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on Education |
| By: | O'Connor, Kelsey J. (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies); Bartolini, Stefano (University of Siena) |
| Abstract: | Schools are ripe for policy intervention. We demonstrate that a greater prevalence of group discussion used in schools positively affects students' life satisfaction and noncognitive skills but has no impact on test scores, based on a sample from the 2015 PISA which includes more than 35 thousand students from approximately 1500 schools in 14 countries. We perform regressions of student life satisfaction on school-level group discussion and lecturing, including a battery of controls and random intercepts by school. For robustness we use instrumental variables and methods to account for school-selection. The impact of group discussion is meaningful – a one-standard-deviation increase leads to an increase in life satisfaction that is about one-half of the negative-association with grade repetition. In contrast, lecturing does not have any effects. We are the first to show group discussion improves student life satisfaction and noncognitive skills, and thereby likely positively affects later-life outcomes. |
| Keywords: | participatory teaching, test scores, noncognitive skills, teaching practices, subjective well-being, horizontal teaching |
| JEL: | I21 I31 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17145 |
| By: | Nicodemo, Catia (University of Oxford); Nicoletti, Cheti (University of York); Vidiella-Martin, Joaquim (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Does deferring school entry for children born just before the enrollment cutoff date improve their mental well-being? We address this question using administrative data on prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in England. Higher ADHD rates among early school starters are often attributed to a peer-comparison bias caused by differences in relative age among classmates. However, previous studies do not consider other potential underlying mechanisms. By adopting a more comprehensive framework, we can confirm that relative age is the primary driver of the gap in ADHD rate in the long term. Furthermore, we find that such a long-term gap is driven by first-time prescriptions between ages 5 and 8, which is a critical period when the accuracy of ADHD diagnosis is most important. Based on these findings, our policy recommendations include sorting children by age and refining diagnostic decision-making in early primary school. |
| Keywords: | children, mental health, school starting age, ADHD, England, NHS |
| JEL: | I10 I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17091 |
| By: | Elasra, Amira (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the association between sets of inputs and the educational outcomes of English adolescents. By linking the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England and Ofsted data, the paper employs the Context-Input-Process-Outcome model to compare the correlation of students and school inputs with their cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. Using Nonlinear Canonical Correlation Analysis, the paper compares the characteristics of the high achievers to those of the low achievers revealing consistency with current findings in the literature. The results reveal that student inputs exert a greater influence than school inputs in revealing these characteristics. Specifically, unlike low achievers high achievers tend to exhibit positive attitudes toward school, benefit from supportive home learning environments, express greater eagerness to pursue university education, and belong to higher socio-economic backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | Educational outcomes ; Nonlinear Canonical Correlation Analysis ; English adolescents |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1503 |
| By: | Berens, Johannes; Henao, Leandro; Schneider, Kerstin |
| Abstract: | Five years after introducing tuition fees, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) abolished them in March 2011. Using student-level panel data, we assess the effects of this reform on academic activity and performance in two universities in NRW: a state university and a private university of applied sciences (UAS). We find that the increasing dropout rates at the state university do not necessarily point to lower ability or motivation, as an important share corresponds to ghost students. Thus, accounting for academic inactivity is essential to prevent the misreporting of dropout rates. Inactive students are attracted to in-kind student benefits or use the university as a bridge to their professional or academic careers. The social costs associated with such inactive students amount to 3.3% of public spending on higher education in NRW. Furthermore, we estimate causal effects solely on active students susceptible of a behavioral adjustment. We consider cohorts that enrolled with tuition fees and employ two-way fixed effects models that account for effect heterogeneity cohorts and study semesters. Students at the state university did not register for fewer exams but passed about 10% fewer credit points per semester after the reform, which is explained by a student effort effect. At the private UAS, students experienced a more substantial decrease in academic performance and were nine percentage points more likely to withdraw from a registered exam. Prospective graduates are the primary drivers of these effects at both institutions, explaining the increased time-to-completion. Consequently, the introduction of moderate tuition fees emerges as an effective policy instrument to encourage students to exert greater effort. |
| Abstract: | Fünf Jahre nach der Einführung von Studiengebühren hat das deutsche Bundesland Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) diese im März 2011 wieder abgeschafft. Anhand von Paneldaten auf Studentenebene untersuchen wir die Auswirkungen dieser Reform auf die akademische Aktivität und Leistung an zwei Hochschulen in NRW: einer staatlichen Universität und einer privaten Fachhochschule (FH). Wir stellen fest, dass die steigenden Abbrecherquoten an der staatlichen Universität nicht notwendigerweise auf eine geringere Leistungsfähigkeit oder Motivation hindeuten, da ein erheblicher Anteil auf Geisterstudenten entfällt. Daher ist die Berücksichtigung der akademischen Inaktivität von entscheidender Bedeutung, um falsche Angaben zu den Abbrecherquoten zu vermeiden. Nichterwerbstätige Studierende werden durch studentische Sachleistungen angezogen oder nutzen die Universität als Brücke zu ihrer beruflichen oder akademischen Laufbahn. Die sozialen Kosten, die mit diesen inaktiven Studierenden verbunden sind, belaufen sich auf 3, 3% der öffentlichen Ausgaben für die Hochschulbildung in NRW. Darüber hinaus schätzen wir kausale Effekte ausschließlich auf aktive Studenten, die für eine Verhaltensanpassung anfällig sind. Wir betrachten Kohorten, die sich mit Studiengebühren eingeschrieben haben, und verwenden Zwei-Wege-Modelle mit fixen Effekten, die die Effektheterogenität von Kohorten und Studiensemestern berücksichtigen. Die Studierenden an der staatlichen Hochschule haben sich zwar nicht für weniger Prüfungen angemeldet, aber nach der Reform etwa 10 % weniger Leistungspunkte pro Semester bestanden, was durch einen studentischen Anstrengungseffekt erklärt wird. An der privaten Fachhochschule hatten die Studierenden einen deutlicheren Leistungsrückgang zu verzeichnen und die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass sie sich von einer angemeldeten Prüfung zurückzogen, war um neun Prozentpunkte höher. Bei beiden Hochschulen sind die angehenden Absolventen die Hauptursache für diese Effekte, was die längere Zeit bis zum Abschluss erklärt. Folglich erweist sich die Einführung von moderaten Studiengebühren als wirksames politisches Instrument, um Studierende zu größeren Anstrengungen zu bewegen. |
| Keywords: | Tuition fees, academic activity, ghost student, TWFE, effect heterogeneity |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I28 H75 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:300569 |
| By: | Biniam Bedasso (Center for Global Development); Amina Mendez Acosta (Consultant) |
| Abstract: | High teacher attrition affects education systems through direct costs in replacing teachers who left the service, and indirect costs in classroom disruption and loss in experience. Efforts to address teacher shortage must be informed by which teachers leave and why. Using administrative data from Burkina Faso, we analyze demographic and geographic correlates of teacher turnover. We find that early career teachers, female teachers, and teachers with tertiary education, are more likely to attrite. Teachers who hold higher positions—such as school principals—have better retention rates. In terms of school-level attrition, rural and remote schools tend to lose teachers to other schools whereas schools in urban or more developed regions are more likely to lose teachers to options outside of the teacher workforce. Finally, we discuss policy options in improving teacher retention given these findings. |
| Date: | 2024–07–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:698 |
| By: | Ortega, Josué; Ziegler, Gabriel; Arribillaga, R. Pablo |
| Abstract: | The Efficiency-Adjusted Deferred Acceptance (EADA) mechanism addresses the Pareto inefficiency of the celebrated Deferred Acceptance (DA) algorithm by assigning every student to a weakly more preferred school. However, it remains uncertain which and how many students do not see an improvement in their DA placement under EADA. We show that, despite its advantages, EADA does not benefit students assigned to their worst-ranked schools or those who remain unmatched under DA. Additionally, it limits the placement improvement of marginalized students, thereby maintaining school segregation. The placement of worst-off students under EADA can be exceptionally poor, even though significantly more egalitarian allocations are possible. Lastly, we provide a bound on the expected number of unimproved students using a random market approach valid for small markets. Our findings shed light on why EADA fails to mitigate the inequality produced by DA in empirical evaluations. |
| Keywords: | School choice, efficiency-adjusted deferred acceptance |
| JEL: | C78 D47 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qmsrps:202405 |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh H.; Do, Minh N. N.; Cuong Viet Nguyen |
| Abstract: | Very few studies have examined the impacts of both climate change and air pollution on student education outcomes, particularly in a developing country setting. Analyzing a rich database consisting of household and school surveys, test scores, and temperature and air pollution data over the past decade for Viet Nam, we find that a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration in the month preceding exams leads to 0.015 and 0.010 standard deviation decreases in math and reading scores, respectively. We also find some indicative evidence of stronger impacts of air pollution for younger, primary school students who reside in urban areas and in districts with higher temperatures. While we find some mixed effects of temperature, we do not find significant effects on students' test scores for temperature extremes and air pollution over the past 12 months. Our findings offer policy-relevant inputs for the country's ongoing efforts to fight air pollution. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, climate change, weather extremes, education, Viet Nam |
| JEL: | O12 I10 Q53 Q54 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1464 |
| By: | Carlos J. Gil-Hernández (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze); Mar C. Espadafor (University of Turku, Invest, Sociology) |
| Abstract: | Teachers are academic merit gatekeepers. Yet their potential role in reproducing inequality via assessments was overlooked or not correctly identified, being an elephant in the classroom. This article teases if teacher grades and track recommendations are biased by student SES or unobserved ability, leading to overestimation in prior research. Using the German NEPS panel across elementary education, we identify student ability with multiple cognitive and noncognitive composite measures and an instrumental variable design. We further assess heterogeneity along the ability distribution to test whether, according to the compensatory hypothesis, teacher bias is largest among low-performers. First, accounting for measurement error, teacher bias declines by 40%, indicating substantial overestimation in previous studies. Second, it concentrates on underperformers, suggesting high-SES parental compensatory strategies to boost teacher assessments. Thus, families and teachers might influence each other in the evaluation process. We discuss the findings’ theoretical and methodological implications for teacher bias as an educational reproduction mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Teacher assessments; teacher bias and discrimination; class inequality; educational transitions; tracking recommendations; standardized testing; grades; longitudinal studies of education |
| JEL: | I24 C10 C26 C23 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2024_05 |