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on Education |
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Issue of 2025–08–25
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Tanaka, Ryuichi (University of Tokyo); Wang, Tong (Ritsumeikan University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of class-size reduction on students’ academic outcomes, with a particular emphasis on its heterogeneity based on classmates’ characteristics. We estimate the causal effects of class-size reduction on students’ mathematics and language test scores by controlling for student and teacher fixed effects. To address potential endogeneity, we employ the predicted class size with a cap as an instrumental variable for the actual class size. Utilizing rich panel data on Japanese primary school students, our findings indicate a positive and robust average effect of class-size reduction on mathematics test scores. Furthermore, we find that classes with high-ability classmates benefit even more from class-size reduction in terms of language test scores. The effect of class-size reduction on mathematics test scores is found to depend positively on the ability of the lowest-achieving student in a class. Additionally, classes with a higher proportion of female students tend to benefit more from class-size reduction. Our results lend support to the theoretical framework proposed by Lazear (2001). |
| Keywords: | class-size reduction, test scores, education, ability, heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J13 J18 N35 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18025 |
| By: | McLean, Andrew; McVicar, Duncan |
| Abstract: | This paper presents sibling fixed effects estimates of the relationship between school exclusion and subsequent academic achievement from population-wide administrative data on English secondary school students. It complements a growing base of quasi-experimental and individual fixed effects evidence on exclusion effects in predominantly US settings. We find that being excluded is negatively associated with subsequent achievement at school. We assess the extent to which this might reflect a negative causal impact of exclusion. |
| Keywords: | school exclusion, educational achievement, sibling fixed effects, administrative data |
| JEL: | I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qmsrps:202506 |
| By: | Rowland, Neil; Jahanshahi, Babak; McVicar, Duncan; Miller, Corina |
| Abstract: | Exclusion is a disciplinary practice used by headteachers which removes misbehaving pupils from the classroom or from the school, either temporarily or permanently. Its growing use has led to increased concern about potential negative effects on excluded pupils, including on their educational achievement. This paper estimates the effect of being excluded on subject test scores and teacher assessment outcomes using detailed administrative data on an entire cohort of pupils in the English state school system. To mitigate selection bias, we use a novel empirical approach for this literature which compares excluded pupils with pupils who experienced exclusion after outcomes were measured but not before. We find that excluded pupils perform worse in subsequent tests and teacher assessments, with 0.03-0.07 standard deviation lower standardised test scores and 2.5-3.6 percentage point higher probability of not reaching the expected level in teacher assessments. We assess the extent to which these estimated associations might reflect a negative causal impact of exclusion. |
| Keywords: | school exclusion, educational achievement, administrative data |
| JEL: | I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qmsrps:202507 |
| By: | Robbie Maris (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) & Education Policy Institute (EPI)) |
| Abstract: | Upper secondary education is critical in preparing young people for further study. This paper explores how various upper-secondary education pathways influence students' progression to further study, shedding light on their effectiveness in expanding educational opportunities. Using linked English administrative data, we compare progression outcomes across a range of pathways, including the brand new T level vocational pathway and the increasingly popular mixed (academic and vocational) track. We consider progression across three dimensions - overall progression to further study, progression to high-quality further study and preparedness for further study, proxied by drop out rates. We find that students on the new T level pathway are more likely to progress to higher technical qualifications and advanced apprenticeships than all other pathways. However, T level students are significantly less likely to enter university and, when they do, are disproportionately represented in lower-tariff institutions and courses. This is despite policy promises that T levels would be a "springboard" to higher education (HE). Conditional on progressing to further study, T level students are well prepared for their chosen course of study and they drop out at significantly lower rates than other learners. We also show that some pathways are more effective at supporting low SES students in progressing to further study. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education, Progression, Qualifications, UK, Vocational |
| JEL: | D39 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:25-08 |
| By: | Glenn Ellison; Parag A. Pathak |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model of education production and uses it to study optimal school system and curriculum design. Curriculum design is modeled as a time-allocation problem. A school teaches students many skills and allocates time to different skills based on student characteristics. Our framework provides a novel interpretation of studies that find zero achievement effects at selective school admission cutoffs. We show that such findings may be consistent with highly effective schools implementing optimal curricula, rather than necessarily indicating ineffective schools. The interpretation depends on the alignment between measured outcome skills and skills emphasized in the curriculum. We test several model predictions using data from a prominent exam school and find supporting evidence that would be difficult to rationalize if selective schools were ineffective. |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34091 |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A. (Stanford University); Kang, Le (Nanjing University); Li, Xueying (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics); Zhang, Lei (Zhejiang University) |
| Abstract: | The changing pattern of quality in China’s rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having different sites of basic education provide for direct estimation of provincial school quality. Corroborating this approach, these school quality estimates prove to be highly correlated with provincial cognitive skill test scores for the same demographic group. Returns to quality increase with economic development level of destination cities. Importantly, quality appears higher and provincial variation appears lower for younger cohorts, indicating at least partial effectiveness of more recent policies aimed at improving rural school quality across provinces. Surprisingly, however, provincial variations in quality are uncorrelated with teacher-student ratio or per student spending. |
| Keywords: | migration, school quality, China |
| JEL: | I25 J6 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18030 |
| By: | Axel Eizmendi Larrinaga; Germ\'an Reyes |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the timing of monetary transfers to low-income families affects students' cognitive performance on high-stakes standardized tests. We combine administrative records from the world's largest conditional cash transfer program with college admission exam results of 185, 000 high school students from beneficiary families. Exploiting random variation in payment dates, we find that receiving the transfer in the days preceding the exam increases test scores by 0.01 standard deviations relative to receiving it the subsequent week. Question-level analysis reveals that effects are concentrated in final questions and easier questions, suggesting improved cognitive endurance and effort allocation. The impacts are largest for recipients of larger transfers, who experience persistent gains in human capital accumulation: their college enrollment increases by 0.6 percentage points, with higher graduation and formal employment rates seven years later. Our findings show that short-term liquidity constraints during high-stakes events can have long-lasting implications, and suggest opportunities to improve social programs through improved payment scheduling. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2507.21393 |