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on Education |
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Issue of 2014‒01‒24
ten papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Diette, Timothy M. (Washington and Lee University); Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth (Georgia Tech) |
| Abstract: | The influx of immigrants has shifted the ethnic composition of public schools in many states including North Carolina. Recent evidence from North Carolina suggests that increases in Limited English students' concentration have led to a slight decline in performance solely for students at the top of the achievement distribution. The heterogeneous peer effects by achievement level lead us to explore in this paper whether the increased immigration has differential effects by gender and race. Utilizing fixed effects methods that allow us to address possible endogeneity with respect to the schools' students attend, we find heterogeneous peer effects of limited English students on natives' performance in math and reading. Specifically, we find no peer effects on white females but small negative effects on males and blacks on average. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, student achievement, peer effects, education, race, gender, limited English students |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7856&r=edu |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Parandekar, Suhas |
| Abstract: | This paper examines inequality patterns of school and teacher resources as well as student performance in the Philippines. School and teacher resources, measured by pupil classroom and teacher ratios and per-pupil teacher salary, became more unequal over time. Strikingly, a large portion of the variation is attributed to their within-division distributions, especially the non-city areas in each province (rural schools), where pupil classroom and teacher ratios have significantly positive returns in terms of student test scores. Concavity built into the education production function implies that reallocation of teachers and classrooms within a division can potentially increase average test scores. The estimates also imply that it is optimal to deploy young, inexperienced teachers to rural schools and reassign them to urban schools when the teachers are more experienced. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Education For All,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6748&r=edu |
| By: | Hart, Cassandra M. D. (University of California, Davis); Sojourner, Aaron J. (University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between teacher unionization and student achievement. Generally stable patterns of teacher unionization since the 1970s have historically presented challenges in measuring the effects of unionization on educational production. However, the blossoming of the charter school sector in recent decades provides fertile ground for study because while most charters are non-union, teachers at some charters have unionized. Using a generalized difference-in-difference approach combining California union certification data with student achievement data from 2003-2012, we find that, aside from a one-year dip in achievement associated with the unionization process itself, unionization does not affect student achievement. |
| Keywords: | teacher, labor union, student achievement, charter school, education, labor productivity |
| JEL: | I21 J5 J45 J24 H75 D24 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7887&r=edu |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to estimate the impact of school-based management on students'test scores in the Philippines. Estimation results using double differencing combined with propensity score matching show that school-based management increases the average national achievement test score by 4.2 points over three years. The increase in mathematics reached 5.7 points. This is larger than the estimate previously reported from the Philippines, probably because the sample schools had learned about implementation of school-based management from experiences accumulated in other provinces that introduced it earlier. The empirical results also show that schools with experienced principals and teachers are eager to introduce school-based management. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6747&r=edu |
| By: | David J. Deming |
| Abstract: | Value-added models (VAMs) are increasingly used to measure school effectiveness. Yet random variation in school attendance is necessary to test the validity of VAMs, and to guide the selection of models for measuring causal effects of schools. In this paper, I use random assignment from a public school choice lottery to test the predictive power of VAM specifications. In VAMs with minimal controls and two or more years of prior data, I fail to reject the hypothesis that school effects are unbiased. Overall, many commonly used VAMs are accurate predictors of student achievement gains. |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19803&r=edu |
| By: | Aziz, Mehnaz (Children’s Global Network, Pakistan); Bloom, David E. (Harvard University); Humair, Salal (Harvard School of Public Health); Jimenez, Emmanuel (World Bank); Rosenberg, Larry (Harvard School of Public Health); Sathar, Zeba (Population Council) |
| Abstract: | Pakistan's education system faces long-standing problems in access, quality, and equal opportunity at every level: primary and secondary schools, higher education and vocational education. In spite of recent encouraging trends, such as the rapid spread of private schooling and an expansion of higher education opportunities, systemic reform remains stubbornly elusive. The inability of successive governments to reform the system has created severe constraints for Pakistan's economic and societal development. An inability to act now will increase the problems manifold in the future, due to a burgeoning youth population and increasing competitive pressures from other developing countries that are devoting more attention to education. We discuss in this paper the imperative for education system reform in Pakistan, and articulate why a window of opportunity exists at this time for all stakeholders – government, civil society and donors – to initiate reform. We emphasize, however, some key messages. One, that reform must tackle all sectors of the education system – primary/secondary, higher education and vocational education – as Pakistan does not have the luxury to delay reform in one sector until the other sectors improve. Two, reform in every sector must be systemic – i.e. with well-defined goals, focus on a minimal set of areas such as governance, financing, human resources, and curriculum and address them all together, rather than piecemeal. Three, implementation is the all-important Achilles' heel, where Pakistan has limited resources and has often foundered on the rocks. But as we discuss, there are important examples demonstrating that success is achievable, if government and civil society have the will to initiate and sustain reform. |
| Keywords: | education, economic development, educational reform, Pakistan |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 H52 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp76&r=edu |
| By: | Köllner, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of remittances on educational attainment in Tajikistan using the Tajikistan Living Standards Measurement Survey (TLSS) from 2007 and 2009. Applying an ordered probit framework and controlling for hetereoskedasticity, censoring, intra-family correlation, and different masures of remittances, we find a negative impact of receiving remittances on educational outcomes. Calculations of the marginal effects draw a more subtle picture indicating that remittances positively affect educational achievements as long as education is mandatory. For higher, non-mandatory levels of education, however, receiving remittances negatively influences educational attainment. These results support concerns regarding the wide-spread affirmative impact of remittances on human capital formation. Accounting for endogeneity, the coefficients of the remittance variables become insignificant. Our general findings, however, remain unchanged implying that remittances are not used for investments in human capital accumulation once education becomes voluntary. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wuewwb:124&r=edu |
| By: | Sabine Hoidn; Kiira Kärkkäinen |
| Abstract: | Higher education plays an important role in providing people with skills for innovation, but a number of important questions remain as to what kind of higher education teaching can be conducive to the strengthening of skills for innovation. This report aims to shed light on this issue by reviewing the current evidence on the effectiveness of problem-based learning compared with more traditional approaches in higher education teaching. It explores the extent to which problem-based learning can be an effective way to develop different discipline-specific and transferable skills for innovation. Research, primarily from the field of medicine, shows that problem-based learning appears to be beneficial in fostering certain aspects of skills for innovation. In addition, the report explores the literature on direct teaching behaviours that may help foster student learning in more traditional teaching settings. Despite the promising evidence linking problem-based learning and effective teaching in higher education to certain aspects of skills for innovation, more work is needed in this area. There is strong potential for further research to provide additional important insights into the development of skills for innovation. |
| Date: | 2014–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:100-en&r=edu |
| By: | Ali Protik; Steven Glazerman; Julie Bruch; Bing-ru Teh |
| Keywords: | TTI, Low-Perrforming Schools, Behavioral Responses, Teachers |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7996&r=edu |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A. (Stanford University); Schwerdt, Guido (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Wiederhold, Simon (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Existing estimates of the labor-market returns to human capital give a distorted picture of the role of skills across different economies. International comparisons of earnings analyses rely almost exclusively on school attainment measures of human capital, and evidence incorporating direct measures of cognitive skills is mostly restricted to early-career workers in the United States. Analysis of the new PIAAC survey of adult skills over the full lifecycle in 22 countries shows that the focus on early-career earnings leads to underestimating the lifetime returns to skills by about one quarter. On average, a one-standard-deviation increase in numeracy skills is associated with an 18 percent wage increase among prime-age workers. But this masks considerable heterogeneity across countries. Eight countries, including all Nordic countries, have returns between 12 and 15 percent, while six are above 21 percent with the largest return being 28 percent in the United States. Estimates are remarkably robust to different earnings and skill measures, additional controls, and various subgroups. Intriguingly, returns to skills are systematically lower in countries with higher union density, stricter employment protection, and larger public-sector shares. |
| Keywords: | cognitive skills, education, labor market, earnings, international comparisons |
| JEL: | J31 I20 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7850&r=edu |