings show that cognitive skills and schooling of the son account for 50% of the father-sonearnings elasticity. Education by far accounts for the largest part, while cognitive skills mainlywork indirectly through educational attainment. Social capital of the neighborhood and culturalcapital of the parents account for an additional 6% of the intergeneration income persistence.From these two additional mechanisms, social capital appears to play a stronger role than thecultural capital of the parents. This means that 44% of the intergenerational persistence is dueto other unobserved characteristics for example personality traits or spillover effects of familyassets. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012028&r=edu |
| By: | Kornder Nils; Dronkers Jaap (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | As a follow-up of earlier analyses of the educational performance of all pupils with a migrationbackground with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) waves 2003 and 2006, weanalyze the differences between the educational performance of 15-year old daughters and sons ofmigrants from specific regions of origin countries living in different destination countries. Weuse the newest PISA 2009 wave. Instead of analyzing only Western countries as destinationcountries, we analyze the educational performance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrantsin destination countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origincountries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. We test three hypotheses: 1) Thedaughters of migrants from poorer, more traditional regions perform much better in reading thancomparable sons of migrants from the same origin regions, while the daughters of migrants frommore affluent and liberal regions perform slightly better in reading than comparable sons ofmigrants from the same regions. 2) Individual socioeconomic background has a stronger effect onthe educational performance of daughters of migrants than on the performance of sons of migrants.3) The performance of female native pupils has a higher influence on the performance of migrantdaughters than the performance of male native pupils has on the performance of migrant sons. Thefirst hypothesis can only partly be accepted. Female migrant pupils have both higher reading andmath scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these gender differences among migrant pupilsare larger than among comparable native pupils. The additional variation in educationalperformance by region of origin is, however, not clearly related to the poverty or traditionalismof regions. Neither the second nor the third hypothesis can be accepted, given our results. |
| Keywords: | microeconomics ; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012022&r=edu |