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on Education |
| By: | Ashley C. Craig; David C. Martin; Ashley Craig |
| Abstract: | Does relaxing strict school discipline improve student achievement, or lead to classroom disorder? We study a 2012 reform in New York City public middle schools that eliminated suspensions for non-violent, disorderly behavior. Math scores of students in more-affected schools rose by 0.05 standard deviations over three years relative to other schools. Reading scores rose by 0.03 standard deviations. Only a small portion of these aggregate benefits can be explained by the direct impact of eliminating suspensions on students who would have been suspended under the old policy. Instead, test score gains are associated with improvements in school culture, as measured by the quality of student-teacher relationships and perceptions of safety at school. We find no evidence of trade-offs between students, with students benefiting even if they were unlikely to be suspended themselves. |
| Keywords: | education, school suspension, school discipline, school safety, human capital |
| JEL: | H75 I20 J24 J45 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11756 |
| By: | Raissa Fabregas; Laia Navarro-Sola |
| Abstract: | Millions of children worldwide remain out of school due to the high costs of reaching them and a shortage of qualified teachers. Can ICT-based instruction help close this gap and deliver the long-term benefits of traditional schooling? This paper provides causal evidence on the long-term educational and labor market effects of using ICT to expand last-mile access to post-primary education. We focus on Mexico’s TV-schools –physical lower secondary schools that replace most on-site teachers with televised instruction– one of the largest formal mass media-based education models globally, serving over 1.4 million children every year. Exploiting nationwide geographic variation and cohort exposure to TV-school openings during 1980-2000, we find that high exposure to TV-schools increased lower secondary graduation by 8 percentage points, educational attainment by 0.4 years, and it led to a long-term 8% increase in hourly earnings. We show evidence that most TV-school students would have otherwise remained out of school, and that the labor market returns from additional schooling are comparable to those from standard secondary schools. The program benefits both agrarian and more economically diversified areas, with those in the latter experiencing three times higher earning gains. Our findings show that low-tech, scalable educational models can be a cost-effective way to generate significant labor market returns in underserved regions, even before high-tech solutions become widespread. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11779 |
| By: | Philip Verwimp |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of civil war exposure in (early) childhood on school test scores as a teenager. It uses tests scores from the Concours National in Burundi, a nationwide competitive exam taken at the end of primary school, consisting of four academic disciplines for the period 2010-2012. These data are combined with exposure to civil war at different stages in childhood. The paper finds that an average duration of war exposure from in utero to age 12 (4.3 years) increases the age at which the test is taken with 1.72 years and causes a drop in the test score of 5.5 points on average (which is about 5% of the average grade), of which 1.75 points can be attributed to the scarring effect of war exposure and 3.75 points to the cognitive effect. The effects vary according to the timing of the shocks in childhood and along the distribution of test scores. Boys suffer more from the scarring effect, obtaining significantly lower test scores than girls from taking the exam at a later age, whereas girls suffer more from the cognitive effect of war shocks, conditional on age-at-test. Girl’s performance is more affected than boys for mathematics but not more for languages. The paper finds evidence for a sex-specific selection mechanism in utero. |
| Keywords: | civil war, childhood, education, teenager |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/390055 |
| By: | Katharina Adler; Fabian Kosse; Markus Nagler; Johannes Rincke |
| Abstract: | How do students’ earnings expectations differ by being the first in their family to attend university (FiF) and how do they affect field of study choice? We leverage unique survey and administrative data to document sizable gaps in expected earnings between FiF and non-FiF students. Our data can explain two-thirds of this gap, with the largest share attributable to field of study choice. We show that FiF students sort less into study fields based on their earnings expectations. Investigating potential explanations, we find that in high-earning fields, FiF students expect lower own ability and worse non-wage amenities than non-FiF students. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1221 |
| By: | Thang Dang; Mika Haapanen; Tuomo Suhonen |
| Abstract: | Exploiting the geographical expansion of the Finnish university system, we study the causal effects of education on family health. We find that education has positive im-pacts not only on individuals’ health but also on their parents’ health later in life. An additional year of education decreases the probability of mental health-related hospi-talizations and drug use by 3–4 percentage points while having less significant impacts on early mortality. As for the spillover effects, it increases a mother’s probability of old age survival by 2–3 percentage points, whereas the estimated effects on parents’ mental health and a father’s survival are less significant. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, intergenerational returns to education, higher education, family health, mental health, mortality, Finland |
| JEL: | I15 I23 I26 J14 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–10–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:347 |