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on Education |
| By: | Elke Claes; Léonard Moulin |
| Abstract: | Publicly funded private schooling is a common feature of many education systems, yet its implications for educational equity and effectiveness remain contested. While private schools often exhibit higher student achievement, the sources of this advantage are not well understood. In particular, differences in student composition — especially in terms of socioeconomic status (SES) — are likely to play a key role. This paper examines how school-level SES composition contributes to achievement differences between public and private schools. Using propensity score matching (PSM) on data from 22, 441 French ninth-grade students, we find that private school students outperform their public school peers in math and French, with especially large effects for low-SES students, an underrepresented group in private schools. While school composition explains these effects only to a limited extent, it accounts for most of the performance gap among high-SES students. These findings highlight which students benefit most from private schooling and point to the need for further research into the mechanisms underlying performance differences across school sectors. |
| Keywords: | Private school, Public school, Educational achievement, Propensity score matching, Lower secondary education, School composition, Performance gap, France, REUSSITE SCOLAIRE / EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, CLASSE SOCIALE / SOCIAL CLASSES, ENSEIGNEMENT PRIVE / PRIVATE EDUCATION, FRANCE / FRANCE, ENSEIGNEMENT PUBLIC / PUBLIC EDUCATION |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idg:wpaper:xvml8jub4xmgdo9ye8kk |
| By: | Antonia K. Entorf; Thomas J. Dohmen |
| Abstract: | Personality traits, preferences, and attitudes significantly influence labor market outcomes, and these non‐cognitive skills are shaped by the social environment. While curriculum interventions can impact these skills, the effect of compulsory education on noncognitive skills is less well understood. This study investigates the impact of extending compulsory education by examining educational reforms in four low‐ and middle‐income countries. Utilizing cross‐sectional data from the World Bank’s 2012/2013 initiative, we analyze the within‐country variation in compulsory education years. Our findings indicate that increased compulsory education decreases emotional stability, grit, hostile attribution bias, patience, and willingness to take risks, while enhancing openness to experience and alternative solution or consequential thinking. |
| Keywords: | Non‐cognitive skills, Education, Wage returns, Personality, Economic preferences |
| JEL: | J24 I20 I26 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_674 |
| By: | Brian Stacy; Maryam Akmal; Halsey Rogers; Sergio Venegas Marin; Hersheena Rajaram; Viyaleta Farysheuskaya |
| Abstract: | Using unique nationally representative school and system survey data from 13 education systems in low and middle-income countries collected through the World Bank’s Global Education Policy Dashboard (GEPD), we examine how the pedagogical practices, including practices to foster student engagement and subject content knowledge of primary-school teachers, correlate with their students’ learning outcomes. The authors find that student performance on literacy (and, to a lesser extent, math) assessments are correlated with receiving instruction from teachers with better-measured pedagogical skills. While the better-pedagogy effect is modest for the entire sample, it is statistically robust and quite substantial for the upper-middle-income countries. Based on a sub-sample of those education systems, we also find that using learning strategies that support greater student engagement appears to be highly predictive of student learning outcomes in literacy. Better pedagogical practices correlate with teachers’ exposure to more practical, school-based pedagogical support, for example through induction or mentoring and feedback on lesson plans, and with better teacher evaluation at the school level. The findings confirm the important role of interventions providing direct pedagogical support and feedback to teachers through training, instructional leadership, and evaluation, and they highlight the potential for interventions to foster student engagement and improve learning outcomes. |
| Date: | 2025–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdgens:196418 |
| By: | Bhattacharjee, Sandipa |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits an education policy in India generated by a 2010 schooling reform to examine the effect of education on women's family planning decisions. The key element of the reform was that it required students to complete eight years of primary education (age 6-14 years). I employ an instrumental variable difference-in-difference approach that mea- sures the exogenous variation in treatment intensity in different states across birth cohorts of women measured by birth year and birth months. The reform led to an increase in total years of education, a delay in the age at first marriage, a postponement of sexual activity, and reduced fertility beginning at the age of 22. I also examine the potential mechanisms through which increased education affects fertility. The findings suggest early use of modern contraceptives, reduction in the marital education gap, increased literacy, and utilization of healthcare services contribute to reduced fertility. These results are consistent with the in- creased empowerment of women influencing their fertility decision thereby highlighting the importance of the government's efforts to promote education through policy initiatives. |
| Keywords: | education, fertility, India |
| JEL: | I25 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1588 |