|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2013‒11‒14
twelve papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Andrey Zakharov (National Research University Higher School of Economics. International Laboratory for Educational Policy Research. Deputy Head.); Martin Carnoy (Stanford University. Vida Jacks Professor of Education.); Prashant Loyalka (Stanford University. Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Center Research Fellow.) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between teaching practices aimed at raising student performance on a high stakes college entrance examination—the Russian Unified State Exam (USE) — and student performance on that test. The study uses data from a school/classroom survey of almost 3,000 students conducted in 2010 in three Russian regions. The analysis employs a student fixed effects method that estimates the impact of teaching practices used by students’ mathematics and Russian language teachers on students’ exam results. To test for possible heterogeneous effects of practices in different academic tracks, the study estimates the practices’ effect on USE scores for students in advanced and basic level tracks. The study finds that the only strategy with positive effects on test outcomes is greater amounts of subject-specific homework geared to different types of test items, and that the most effective type of homework differs across tracks |
| Keywords: | teaching practices, curriculum, student achievement, selection bias, student fixed effect, high-stakes examinations |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:13edu2013&r=edu |
| By: | Chevalier, Arnaud; Harmon, Colm; O'Sullivan, Vincent; Walker, Ian |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between early school-leaving and parental education and paternal income using UK Labour Force Survey data. OLS estimation reveals modest effects of income, stronger effects of maternal education relative to paternal, and stronger effects on sons. Using IV methods to simultaneously model the endogeneity of parental education and income, we find no effect of maternal education. Under certain assumptions, paternal education remains significant (for daughters only). Similarly there are modest effects of paternal income for sons. Thus policies that alleviate income constraints to alter schooling decisions may not be as effective as policies which increase permanent income. |
| Keywords: | children/data/education/Policy/schooling |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp468&r=edu |
| By: | Andrey Ampilogov (Research assistant, Center for Institutional Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.); Ilya Prakhov (Research fellow, Center for Institutional Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.); Maria Yudkevich (Director, Center for Institutional Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.) |
| Abstract: | The introduction of the Unified State Exam (USE) has simplified the process of university entry by decreasing transaction costs associated with the application process. The new system allows applicants to apply to several higher education institutions at the same time. However, many students do not take advantage of this opportunity and apply only to a single university. In this study we analyze the factors that influence application strategies, whether to apply to only one institution or to apply to several. We argue that higher USE scores predict a higher probability of multiple applications. Additionally, graduating from a high school that offers advanced training in a particular discipline positively influences this probability. The variables of family income and social capital, a parent’s level of education, and their age, as well as attending additional programs of pre-entry training are statistically insignificant. |
| Keywords: | higher education; university admission, application strategy |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:12edu2013&r=edu |
| By: | Vera Titkova (Sociology of Education and Science Lab, National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Researcher.); Valeria Ivaniushina (Sociology of Education and Science Lab, National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Senior Researcher.); Daniel Alexandrov (Sociology of Education and Science Lab, National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Professor) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how the sociometric popularity of schoolchildren is related to individual academic achievements in a context of different levels of academic culture and educational aspirations in the classroom. The sample includes 5058 students in 270 classes from 98 schools in St. Petersburg. To examine class-level effects, we employ multi-level hierarchical models using HLM 7 software. Different effects for boys and girls were found, indicating that the relationship between academic performance and popularity is gender-specific. The results demonstrate that in classes with a low learning motivation individual academic achievements of boys are negatively related to their popularity, while in classes with a high academic culture the relationship is positive |
| Keywords: | popularity, sociometry, academic culture, motivation. |
| JEL: | I21 C12 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:10edu2013&r=edu |
| By: | Kévin André (ESSEC Business School - ESSEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to re-examine the notion of equality, going beyond the classic opposition in France between affirmative action and meritocratic equality. Hence, we propose shifting the French debate about equality of opportunities in education to the question of how to raise equality of capability. In this paper we propose an assessment based on the capability approach of a mentoring programme called 'Une grande école: pourquoi pas moi?' ('A top-level university: why not me?' (PQPM) launched in 2002 by a top French business school. The assessment of PQPM is based on the pairing of longitudinal data available for 324 PQPM students with national data. Results show that the 'adaptive preferences' of the PQPM students change through a process of empowerment. Students adopt new 'elitist' curricula but feel free to follow alternative paths. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive Preferences ; Agency ; Assessment ; Capability ; Education ; France |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00880246&r=edu |
| By: | Alexey Bessudnov (Department of Sociology, Centre for Advanced Studies, National Research University - Higher School of Economics.); Alexey Makarov (Department of Mathematics, National Research University - Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Gender dierences in mathematical performance have been long debated in psychology, economics, and sociology. We contribute to this literature by analyzing a large data set of high school graduates who in 2011 took a standardized mathematical test in Russia (n = 738; 456). We nd no substantial dierence in mean test scores of boys and girls. However, boys have a greater variance of scores and are more numerous at the top of the distribution. We apply quantile regression to model the association between school characteristics and gender dierences in test scores throughout the distribution. Male advantage in test scores, particularly at the top of the distribution, is concentrated in cities and in schools with the advanced curriculum. In ordinary high schools, especially in the countryside, gender dierences in all parts of the distribution are very small. A separate analysis at the regional level conrms that male advantage in mean test scores is higher in more urbanized regions |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, mathematical performance, school context |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:11edu2013&r=edu |
| By: | Mehmet Alper Dinçer; Neeraj Kaushal; Michael Grossman |
| Abstract: | We use the 1997 Education Law in Turkey that increased compulsory formal schooling from five to eight years to study the effect of women’s education on a range of outcomes relating to women’s fertility, their children’s health and measures of empowerment. We apply an instrumental variables methodology and find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of ever married women with eight years of schooling lowered number of pregnancies per woman by 0.13 and number of children per women by 0.11. There is also some evidence of a decline in child mortality, caused by mother’s education, but effects turn statistically insignificant in our preferred models. We also find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion with eight years of schooling raised the proportion of women using modern family planning methods by eight to nine percent and the proportion of women with knowledge of their ovulation cycle by five to seven percent. However, we find little evidence that schooling changed women’s attitudes towards gender equality. |
| JEL: | I1 I24 I25 J12 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19597&r=edu |
| By: | Marion Davin (AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - Aix-Marseille Univ. - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the interplay between public education expenditure and economic growth in a two-sector model. We reveal that agents' preferences for services, education and savings play a major role in the relationship between growth and public education expenditures, as long as production is taxed at a different rate in each sector. |
| Keywords: | public education; two-sector model; sectoral taxes; endogenous growth |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00881048&r=edu |
| By: | Cain Polidano (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Domenico Tabasso (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)) |
| Abstract: | In OECD countries, ‘real world’ upper-secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs are used to engage less academically oriented youth in learning, while helping to prepare them for post-school work and/or further training. In general terms, VET programs with high employer involvement, such as apprenticeship schemes, are considered to be superior to classroom-based VET programs that are typically found in many English-speaking countries. In this study, we examine outcomes from a potential ‘third way’: classroom-based VET with a short-term structured workplace learning component. Using propensity score matching and PISA data linked to information from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, we find this model is associated with higher school completion rates and better employment transitions. |
| Keywords: | Educational economics, vocational education and training, workplace learning |
| JEL: | I20 J01 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n31&r=edu |
| By: | Nga Ndjobo, Patrick Marie; Abessolo, Yves André |
| Abstract: | This article renders an analysis of the impact of education on labour supply behaviour, particularly in terms of participation decision and the level of employment and unemployment of the active population in the labour market in Cameroon, through the nested logit model. Using data obtained from the database of ECAM III carried out in 2007, we find that individuals who constitute the labour supply being faced with four alternatives (domestic activities, the informal, the public and the private formal sectors) choose to work in the sectors which best values their education. Thus, for these individuals, it is more likely to choose to practice in the sectors associated with lower levels of education than other sectors. Also, these individuals have the tendency of orientating their choices primarily to sectors in which the average level of education is at most equivalent to theirs. Therefore, signals sent by job-seekers to employers, requesting access demand to certain sectors instead of others are obviously determine by their various levels of education. Moreover, participation in a sector of the job market in Cameroon is a decreasing function of average charged income and average worked hours that are established. |
| Keywords: | education, labor supply, nested multinomial logit, public formal, private formal and informal sectors, ECAMIII, Cameroon |
| JEL: | C35 C51 D1 I2 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–11–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51158&r=edu |
| By: | Di Paolo, Antonio; Tansel, Aysit |
| Abstract: | Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills. |
| Keywords: | : Foreign Languages, Returns to Skills, Heterogeneity, Turkey |
| JEL: | I2 I21 J3 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51237&r=edu |
| By: | Banks, Joanne; McCoy, Selina |
| Keywords: | children |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:rb2013/2/6&r=edu |