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on Education |
| By: | C. Kirabo Jackson; Claire Mackevicius |
| Abstract: | We use estimates across all known "credibly causal" studies to examine the distributions of the causal effects of public K12 school spending on test scores and educational attainment in the United States. Under reasonable assumptions, for each of the 31 included studies, we compute the same parameter estimate. Restricted maximum likelihood estimates indicate that, on average, a $1000 increase in per-pupil public school spending (for four years) increases test scores by 0.044 standard deviations, high-school graduation by 2.1 percentage points, and college-going by 3.9 percentage points. The pooled averages are significant at the 0.0001 level. When benchmarked against other interventions, test score impacts are much smaller than those on educational attainment — suggesting that test-score impacts understate the value of school spending. The benefits to capital spending increases take about five-to-six years to materialize, but after this, one cannot reject that the average marginal effects differ across capital and non-capital spending types. The marginal spending impacts are much less pronounced for economically advantaged populations. Consistent with a cumulative effect, the educational attainment impacts are larger with more years of exposure to the spending increase. Average impacts are similar across a wide range of baseline spending levels — providing little evidence of diminishing marginal returns at current spending levels. To speak to generalizability, we estimate the variability across studies attributable to effect heterogeneity (as opposed to sampling variability). This heterogeneity explains about 40 and 70 percent of the variation across studies for educational attainment and test scores, respectively, which allows us to provide a range of likely policy impacts. A policy that increases per-pupil spending for four years will improve test scores 92 percent of the time, and educational attainment even more often. We find suggestive evidence consistent with small possible publication bias, but demonstrate that any effects on our estimates are minimal. |
| JEL: | H0 I21 I26 J01 J58 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28517&r=all |
| By: | Jonathan Guryan; Jens Ludwig; Monica P. Bhatt; Philip J. Cook; Jonathan M.V. Davis; Kenneth Dodge; George Farkas; Roland G. Fryer Jr; Susan Mayer; Harold Pollack; Laurence Steinberg |
| Abstract: | There is growing concern that it is too difficult or costly to substantially improve the academic skills of children who are behind in school once they reach adolescence. But perhaps what we have tried in the past relies on the wrong interventions, failing to account for challenges like the increased variability in academic needs during adolescence, or heightened difficulty of classroom management. This study tests the effects of one intervention that tries to solve both problems by simplifying the teaching task: individualized, intensive, in-school tutoring. A key innovation by the non-profit we study (Saga Education) is to identify how to deliver “high-impact tutoring” at relatively low cost ($3,500 to $4,300 per participant per year). Our first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Saga’s tutoring model with 2,633 9th and 10th grade students in Chicago public schools found participation increased math test scores by 0.16 standard deviations (SDs) and increased grades in math and non-math courses. We replicated these results in a separate RCT with 2,710 students and found even larger math test score impacts—0.37 SD—and similar grade impacts. These effects persist into future years, although estimates for high school graduation are imprecise. The treatment effects do not appear to be the result of a generic “mentoring effect” or of changes in social-emotional skills, but instead seem to be caused by changes in the instructional “technology” that students received. The estimated benefit-cost ratio is comparable to many successful model early-childhood programs. |
| JEL: | H0 I0 I20 I23 I3 J24 Z18 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28531&r=all |
| By: | Lorenz, Theresa; Schneebaum, Alyssa |
| Abstract: | On average, boys score higher than girls on math achievement tests and girls score higher than boys in reading. A worrying fact is that these gaps increase between primary and secondary school. This paper investigates the role of early educational tracking (sorting students into different types of secondary schools at an early age) on gender gaps in test achievement. We analyze PISA, PIRLS, and TIMSS data to study how cross-country variation in the age of first tracking affects the country-specifc widening gender gap in a difference-in-differences framework. We find strong evidence that early tracking increases gender differences in reading. Early tracking also increases the gender gap in math scores, but the results for math are sensitive to the year of the dataset analyzed and to the inclusion of particular countries in the analysis. For both subjects, every year for which the age of first tracking is postponed weakens the effect of early tracking on the gender gap in achievement. |
| Keywords: | PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, gender gaps, educational systems, early tracking |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:8031&r=all |
| By: | Corsini, Alberto (Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France); Pezzoni, Michele (Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, Observatoire des Sciences et Techniques, HCERES, OFCE, SciencePo, France, and ICRIOS, Bocconi University, Italy); Visentin, Fabiana (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of the social environment to which a Ph.D. student is exposed on her scientific productivity during the training period. Vertical and horizontal relationships depict the social environment. Vertical relationships are those supervisor-student, while horizontal relationships are those student-peers. We characterize these relationships by assessing how the supervisor's and peers' biographic and academic characteristics relate to the student's productivity as measured by the publication quantity, quality, and scientific network size. Unique to our study, we cover the entire student population of a European country for all the STEM fields. Specifically, we analyse the productivity of 77,143 students who graduated in France between 2000 and 2014. We find that having a female supervisor is associated with a higher student's productivity as well as being supervised by a mid-career scientist and having a supervisor with a high academic reputation. The supervisor's fundraising ability benefits only one specific dimension of the student's productivity, i.e., the student's work quality. Interestingly, the supervisor's mentorship experience negatively associates with student's productivity. Having many peers negatively associates with the student's productivity, especially if peers are senior students. Having female peers positively correlates with the student's productivity, while peers' academic status shows mixed effects according to the productivity dimension considered. We find results heterogeneity when breaking down our sample by field of research. |
| Keywords: | French Ph.D. students, Productivity determinants, Social environment, Supervisor, Peers |
| JEL: | J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2021–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2021011&r=all |
| By: | Simon Lapointe |
| Abstract: | The report examines the results of the Martin Family Initiative's Model Schools Literacy Program (MSLP). The program aims at increasing the literacy of First Nations Children in Canada. The first part of the report reviews the literature on the relationship between literacy and socio-economic outcomes. The second part of the report contains an estimation of the impact of the MSLP or similar programs, if they were expanded to more on-reserve schools in Canada. The report concludes that given the youthfulness of the Indigenous population, and the increasing share of that group in Canada, investing in the education and skills of Indigenous youth, and of First Nations children in particular, is a win-win proposition for all Canadians. The MSLP has shown considerable promise in improving the literacy skills of the participating students. |
| Keywords: | first nations, canada, schools, literacy, education, indigenous, model school, Martin Family Initiative |
| JEL: | D63 I38 I31 J18 J24 J15 J6 K37 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:1916&r=all |
| By: | Sandip Datta (Delhi School of Economics); Geeta Gandhi Kingdon (UCL Institute of Education, London and City Montessori School, Lucknow) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a hurdle model approach to ask whether the extent of gender bias in education expenditure within rural households in India changed over time from 1995 to 2014. Our most striking finding is that there has been a change over time in the way that gender bias is practiced within the household. In 1995, gender bias occurred through a significantly higher probability of school-enrolment of boys than girls, but by 2014, gender bias was practiced via significantly higher conditional education expenditure on boys than girls, and this was largely achieved via pro-male private school enrolment decisions. Households practicing gender equality in school enrolment by 2014 is a positive trend. However, girls’ significant disadvantage vis a vis boys in terms of lower education expenditure, achieved via their lower private school enrolment rate by 2014, is problematic if lower expenditure is associated with lower levels of cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy, etc.) since both individual economic returns and national economic growth accrue to cognitive skills and not independently to completing a given number of years in school. Household fixed effects analysis shows that the observed gender biases are a within-household phenomenon rather than an artefact of differences in unobservables across households. |
| Keywords: | Gender bias, Education expenditure; Education and Gender; India |
| JEL: | I24 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2106&r=all |
| By: | Barbara Biasi; Chao Fu; John Stromme |
| Abstract: | We study the equity-efficiency implication of giving school districts control over teacher pay using an equilibrium model of the market for public-school teachers. Teachers differ in their comparative advantages in teaching low- or high-achieving students. School districts, which serve different student bodies, use both wage and hiring strategies to compete for their preferred teachers. We estimate the model using data from Wisconsin, where districts gained control over teacher pay in 2011. We find that, all else equal, giving districts control over teacher pay would lead to more efficient teacher-district sorting but larger educational inequality. Teacher bonus programs that incentivize comparative advantage-based sorting, combined with bonus rates favoring districts with more low-achieving students, could improve both efficiency and equity. |
| JEL: | I20 J31 J45 J51 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28530&r=all |
| By: | Anustup Kundu; Kunal Sen |
| Abstract: | Most studies of intergenerational mobility focus on adjacent generations, and there is limited knowledge about multigenerational mobility?that is, status transmission across three generations. We examine multigenerational educational and occupational mobility in India, using a nationally representative data set, the Indian Human Development Survey, which contains information about education and occupation for three generations. We find that mobility has increased over generations for education, but not for occupation. |
| Keywords: | multigenerational mobility, Occupational mobility, Educational mobility, India, Mobility, Intergenerational Mobility |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-32&r=all |
| By: | Doon, Roshnie |
| Abstract: | The main aim of this study is to analyse the wage returns of Overeducated workers employed in Trinidad and Tobago. To undertake such a study, data from the Continuous Sample Survey of Population (CSSP) for the period 1991-2015 is used to estimate an initial OLS and Quantile regression version of the Mincerian Earnings equations, which is commonly used in the education mismatch literature. To observe the unconditional partial effects of small changes in wage returns of overeducated workers at the mean, the Recentred Influence Function is estimated. The results reveal that if the earnings of overeducated workers who receive low wages, was replaced with that of high wages, then this would lead to a rise, or shift in the returns of overeducated workers, if only their biographical information is considered. The inclusion of their skill and geographic location would cause their earnings to shift further. The shift in the earnings of overeducated workers, when examined across the wage distribution, would tend to favor those who were married, younger, i.e., in the 25-35 age group, who were highly skilled at their jobs. These groups of overeducated workers would experience the lowest wage penalties in comparison to their single, mature, and semi-skilled colleagues. |
| Keywords: | Job-Education Mismatch,Overeducation,Unconditional Quantile Regression,Trinidad and Tobago |
| JEL: | D31 I26 J31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:797&r=all |
| By: | Sandip Datta (Delhi School of Economics); Geeta Gandhi Kingdon (UCL Institute of Education, London and City Montessori School, Lucknow) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the efficacy of class-size reductions as a strategy to improve pupils’ learning outcomes in India. It uses a credible identification strategy to address the endogeneity of class-size, by relating the difference in a student’s achievement score across subjects to the difference in his/her class size across subjects. Pupil fixed effects estimation shows a relationship between class size and student achievement which is roughly flat or non-decreasing for a large range of class sizes from 27 to 51, with a negative effect on learning outcomes occurring only after class size increases beyond 51 pupils. The class-size effect varies by gender and by subject-stream. The fact that up to a class-size of roughly 40 in science subjects and roughly 50 in non-science subjects, there is no reduction in pupil learning as class size increases, implies that there is no learning gain from reducing class size below 40 in science and below 50 in non-science. This has important policy implications for pupil teacher ratios (PTRs) and thus for teacher appointments in India, based on considerations of cost-effectiveness. When generalised, our findings suggest that India experienced a value-subtraction from spending on reducing class-sizes, and that the US$3.6 billion it spent in 2017-18 on the salaries of 0.4 million new teachers appointed between 2010 and 2017 was wasteful spending rather than an investment in improving learning. We show that India could save US$ 19.4 billion (Rupees 1,45,000 crore in Indian currency) per annum by increasing PTR from its current 22.8 to 40, without any reduction in pupil learning. |
| Keywords: | Class size, student achievement, India |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2021–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2107&r=all |
| By: | Atila Abdulkadiroglu; Umut M. Dur; Aram Grigoryan |
| Abstract: | Proponents of school choice argue that it improves educational outcomes by allowing parents to self-select into schools that are most effective for their children. Contrary to these arguments, empirical evidence suggests that parents may not incorporate school effectiveness or match quality when choosing schools. The findings potentially impugn proponents' effectiveness arguments of choice-based assignment. We develop novel solutions that restore effectiveness by maximizing match quality subject to stability constraints. Maximization algorithms are provided for both small and large school districts. Simulations reveal substantial match quality gains from our solutions compared to the celebrated Deferred Acceptance mechanism with a random tie-breaker. Our methodology can be used to optimize for other policy objectives in school choice or other priority-based matching problems. |
| JEL: | D47 I20 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28512&r=all |
| By: | Oluwabunmi O. Adejumo (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Akintoye V. Adejumo (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | The study examines the dynamic interrelationships among the school enrolment rates and the rate of employment (via unemployment rates) in Nigeria. The study employed Autoregressive estimates and an unrestricted VAR approach to analyze these relationships. The study lends credence to the new-growth theory (i.e. endogenous models) that more investments in human capital, through education especially at higher levels, will allow human capital to evolve dynamically and increase long-run growth in Nigeria. This tendency engenders multiplier effects in stimulating sustainable development given that education-driven growth facilitates employment. The growth literature has been definitive on the role of human capital in achieving long-run economic growth. Therefore, investments in education have been identified as a vital channel for building human capital and achieving long run development objectives. Thus, in the nascent quest for sustainable development, this study takes the new growth theory a step higher by examining the modulating effects of educational-driven growth (i.e. via school enrolments rates) in setting the pace for employment patterns in Nigeria. |
| Keywords: | Education, Employment, Human Capital, Enrolment, Development |
| JEL: | I21 I31 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/013&r=all |
| By: | Oluwabunmi O. Adejumo (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Akintoye V. Adejumo (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | The study examines the dynamic interrelationships among the school enrolment rates and the rate of employment (via unemployment rates) in Nigeria. The study employed Autoregressive estimates and an unrestricted VAR approach to analyze these relationships. The study lends credence to the new-growth theory (i.e. endogenous models) that more investments in human capital, through education especially at higher levels, will allow human capital to evolve dynamically and increase long-run growth in Nigeria. This tendency engenders multiplier effects in stimulating sustainable development given that education-driven growth facilitates employment. The growth literature has been definitive on the role of human capital in achieving long-run economic growth. Therefore, investments in education have been identified as a vital channel for building human capital and achieving long run development objectives. Thus, in the nascent quest for sustainable development, this study takes the new growth theory a step higher by examining the modulating effects of educational-driven growth (i.e. via school enrolments rates) in setting the pace for employment patterns in Nigeria. |
| Keywords: | Education, Employment, Human Capital, Enrolment, Development |
| JEL: | I21 I31 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:21/013&r=all |
| By: | Esteban M. Aucejo; Jacob F. French; Basit Zafar |
| Abstract: | The college experience involves much more than credit hours and degrees. Students likely derive utility from in-person instruction and on-campus social activities. Quantitative measures of the value of these individual components have been hard to come by. Leveraging the COVID-19 shock, we elicit students’ intended likelihood of enrolling in higher education under different costs and possible states of the world. These states, which would have been unimaginable in the absence of the pandemic, vary in terms of class formats and restrictions to campus social life. We show how such data can be used to recover college student’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) for college-related activities in the absence of COVID-19, without parametric assumptions on the underlying heterogeneity in WTP. We find that the WTP for in-person instruction (relative to a remote format) represents around 4.2% of the average annual net cost of attending university, while the WTP for on-campus social activities is 8.1% of the average annual net costs. We also find large heterogeneity in WTP, which varies systematically across socioeconomic groups. Our analysis shows that economically-disadvantaged students derive substantially lower value from university social life, but this is primarily due to time and resource constraints. |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28511&r=all |