Economics of Education Review最新文献

This paper uses rich administrative data from Chile to estimate teacher value added (TVA) on test scores and on an educational attainment index. We allow each teacher to have a different TVA for male and female students and show that differences in TVA explain an important part of the gender gaps we observe in test scores and postsecondary education trajectories. The gaps in gender-specific teaching effectiveness are especially pronounced in mathematics. Indeed, eliminating within-teacher differences in math test score VA would reduce the gender gap in math performance by 67%. We explore what could be behind these gaps in gender-specific TVA and find no significant differences in what makes teachers effective for male and female students. We do find, however, significant associations between teacher characteristics—e.g., gender and performance in the college admission exam—and practices—e.g., paying attention to low-performing students, congratulating students who improve, and having a good relationship with students—with teacher effectiveness. Finally, we also show that math teachers tend to be biased in favor of male students and that teachers with smaller gender biases are more effective for both, male and female students.

Approximately 770 million adults worldwide are classified as illiterate, with women and individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia bearing the heaviest burden. Despite the potential for adult education programs to bridge this gap, such programs are often plagued by low enrollment, high dropout and limited skills acquisition. While there is a relative paucity of economic research on adult learning as compared with primary and secondary schooling interventions, recent research in educational neuroscience and economics offers some insights into addressing the barriers to adult learning. We review these insights and offer some concrete recommendations for adult education programs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Gender gaps in mathematics are at the root of gender differences in human capital accumulation, but the role of teaching practices on such gaps has been underinvestigated. We implement a teaching methodology to improve children's mathematical skills and evaluate the causal effect of the intervention on the gender gap in mathematics in Italy with a randomised controlled trial. The methodology, grounded in active and cooperative learning, focuses on peer interaction, sharing of ideas, learning from mistakes, and problem-solving. The treatment significantly improves girls’ math performance (0.14 standard deviations), with no impact on boys, and reduces the math gender gap by about 40 %. The effect is stronger for girls with high pre-test scores.

Educational outcomes have many determinants, but one that most young people can readily control is choosing whether to work while in school. Sixty-nine studies have estimated the effect, but results vary from large negative to positive estimates. We show that the results are systematically driven by context, publication bias, and treatment of endogeneity. Studies neglecting endogeneity suffer from an upward bias, which is almost fully compensated by publication selection in favor of negative estimates. Overall the literature suggests a negative but economically inconsequential mean effect. The effect is more substantive for decisions to drop out. To derive these results we collect 861 previously reported estimates together with 32 variables reflecting estimation context, use recently developed techniques to correct for publication bias, and employ Bayesian model averaging to assign a pattern to the heterogeneity in the literature.

The shift to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of digital technology in education. Many schools today provide personal computers not only to older students, but also in primary school. There is little credible evidence of the effects of one-to-one (1:1) computer programs among younger students. We investigate how 1:1 technology impacts student performance in primary school in Sweden. Using an event study design, and data from an expansion that took place before the pandemic, we examine effects of 1:1 technology on national standardized test results in math, Swedish, and English in grade 6. We find no important effects on student performance on average.

Four-day school weeks are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but prior research is ambiguous regarding their impacts on achievement. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we conduct the most representative student-level analysis to date of the effects of four-day weeks on student achievement and within-year growth using NWEA MAP Growth data. We estimate significant negative effects of the schedule on spring reading achievement (-0.07 SD) and fall-to-spring gains in math (-0.05 SD) and reading (-0.06 SD). The negative effects of the schedule are disproportionately driven by adoptions in non-rural schools and are larger for female students. For policymakers and practitioners, this study provides evidence supporting concerns about four-day school weeks’ effects on student achievement and growth, particularly in non-rural areas.

We investigate the impact of groundwater contamination on educational outcomes in India. Our study leverages variations in the geographical coverage and timing of construction of safe government piped water schemes to identify the effects of exposure to contaminants. Using self-collected survey data from public schools in Assam, one of the most groundwater-contaminated regions in India, we find that prolonged exposure to unsafe groundwater is associated with increased school absenteeism, grade retention, and decreased test scores and Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). To complement our findings and to study the effect of one such contaminant, arsenic, we use a large nationally representative household survey. Using variations in soil textures across districts as an instrument for arsenic concentration levels we find that exposure to arsenic beyond safe threshold levels is negatively associated with school attendance.

The extent to which pandemic-induced public school enrollment declines will persist is unclear. Student-level data from Michigan through fall 2021 yields three relevant findings. First, relative to pre-pandemic trends, fall 2021 enrollment had partially recovered for low-income, Black, and Hispanic students, but had declined further for non-low-income, White, and Asian students. Second, annual public school exit rates remained elevated for elementary students and accelerated further for middle school students. Third, public school exit is sticky and varies by chosen alternative. Only 21 percent of those who left for private schools in fall 2020 had returned by fall 2021, while 50 percent of those who left for homeschooling had returned. These findings suggest that pandemic-driven public school enrollment declines may persist, and more so among higher income families.

Rural schools are usually behind in terms of learning, and this could be partly related to geographical isolation. We explore this hypothesis, assessing the causal effect of the distance between schools, towns, and State capitals on elementary school test scores. We use granular administrative records from Colombia and estimate spatial regression discontinuity models. Results indicate that the distance to both towns and State capitals negatively affect students test scores. The differences in educational inputs, such as teachers education attainment and contract stability, partly explain these gaps. A program providing monetary incentives to teachers in difficult access areas fails to attenuate the isolation effect.

In this paper, we show that the public provision of information on Australian schools’ average national test score outcomes via the My School website, launched in 2010, resulted in poorly performing schools testing fewer students in subsequent years. This increased non-participation in testing was driven primarily by formal parental withdrawal, and poorly performing students were much more likely to be withdrawn from testing. This phenomenon is consistent with schools attempting to ‘game’ the system to improve published test scores. We also provide weaker evidence that withdrawal responded more strongly to initial poor performance in independent private schools than in government schools.