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on Education |
| By: | Molin, Francois (TIER TA); Cabus, Sofie (ku leuven); Haelermans, Carla (General Economics 2 (Macro)); Groot, Wim (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance) |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention of formative assessments with a clicker-based technology on anxiety and academic performance. We use a randomized experiment in physics education in one school in Dutch secondary education. For treated students the formative assessments are operationalized through quizzing at the end of each physics class, where clickers enable students to respond to questions. Control students do not receive these assessments and do not use clickers, but apart from that the classes they attend are similar. Findings from multilevel regressions indicate that the formative assessments significantly reduce anxiety in physics, and improve academic performance in physics in comparison with a traditional teaching. Furthermore, a mediation effect of anxiety in physics on academic performance is observed. In sum, this implies that an easily to implement technique of formative assessments can make students feel more at ease, which contributes to better educational performance. |
| Keywords: | formative assessment, physics, Clicker Devices, Secondary education, anxiety, academic performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2019–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2019014&r=all |
| By: | Molin, Francois (TIER TA); Cabus, Sofie; Haelermans, Carla (General Economics 2 (Macro)); Groot, Wim (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance) |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention of formative assessments with a clicker-based technology on anxiety and academic performance. We use a randomized experiment in physics education in one school in Dutch secondary education. For treated students the formative assessments are operationalized through quizzing at the end of each physics class, where clickers enable students to respond to questions. Control students do not receive these assessments and do not use clickers, but apart from that the classes they attend are similar. Findings from multilevel regressions indicate that the formative assessments significantly reduce anxiety in physics, and improve academic performance in physics in comparison with a traditional teaching. Furthermore, a mediation effect of anxiety in physics on academic performance is observed. In sum, this implies that an easily to implement technique of formative assessments can make students feel more at ease, which contributes to better educational performance. |
| Keywords: | formative assessment, physics, clicker devices, secondary education, anxiety, academic performance |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2019003&r=all |
| By: | Pietrzyk, Irena Magdalena; Allmendinger, Jutta; Erdmann, Melinda; Helbig, Marcel; Jacob, Marita; Stuth, Stefan |
| Abstract: | The German educational system is characterized by pronounced educational disparities based on the parental socioeconomic status. Despite the rather strong stratification of the secondary school sys-tem and social selection into obtaining the university entrance qualification, the transition to higher education is no exception to the general picture of strong inequalities in the German educational system. Social differences in enrolment in higher education might be partly due to the unequal distribution of information and differences in social support. If this were the case, offering information and support via guidance counsellors could reduce educational disparities in the transition to higher education. However, empirical research on this issue in Europe, especially in Germany, is scarce. Against this background, the study "Future and Career Plans Before High School Graduation" (in German: Zukunfts- und Berufspläne vor dem Abitur, ZuBAb) investigates how a broad long-term counselling program affects the educational pathways of university-eligible students by means of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The study focuses on the reduction of inequalities in university enrolment (primary outcome). Furthermore, we examine the effect of the intervention on the development of socio-emotional competencies, choice of study majors, satisfaction with educational choices, congruence between occupational interests and educational choice, and rational choice components (secondary outcomes). In addition to investigating the effect of the program on educational pathways by means of an RCT, we analyse the social composition of participating students under real world conditions to estimate the effectiveness of the program in reducing educational disparities under real world conditions. The present discussion paper provides an overview of the background of the ZuBAb study, the research questions that are addressed, and the research design. The study is currently being conducted. It is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Research is jointly carried out by the Berlin Social Science Centre and the University of Cologne. |
| Keywords: | educational inequality,educational intervention,randomized controlled trial (RCT) |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbpre:p2019004&r=all |
| By: | Andrew Shephard (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Modibo Sidibe (Department of Economics, Duke University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how policies, aimed at increasing the supply of education in the economy, affect the matching between workers and firms, and the wages of various skill groups. We build an equilibrium model where workers endogenously invest in education, while firms direct their technology toward skill intensive production activities. Search frictions induce mismatch on both extensive (unemployment) and intensive (over-education) margins, with ensuing wage consequences. We estimate the model using NLSY and O*NET data, and propose an ex-ante evaluation of prominent educational policies. We find that higher education cost subsidies boost college attainment, produce substantial welfare gains in general equilibrium, but increase wage inequality. These changes are associated with a substantial upward shift in the distribution of job complexity, which leads to worse allocations for high-school graduates who end up under-educated in less productive firms, while highly-educated workers match with more productive firms and experience less over-education during their careers. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, education policy, wage inequality, job search, technology choice, equilibrium |
| JEL: | I22 I24 J6 J21 J23 J24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2019–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:19-013&r=all |
| By: | Bosio, Giulio (University of Bergamo); Origo, Federica (University of Bergamo) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to study whether and how teaching style (i.e., traditional vs active mode) affects academic performance of young individuals in tertiary education. We focus on entrepreneurship education as an ideal subject for experimenting alternative teaching methods. Identification relies on Triple Differences (DDD) estimates based on detailed administrative data for the universe of students in a Master's program in Management and Finance in Italy over 2011-2015. We measure academic achievement through several indicators, both right after the end of the entrepreneurship course (short run) and at the end of the program (long run). Our preferred estimates show no significant effects of the teaching mode on student's achievement, both in the short and in the long run. However, further estimates reveal interesting heterogeneities across students, being active teaching more effective in the case of females and students from secondary schools with an academic track. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship education, teaching modes, academic performance, triple difference, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I20 J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12445&r=all |
| By: | Hartung, Andreas; Wessling, Katarina (ROA / Education and occupational career); Hillmert, Steffen |
| Abstract: | The transition from general schooling to vocational training or to the labour market marks a crucial threshold in the life course of young adults. It has been well documented that successful school-to-work transitions are influenced by (regional) labour-market conditions. However, what has been rather neglected is that before actual transitions take place, adolescents need to make plans and evaluate their wishes and choices against the background of existing constraints. (Regional) labour-market conditions are a part of such constraints. This paper complements previous research by focusing on the impact of the regional labour market on students’ educational and occupational aspirations before school-to-work transitions take place. Regionalised administrative data on unemployment is linked with survey data from the Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS-SC4). Results indicate that a relatively higher level of regional unemployment is associated with aspirations for higher-status occupations. Their status aspiration push students towards continuing general school to obtain higher general qualifications. The effects vary with the attended secondary school track and with parents’ educational aspirations for their children. |
| Keywords: | educational and occupational aspirations/expectations, regional labour-market conditions, school-to-work transitions |
| JEL: | I24 R23 R12 D84 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2019004&r=all |
| By: | Robert M. Feinberg; |
| Abstract: | Minority groups are under-represented in university teaching and research positions; they are employed in these positions at lower rates than would be indicated by college enrollments and (to a lesser extent) shares of doctoral degrees. Using data from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates, from 2001 to 2016, this article examines whether some of this is due an under-representation of scholars with high student debt and fewer parental resources, choosing business or government careers rather than academia. Analyzing a large sample of new PhDs from 2001 to 2016, we find that student debt has limited the decision to enter academia, perhaps with long-term impacts for diversity of the profession. Examining the subsample of STEM PhDs, the same patterns emerge-- with perhaps stronger adverse impacts of debt on Black and Hispanic academic career choice. |
| Keywords: | Student debt; academic career; diversity; doctorates |
| JEL: | A2 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2019-05&r=all |