|
on Education |
|
Issue of 2026–01–26
twenty-one papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão, Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Cansu Altepe; Fabienne Chetail; Catherine Dehon |
| Abstract: | Low success rates in the first year of university remain a major challenge. To improve studentsuccess, a Belgian university implemented a targeted academic support program combining adiagnostic test assessing subject-specific skills with remedial courses designed to reinforcethese skills. This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of this program, using a propensityscore matching method to estimate the causal effect of participation in remedial courses onstudents’ academic achievement at the end of their first year at university. Based on data from1, 038 first-year students identified as academically at risk through a diagnostic test, the resultsshow that students who regularly attended remedial courses succeeded better than comparablepeers who did not participate. The effect increased with the attendance rate, highlighting theimportance of sustained engagement in the support program. These findings provide strongevidence that early, targeted academic interventions can improve first-year outcomes amongunderprepared students in non-selective higher education contexts. |
| Keywords: | Higher education; cademic success; support program; program effectiveness; propensity score matching |
| JEL: | I21 C21 I28 |
| Date: | 2026–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/401516 |
| By: | Bojidara Doseva; Catherine Dehon; Antonio Estache |
| Abstract: | The paper reports the results of an experiment designed to compare the impact on financial literacy skills of primary school students of a switch from a traditional pedagogical approach supported by textbooks to one relying on AI-supported methods favouring the gamification of the learning process. The study focuses on 152 students aged 8 to 11 distributed across six classes in a Bulgarian public school. The results show an important statistically significant literacy improvement for the treatment group. It also discusses the contextual dimensions accounted for in control variables that may lead to outcome differences according to the families’ socio-economic background. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence; Education and Training; Financial Markets; Household Finance |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/401374 |
| By: | Fischer, Mira; Rau, Holger A.; Rilke, Rainer Michael |
| Abstract: | We study how AI tutoring affects learning in higher education through a randomized experiment with 334 university students preparing for an incentivized exam. Students either received only textbook material, restricted access to an AI tutor requiring initial independent reading, or unrestricted access throughout the study period. AI tutor access raises test performance by 0.23 standard deviations relative to control. Surprisingly, unrestricted access significantly outperforms restricted access by 0.21 standard deviations, contradicting concerns about premature AI reliance. Behavioral analysis reveals that unrestricted access fosters gradual integration of AI support, while restricted access induces intensive bursts of prompting that disrupt learning flow. Benefits are heterogeneous: AI tutors prove most effective for students with lower baseline knowledge and stronger self-regulation skills, suggesting that seamless AI integration enhances learning when students can strategically combine independent study with targeted support. |
| Keywords: | AI Tutors, Large Language Models, Self-regulated Learning, Higher Education |
| JEL: | C91 I21 D83 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:335027 |
| By: | Silke Anger; Bernhard Christoph; Agata Galkiewicz; Shushanik Margaryan; Malte Sandner; Thomas Siedler |
| Abstract: | Tutoring programs for low-performing students, delivered in-person or online, effectively enhance school performance, yet their medium- and longer-term impacts on labor market outcomes remain less understood. To address this gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial with 839 secondary school students in Germany to examine the effects of an online tutoring program for low-performing students on academic performance and school-to-work transitions. The online tutoring program had a non significant intention to-treat effect of 0.06 standard deviations on math grades six months after program start. However, among students who had not received other tutoring services prior to the intervention, the program significantly improved math grades by 0.14 standard deviations. Moreover, students in non-academic school tracks experienced smoother school-to-work transitions, with vocational training take-up 18 months later being 5 percentage points higher—an effect that was even larger (12 percentage points) among those without prior tutoring. Overall, the results indicate that tutoring can generate lasting benefits for low-performing students that extend beyond school performance. |
| Keywords: | online tutoring, randomized controlled trial, disadvantaged youth, school grades, school-to-work transition |
| JEL: | C93 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–12–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0084 |
| By: | Joshua Angrist; Andres Santos; Otávio Tecchio |
| Abstract: | Many instrumental variables applications specify a single Bernoulli treatment. But instruments may change outcomes through multiple pathways or by varying treatment intensity. Lottery instruments that boost charter school enrollment, for instance, may affect outcomes by lengthening time enrolled in a charter school and by moving students between charter schools of different types. We analyze the identification problem such scenarios present in a framework that generalizes the always-taker/never-taker/complier partition of treatment response types to cover a wide range of multinomial and ordered treatments with heterogenous potential outcomes. This framework yields novel estimators in which a single randomly assigned instrument identifies (i) causal effects averaged over complier types and (ii) a causal conditional expectation function that captures effects for each element in a set of response types. Three empirical applications demonstrate the utility of these results. The first extends an earlier analysis of the Head Start Impact Study allowing for multiple fallbacks. The second examines two causal channels for the impact of post-secondary financial aid on degree completion. The third estimates effects of additional births (an ordered treatment) on mothers’ earnings. |
| JEL: | C14 C21 C26 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34607 |
| By: | Martha Bailey; Paul Mohnen; A.R. Shariq Mohammed |
| Abstract: | We construct two new large-scale datasets to measure relative and upward educational mobility by sex, race, class, and childhood county of residence for cohorts born in 1910–1919 and 1982–1997. We show that both relative and upward educational mobility rose over the 20th century, with historically disadvantaged groups experiencing the largest gains. We also document substantial geographic convergence over the 20th century: both within and across regions, where children live matters much less for their educational mobility today than it did at midcentury. Using a state-border design, we show that greater public investments in primary and secondary education were an important driver of upward educational mobility in the early and late 20th century, but public investments in postsecondary education emerged as a similarly important determinant in the late 20th century. |
| Keywords: | education; inequality; intergenerational mobility |
| JEL: | J62 I24 I28 N32 |
| Date: | 2026–01–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:102338 |
| By: | Katharina Drescher |
| Abstract: | I study the impact of school social workers on youth crime and education. As a political reaction to a school rampage, a large German state introduced funding for school social workers, resulting in a strong increase in their numbers. Using the spatial and temporal variation in its implementation and unique administrative crime data, I find that school social workers reduce youth crime by 17% per year, lower victimization from violent crimes, and help uncover sexual offenses. They also improve educational outcomes by reducing grade retention. The results emphasize the crucial role of school personnel beyond teachers in shaping youth development. |
| Keywords: | School Social Work, Education, Crime, Victimization, Youth |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J13 K42 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:246_drescher.rdf |
| By: | Feng, Shuaizhang; Gan, Yu; Han, Yujie; Kautz, Tim |
| Abstract: | China's One-Child Policy (OCP) restricted most couples to a single birth, leading to a rapid increase in the prevalence of only children. Using longitudinal data and a regression discontinuity design around the policy's start, we estimate the effects on grandchildren's human capital. We find that children with only-child mothers perform significantly better in cognitive skills (0.71 SD) and noncognitive skills (0.50 SD) than comparable peers. The effects are larger for boys, consistent with son preference, and for those with less-educated grandparents, for whom quantity-quality trade-offs are more applicable. Additionally, we find that only-child parents have higher educational attainment and provide more favorable home environments, which may explain their children's advantages in human capital outcomes. These findings suggest that, in the presence of quantity-quality trade-offs, fertility restrictions can improve human capital across multiple generations. |
| Keywords: | One-Child Policy, Child development, Cognitive and noncognitive skills, Intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | J13 J24 I2 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1706 |
| By: | Antoine Platteau; Philippe Emplit; Dorothée Baillet; Catherine Dehon |
| Abstract: | Faced with high failure rates in higher education, many institutions have introduced learning support programs to enhance student success. This study evaluates the causal impact of a peer tutoring program in the low-tuition, open-access context of French-speaking Belgian universities, using data from the Université libre de Bruxelles. Applying propensity score matching, results show that tutoring improves first-year students’ grades, by 1 to 2.5 points out of 20 and enables one third of participants to pass courses they would otherwise have failed. These findings complete existing evidence from selective systems and highlight peer tutoring as a cost-effective way to promote success. |
| Keywords: | Student Learning Support; Peer Tutoring; Academic Performance; Belgian Higher Education; Impact Evaluation; Propensity Score Matching |
| JEL: | I21 I23 C31 C35 |
| Date: | 2026–01–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/401509 |
| By: | Dominic Kelly (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities); Lindsey Macmillan (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities); Jake Anders (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities) |
| Abstract: | At age 16, young people in England make important decisions about their educational pathways. The `academic pathway' is the result of enrolling in A level qualifications, which are typically necessary for admission to undergraduate education. Within the academic pathway, evidence suggests that a young persons' A level subject choices additionally shape their access to the selective universities. To date, there is little evidence on trends in the participation of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in these `academic tracks' in the English education system. In this paper, we provide new evidence using data from three cohorts across 15 years: the Next Steps study, Millennium Cohort Study and COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities study. We focus on tracking levels of inequalities in whether to engage in academic pathways based on social origin (family background) and social context (social deprivation by geography). Results provide little evidence of change in the proportion of low socioeconomic status young people studying for A level qualifications, or in the reduction of inequalities in those studying for high return subjects. There is, however, consistent indication that social origin is more predictive of decisions made at age 16 than social context. Further research will engage with the historical contexts of these cohort studies (i.e., the raising of the participation age) to understand the impact of specific policies regarding socioeconomic inequalities in education pathways. |
| Keywords: | inequalities, social origin, social context, academic track, curricular differentiation, cross-cohort |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:26-01 |
| By: | Riley K. Acton; Camila Morales; Kalena Cortes; Julia A. Turner; Lois Miller |
| Abstract: | We provide the first descriptive analysis of the economic value of Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) degrees by examining graduates’ early-career earnings, the costs of completing these programs, and the alignment between field of study and subsequent employment. Using administrative data and controlling for institution and field, we find that CCB graduates earn $4, 000 to $9, 000 more annually than Associate’s (AA) degree holders one year after graduation but experience average earnings penalties of roughly $2, 000 relative to traditional Bachelor’s (BA) recipients. These averages mask substantial heterogeneity: penalties are largest in Computer and Information Technology and Engineering Technology, whereas CCB graduates in Nursing, other Healthcare fields, Business, and Criminal Justice exhibit minimal or no penalties. To contextualize these returns, we analyze tuition and fee structures across CCB-granting institutions and identify two dominant pricing models—constant and escalating. Total CCB program costs fall between those of AA and BA degrees, with escalating structures increasing upper-division prices by about 40 percent. Finally, we examine field-to-industry match patterns and find that CCB graduates in fields with well-defined occupational pathways, such as Health Professions and Education, are highly concentrated in aligned industries, while graduates in more diffuse fields, such as Computer Science, are more broadly dispersed. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34684 |
| By: | Antonio Cabrales; Esther Hauk |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model to understand the conditions under which groups within a society choose between a collaborative and an individualist approach to education. A key feature of the model is the presence of externalities, which can lead to multiple equilibria. This framework helps explain the persistence of diverse local educational cultures, even within relatively homogeneous countries. These features yield important and subtle insights for public policy. Policymakers may need to focus either on shifting beliefs or enhancing the abilities of parents and teachers. We also analyze the incentives driving segregation in education and explore potential policy responses. |
| Keywords: | collaborative learning, Coordination, education policy, Externalities, local interaction, multiple equilibria, parental educational styles, peer effects, school choice, segregation |
| JEL: | I21 D62 C72 I28 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1546 |
| By: | James Alm (Tulane University); Patrick Button (Tulane University); Christine P. Smith (Tulane University); Toni Weiss (Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | Many colleges have attempted to deal with student cheating by using "academic honesty statements, " or statements that students must read and acknowledge that they will follow. In this paper, we conduct a randomized controlled experiment that investigates the impact of academic honesty statements on college student examination performance, using an objective measure of student examination performance as a proxy for student cheating. Overall, we find no statistically significant differences in the test performance of students who are given the academic honesty statements and students who are not given these statements. These results indicate that academic honesty statements do not affect student performance in a significant way, so that their use is unlikely to be a reliable tool in reducing cheating. However, other explanations are possible. |
| Keywords: | Student cheating; academic misconduct; academic integrity; nudges; priming; randomized control trial |
| JEL: | A22 I21 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2510 |
| By: | Philip Oreopoulos; Oliver Keyes-Krysakowski; Deepak Agarwal |
| Abstract: | Computer-assisted learning (CAL) platforms frequently underperform at scale not because the technology is ineffective, but because schools face substantial implementation frictions: teachers and administrators must overcome initial technical hurdles, reorganize instructional routines, manage competing scheduling pressures, and do so while uncertain about the technology’s effectiveness—conditions that often lead to low and unproductive student engagement. This study explores whether strengthening implementation structure can raise both the quantity and quality of CAL usage in 83 residential government middle schools in Uttar Pradesh, India and, in turn, learning gains. All schools had access to Khan Academy, but randomly selected treatment schools received on-the-ground lab-in-charges whose sole responsibility was to ensure high-fidelity implementation by securing reliable connectivity, simplifying student rostering, protecting weekly practice time, supervising in-class use, coordinating content with teachers, and monitoring progress. The intervention increased platform usage from 7.2 to 47.4 minutes per week. Mathematics achievement rose by almost half a standard deviation over 31 weeks, with gains broad-based across achievement levels and question difficulty. These results show that the central constraint on effective and scalable CAL is not technology or content, but the presence of organizational structures that ensure sustained, productive instructional use. |
| JEL: | I2 I25 I3 O2 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34683 |
| By: | Kai Marquardt; Robert Hanak; Anne Koziolek; Lucia Happe |
| Abstract: | This study offers new insights into students' interest in computer science (CS) education by disentangling the distinct effects of age and gender across a diverse adolescent sample. Grounded in the person-object theory of interest (POI), we conceptualize enthusiasm as a short-term, activating expression of interest that combines positive affect, perceived relevance, and intention to re-engage. Experiencing such enthusiasm can temporarily shift CS attitudes and strengthen future engagement intentions, making it a valuable lens for evaluating brief outreach activities. To capture these dynamics, we developed a theoretically grounded questionnaire for pre-post assessment of the enthusiasm potential of CS interventions. Using data from more than 400 students participating in online CS courses, we examined age- and gender-related patterns in enthusiasm. The findings challenge the prevailing belief that early exposure is the primary pathway to sustained interest in CS. Instead, we identify a marked decline in enthusiasm during early adolescence, particularly among girls, alongside substantial variability in interest trajectories across age groups. Crucially, our analyses reveal that age is a more decisive factor than gender in shaping interest development and uncover key developmental breakpoints. Despite starting with lower baseline attitudes, older students showed the largest positive changes following the intervention, suggesting that well-designed short activities can effectively re-activate interest even at later ages. Overall, the study highlights the need for a dynamic, age-sensitive framework for CS education in which instructional strategies are aligned with developmental trajectories. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.08472 |
| By: | Gong, Binlei; Hu, Peinan; Jin, Songqing; Yuan, Lingran |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates how the weakening of restrictive government labor institutions influences labor reallocation by utilizing an unique institution change, which commonly referred as the 'Hukou reform' in China on internal migration and employment. We create a reform exposure variable by combining a 'link factor', which is the past migration patterns, and a 'pull factor', which is the Hukou reform in potential migration destinations, to capture the effects of Hukou reform across all provinces on an individual's labor decisions. We also classify the reform into different categories based on their relevance to rural residents' labor decisions. Our findings reveal that lower barriers to migration resulting from the Hukou reform significantly impact migration and job occupation. Notably, only the most relevant category of reform has significant effects. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:361187 |
| By: | Hector Galindo-Silva; Paula Paula Herrera-Idarraga |
| Abstract: | How do religious identities change? We study the effects of civic education reforms on religious identification using Colombia's 1991 Constitution, which dismantled the country's confessional regime and mandated constitutional instruction in high schools. Exploiting cohort-based variation in exposure to the reform and nationally representative survey data, we implement a difference-in-differences design. We find that exposure to the constitutional curriculum reduced Catholic self-identification by about three percentage points. This decline reflects a reallocation of religious identities rather than a generalized decline in religiosity. In regions where Catholic institutional presence was historically weaker, Catholic losses translate into switching toward non-Catholic Christian denominations and higher religious attendance. In contrast, in regions where Catholic dominance was stronger, the decline is associated with increased secular identification and lower attendance. These patterns hold across ethnic and non-ethnic groups and are shaped primarily by regional religious supply rather than ethnicity per se. Overall, the results show that civic education can reconfigure religious identities by reshaping the relative legitimacy of competing affiliations. |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2601.09561 |
| By: | Villar Onrubia Daniel (European Commission - JRC); Cachia Romina (European Commission - JRC); Rietz Christian; Feltrero Roberto; Niemi Hannele; Hallissy Michael; Reuter Robert |
| Abstract: | This study examines the views of early adopters of generative AI (GenAI) in secondary education, exploring emerging practices and perceptions across five EU Member States. The study, based on the views of educators, school leaders, students, and policymakers, highlights that GenAI offers new opportunities for teaching and learning while also posing important challenges By understanding the experiences and considerations of these early adopters, the study provides valuable insights into key aspects of an effective and responsible approach to adopting GenAI in secondary education. The findings inform recommendations for policymakers and school leaders, emphasising the importance of ethical uses and highlighting the need to redefine AI literacy and digital education competence in the lights of this emerging technologies. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc144345 |
| By: | Shanoyan, Aleksan; Britton, Logan L.; Bergtold, Jason S.; Hobbs Jr., Lonnie; Sharma, Priyanka |
| Abstract: | The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping teaching in higher education. This study examines how instructors’ perceptions of AI’s instructional impact relate to their personal AI use, teaching experience, disciplinary affiliation, and exposure to AI-specific training. Drawing on survey data from over 600 faculty at a land-grant university, we use regression and latent class analysis to explore variation in perception and adoption. Results highlight that daily teaching use and interactive training formats are associated with more favorable views. Findings offer guidance for developing faculty support strategies and training programs that foster effective and context-aware AI integration. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:361162 |
| By: | Busato, Patrizia; Berruto, Remigio; Sopegno, Alessandro; Rosso, Marco |
| Abstract: | The FOODLAB project develop a project-based learning approach and an entrepreneurial spirit in students, foster interactions between stakeholders in Food innovation and guide the development of innovative projects for Ecotrophelia, the European competition on food innovation that bring hundreds of students to compete at European level with their idea. The FOODLAB project enable the setting up of a European Foodbusiness Transfer Laboratory to create/help future entrepreneurs, with dedicated modules to promote interactions with food companies, technical centres, research centres or business companies. In FOODLAB project is we reach the aim to provide an innovative tools to help to build business models, business plans to serve students, high education institutions, and SMEs. The tool built for this purpose is a client server application, highly customizable to follow the target needs. It allows to setup a complete business model and business plan providing template, defaults sentences, available example of business plan. The tool incorporate in a customizable template and related information to built-in high quality business plans, and provide kind of expert knowledge base for those who need a business plan or document to promote their idea or agrifood product for development. The tool was validated with success by a team of students that participate to Ecotrophelia Italy 2016. Training modules and guidelines are also available to facilitate the use of the tool. The tool can be used by students of High Education Institution, or workers and managers for training by also for business model and business plan implementation. The tool showed a great potential to develop of targeted, standard business models and business plans that could be transferable to other domains or tailored to a specific type of product or food innovation. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ief017:258162 |
| By: | Marco Schmandt; Constantin Tielkes; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | Many studies exploit the random placement of individuals into groups such as schools or regions to estimate the effects of group-level variables on these individuals. Assuming a simple data generating process, we show that the typical estimate contains three components: the causal effect of interest, “multiple-treatment bias” (MTB), and “mobility bias” (MB). The extent of these biases depends on the interrelations of group-level variables and onward mobility. We develop a checklist that can be used to assess the relevance of the biases based on observable quantities. We apply this framework to novel administrative data on randomly placed refugees in Germany and confirm empirically that MTB and MB cannot be ignored. The biases can even switch the signs of estimates of popular group-level variables, despite random placement. We discuss implications for the literature and alternative “ideal experiments". |
| Keywords: | random placement, group assignment, peer effects, refugee integration, random dispersal policy |
| JEL: | F22 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0085 |