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Abdulkadiroglu, Atila, Joshua D. Angrist and Parag A. Pathak (2014).
The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York Exam Schools.
In: Econometrica
82(1)
, 137-196
.
Abstract.
Link.
Parents gauge school quality in part by the level of student achievement and a school's racial and socioeconomic mix. The importance of school characteristics in the housing market can be seen in the jump in house prices at school district boundaries where peer characteristics change. The question of whether schools with more attractive peers are really better in a value-added sense remains open, however. This paper uses a fuzzy regression-discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effects of peer characteristics. Our design exploits admissions cutoffs at Boston and New York City's heavily over-subscribed exam schools. Successful applicants near admissions cutoffs for the least selective of these schools move from schools with scores near the bottom of the state SAT score distribution to schools with scores near the median. Successful applicants near admissions cutoffs for the most selective of these schools move from above-average schools to schools with students whose scores fall in the extreme upper tail. Exam school students can also expect to study with fewer nonwhite classmates than unsuccessful applicants. Our estimates suggest that the marked changes in peer characteristics at exam school admissions cutoffs have little causal effect on test scores or college quality. [close]
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Abdulkadiroğlu, Atila, Joshua D. Angrist, Susan M. Dynarski, Thomas J. Kane and Parag A. Pathak (2011).
Accountability and Flexibility in Public Schools: Evidence from Boston's Charters and Pilots.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
126(2)
, 699-748
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use student assignment lotteries to estimate the effect of charter school attendance on student achievement in Boston. We also evaluate a related alternative, Boston's pilot schools. Pilot schools have some of the independence of charter schools but are in the Boston Public School district and are covered by some collective bargaining provisions. Lottery estimates show large and significant score gains for charter students in middle and high school. In contrast, lottery estimates for pilot school students are mostly small and insignificant, with some significant negative effects. Charter schools with binding assignment lotteries appear to generate larger gains than other charters. [close]
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Ahlin, Åsa (2003).
Does School Competition Matter? Effects of a Large-Scale School Choice Reform on Student Performance.
Uppsala University - Department of Economics Working Paper 2003:2.
Abstract.
Link.
The effect of a general school choice reform on student performance is studied in a Swedish institutional setting. A rich set of individual level data allows estimation of a value added specification, mitigating problems with omission of relevant variables. Increased school competition is shown to have statistically significant positive effects on student performance in mathematics, but no significant effects in English and Swedish. Interacting school competition with student characteristics, the results indicate that immigrant students and those in need of special education tend to gain more from increased school competition than others, while adverse effects on students from low education families are found in terms of English and Swedish performance. However, quantile regressions indicate homogeneous effects on low and high performing students. [close]
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Angrist, Joshua D. and Stacey H. Chen (2011).
Schooling and the Vietnam-Era GI Bill: Evidence from the Draft Lottery.
In: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
3(2)
, 96-118
.
Abstract.
Link.
Draft-lottery estimates of the causal effects of Vietnam-era military service using 2000 census data show marked schooling gains for veterans. We argue that these gains can be attributed to Vietnam veterans' use of the GI Bill rather than draft avoidance behavior. At the same time, draft lottery estimates of the earnings consequences of Vietnam-era service are close to zero in 2000. The earnings and schooling results can be reconciled by a flattening of the age-earnings profile in middle age and a modest economic return to the schooling subsidized by the GI Bill. Other long-run consequences of Vietnam-era service include increases in migration and public sector employment. [close]
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Angrist, Joshua D., Eric Bettinger and Michael Kremer (2006).
Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia.
In: American Economic Review
96(3)
, 847-862
.
Link.
[close]
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Angrist, Joshua D., Parag A. Pathak and Christopher R. Walters (2013).
Explaining Charter School Effectiveness.
In: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
5(4)
, 1-27
.
Abstract.
Link.
Lottery estimates suggest Massachusetts' urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond that of traditional urban public schools students, while nonurban charters reduce achievement from a higher baseline. The fact that urban charters are most effective for poor nonwhites and low-baseline achievers contributes to, but does not fully explain, these differences. We therefore link school-level charter impacts to school inputs and practices. The relative efficacy of urban lottery sample charters is accounted for by these schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to urban education. In our Massachusetts sample, Non-No-Excuses urban charters are no more effective than nonurban charters. [close]
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Argys, Laura M., Daniel I. Rees and Dominic J. Brewer (1996).
Detracking America's Schools: Equity at Zero Cost?.
In: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
15(4)
, 623-645
.
Abstract.
Link.
Schools across the country are ending the practice of grouping students based on ability, in part because of research indicating that tracking hurts low-ability students without helping students of other ability levels. Using a nationally representative survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the authors reexamine the impact of tracking on high school student achievement through the estimation of a standard education production function. This approach allows them to control for the possibility that track is correlated with factors such as class size and teacher education. In addition, the authors address the possibility that there are unobserved student or school characteristics that affect both achievement and track placement. The authors' results indicate that abolishing tracking in America's schools would have a large positive impact on achievement for students currently in the lower tracks, but that this increase in achievement would come at the expense of students in upper-track classes. [close]
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Ballou, Dale (2001).
Pay for Performance in Public and Private Schools.
In: Economics of Education Review
20(1)
, 51-61
.
Abstract.
Link.
Previous research on teacher merit pay has concluded that its failure is due to the complexity of teachers' jobs and the need for teamwork and cooperation in schools. This research re-opens the issue by comparing the use of merit pay in public and private schools. Merit pay is used in a large number of private schools. Awards are not trivial; nor is it the case that merit pay is awarded to nearly everyone. Reasons for the failure of merit pay are not inherent in teaching, but are due to specific circumstances in public education, notably the opposition of teacher unions. [close]
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Barankay, Iwan and Ben Lockwood (2007).
Decentralization and the Productive Efficiency of Government: Evidence from Swiss Cantons.
In: Journal of Public Economics
91(5-6)
, 1197-1218
.
Abstract.
Link.
Advocates of fiscal decentralization argue that among other benefits, it can increase the efficiency of delivery of government services. This paper is one of the first to evaluate this claim empirically by looking at the association between expenditure decentralization and the productive efficiency of government using a data set of Swiss cantons. We first provide careful evidence that expenditure decentralization is a powerful proxy for legal local autonomy. Further panel regressions of Swiss cantons provide robust evidence that more decentralization is associated with higher educational attainment. We also show that these gains lead to no adverse effects across education types but that male students benefited more from educational decentralization closing, for the Swiss case, the gender education gap. [close]
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Baude, Patrick L., Marcus Casey, Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin (2014).
The Evolution of Charter School Quality.
NBER Working Paper 20645.
Abstract.
Link.
Studies of the charter school sector typically focus on head-to-head comparisons of charter and traditional schools at a point in time, but the expansion of parental choice and relaxation of constraints on school operations is unlikely to raise school quality overnight. Rather, the success of the reform depends in large part on whether parental choices induce improvements in the charter sector. We study quality changes among Texas charter schools between 2001 and 2011. Our results suggest that the charter sector was initially characterized by schools whose quality was highly variable and, on average, less effective than traditional public schools. However, exits from the sector, improvement of existing charter schools, and positive selection of charter management organizations that open additional schools raised average charter school effectiveness over time relative to traditional public schools. Moreover, the evidence is consistent with the belief that a reduction in student turnover as the sector matures, expansion of the share of charters that adhere to a No Excuses philosophy, and increasingly positive student selection at the times of both entry and reenrollment all contribute to the improvement of the charter sector. [close]
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Bauer, Philipp and Regina T. Riphahn (2006).
Timing of School Tracking as a Determinant of Intergenerational Transmission of Education.
In: Economics Letters
91(1)
, 90-97
.
Abstract.
Link.
We test with Swiss data whether intergenerational educational mobility is affected by the time at which pupils are first streamed in secondary school. Late tracking significantly affects mobility and reduces the relative advantage of children of better educated parents. [close]
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Bettinger, Eric P. (2012).
Paying to Learn: The Effect of Financial Incentives on Elementary School Test Scores.
In: Review of Economics and Statistics
94(3)
, 686-698
.
Abstract.
Link.
Policymakers and academics are increasingly interested in applying financial incentives to individuals in education. This paper presents evidence from a pay-for-performance program taking place in Coshocton, Ohio. Since 2004, Coshocton has provided cash payments to students in grades 3 through 6 for successful completion of their standardized testing. Coshocton determined eligibility for the program using randomization. Using this randomization, this paper identifies the effects of the program on students' academic behavior. We find that math scores improved about 0.15 standard deviations but that reading, social science, and science test scores did not improve. [close]
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Bettinger, Eric and Robert Slonim (2006).
Using Experimental Economics to Measure the Effects of a Natural Educational Experiment on Altruism.
In: Journal of Public Economics
90(8-9)
, 1625-1648
.
Abstract.
Link.
Economic research examining how educational intervention programs affect primary and secondary schooling focuses largely on test scores although the interventions can affect many other outcomes. This paper examines how an educational intervention, a voucher program, affected students' altruism. The voucher program used a lottery to allocate scholarships among low-income applicant families with children in K-8th grade. By exploiting the lottery to identify the voucher effects, and using experimental economic methods, we measure the effects of the intervention on children’s altruism. We also measure the voucher program’s effects on parents' altruism and several academic outcomes including test scores. We find that the educational intervention positively affects students' altruism towards charitable organizations but not towards their peers. We fail to find statistically significant effects of the vouchers on parents' altruism or test scores. [close]
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Betts, Julian R. and Jamie L. Shkolnik (2000).
The Effects of Ability Grouping on Student Achievement and Resource Allocation in Secondary Schools.
In: Economics of Education Review
19(1)
, 01-15
.
Abstract.
Link.
A school policy of grouping students by ability has little effect on average math achievement growth. Unlike earlier research, this paper also finds little or no differential effects of grouping for high-achieving, average, or low-achieving students. One explanation is that the allocation of students and resources into classes is remarkably similar between schools that claim to group and those that claim not to group. The examination of three school inputs: class size, teacher education, and teacher experience, indicates that both types of schools tailor resources to the class ability level in similar ways, for instance by putting low-achieving students into smaller classes. [close]
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Bishop, John H. (2006).
Drinking from the Fountain of Knowledge: Student Incentive to Study and Learn – Externalities, Information Problems and Peer Pressure.
In: Eric A. Hanushek, Finis Welch (eds.).
Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 2.
Amsterdam:
North-Holland
, 909-944
.
Abstract.
Link.
Students face four decision margins: (a) How many years to spend in school, (b) What to study. (c) How much effort to devote to learning per year and (d) Whether to disrupt or assist the learning of classmates. This paper reviews an emerging economic literature on the effects of and determinants of student effort and cooperativeness (c and d above) and how putting student motivation and behavior at center of one’s theoretical framework changes one’s view of how schools operate and how they might be made more effective. In this new framework students have a dual role. They are both (1) investors/consumers who choose which goals to focus on and how much effort to put into each goal and (b) workers getting instruction and guidance from their first-line supervisors, the teachers. I present a simple model where the behavior of students, teachers and administrators depends on the incentives facing them and the actions of the other actors in the system. The incentives, in turn, depend upon the cost and reliability of the information (signals) that is generated about the various inputs and outputs of the system. Our review of empirical research support many of the predictions of the model. Student effort, engagement and discipline vary a lot within schools, across schools and across nations and have significant effects on learning. Higher extrinsic rewards for learning are associated the taking of more rigorous courses, teachers setting higher standards and more time devoted to homework. Taking more rigorous courses and studying harder increase student achievement. Post World War II trends in study effort and course rigor are positively correlated with achievement trends. Even though, greater rigor improves learning, parents and students prefer easy teachers.They pressure tough teachers to lower standards and sign up for courses taught by easy graders. Curriculum-based external exit examinations improve the signaling of academic achievement to colleges and the labor market and this increases extrinsic rewards for learning. Cross section studies suggest that CBEEES result in greater focus on academics, more tutoring of lagging students, more homework and higher levels of achievement. Minimum competency examinations do not have significant effects on learning or dropout rates but they do appear to have positive effects on the reputation of high school graduates. As a result, students from MCE states earn significantly more than students from non-MCE states and the effect lasts at least eight years. Students who attend schools with studious well-behaved classmates learn more.Disruptive students generate negative production externalities and cooperative hard-working students create positive production externalities. Norms of student peer cultures often encourage student disruptions and harass nerds. In addition, learning is poorly signaled to employers and colleges. Thus, market signals and the norms of student peer culture do not internalize the externalities that are pervasive in school settings and as a result, students typically devote less effort to studying than the parents and the public would wish. [close]
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Bishop, John H. (1997).
The Effect of National Standards and Curriculum-Based Exams on Achievement.
In: American Economic Review
87(2)
, 260-264
.
Abstract.
Link.
Our review of the evidence suggests that the claims of the advocates of standards and examination based reform of American secondary education may be right. The countries and Canadian provinces with such systems outperform other countries at comparable levels of development. In addition, New York State, the only state with a CBEEE, does remarkably well on the SAT test when student demography is held constant (Bishop 1996). CBEEEs are not, however, the most important determinant of achievement levels. CBEEEs are common in developing nations where achievement levels are often quite low [eg. Columbia and Iran]. Belgium, by contrast, has a top quality education system without having a CBEEE. More research on the effects of CBEEEs is clearly in order. [close]
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Bishop, John H. and Ludger Woessmann (2004).
Institutional Effects in a Simple Model of Educational Production.
In: Education Economics
12(1)
, 17-38
.
Abstract.
Link.
The paper presents a model of educational production which tries to make sense of recent evidence on effects of institutional arrangements on student performance. In a simple principal-agent framework, students choose their learning effort to maximize their net benefits, while the government chooses educational spending to maximize its net benefits. In the jointly determined equilibrium, schooling quality is shown to depend on several institutionally determined parameters. The impact on student performance of institutions such as central examinations, centralization versus school autonomy, teachers' influence, parental influence, and competition from private schools is analyzed. Furthermore, the model can rationalize why positive resource effects may be lacking in educational production. [close]
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Bloom, Nicholas, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen (2015).
Does Management Matter in Schools.
In: Economic Journal
125(584)
, 647-674
.
Abstract.
Link.
We collect data on management practices in over 1,800 high schools in eight countries. We show that higher management quality is strongly associated with better educational outcomes. The UK, Sweden, Canada and the US obtain the highest management scores, followed by Germany, with a gap before Italy, Brazil and India. We also show that autonomous government schools (government funded but with substantial independence like UK academies and US charters) have higher management scores than regular government or private schools. Almost half of the difference between the management scores of autonomous and regular government schools is accounted for principal leadership and governance. [close]
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Bradley, Steve and Jim Taylor (2004).
The Economics of Secondary Schooling.
In: Geraint Johnes and Jill Johnes (eds.).
International Handbook on the Economics of Education.
Cheltenham:
Elgar
.
Link.
[close]
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Bradley, Steve, Geraint Johnes and Jim Millington (2001).
The Effect of Competition on the Efficiency of Secondary Schools in England.
In: European Journal of Operational Research
135(3)
, 545-568
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper we calculate the technical efficiencies, based upon multiple outputs – school exam performance and attendance rates – of all secondary schools in England over the period 1993–1998. We then estimate models to examine the determinants of efficiency in a particular year, and the determinants of the change in efficiency over the period. Our results suggest that the greater the degree of competition between schools the more efficient they are. The strength of this effect has also increased over time which is consistent with the evolution of the quasi-market in secondary education. Competition is also found to be an important determinant of the change in efficiency over time. There is, however, some evidence of conditional convergence between schools. [close]
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Brunello, Giorgio and Daniele Checchi (2005).
School quality and family background in Italy.
In: Economics of Education Review
24(5)
, 563-577
.
Abstract.
Link.
We study whether the combined significant reduction in the pupil–teacher ratio and increase in parental education observed in Italy between the end of the second World War and the end of the 1980s have had a significant impact on the educational attainment and the labor market returns of a representative sample of Italians born between 1941 and 1970. We find that the lower pupil–teacher ratio is positively correlated with higher educational attainment, but that the overall improvement of parental education has had an even stronger impact on attainment. We also find that the positive impact of better school quality on educational attainment and returns to education has been particularly significant for the individuals born in regions and cohorts with poorer family background. Parental education has had asymmetric effects, positive on attainment and negative on school returns. Better school quality has also had asymmetric effects on the returns to education, positive for individuals with poor family background and negative for individuals born in regions and cohorts with relatively high parental education. Our evidence suggests that better school quality, measured by a lower pupil–teacher ratio, is a technical substitute to parental education in the production of individual human capital. When school quality and family background are substitutes, an increase of public resources invested in education can be used to reduce the differences induced by parental education. [close]
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Brunello, Giorgio and Lorenzo Rocco (2008).
Educational Standards in Private and Public Schools.
In: Economic Journal
118(533)
, 1866-1887
.
Abstract.
Link.
When school quality increases with the educational standard set by schools, education before college need not be a hierarchy with private schools offering better quality than public schools. In our model, private schools can offer a lower educational standard at a positive price because they attract students with a relatively high cost of effort, who would find the high standards of public schools excessively demanding. We estimate the key parameters of the model and show that majority voting supports a system where private schools have higher quality in the US and public schools have higher quality in Italy. [close]
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Brunello, Giorgio and Massimo Giannini (2004).
Stratified or Comprehensive? The Economic Efficiency of School Design.
In: Scottish Journal of Political Economy
51(2)
, 173-193
.
Abstract.
Link.
We study the efficiency of secondary school design by focusing on the degree of differentiation between vocational and general education. Using a simple model of endogenous job composition, we analyze the interaction between relative demand and relative supply of skills and characterize efficient school design when the government runs schools and cares about total net output. We show that neither a comprehensive nor a stratified system unambiguously dominates the other system in terms of efficiency for all possible values of the underlying parameters. Since comprehensive systems generate more equal labour market outcomes, it follows that the relationship between efficiency and equity in secondary education is not necessarily a trade off. [close]
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Brunello, Giorgio, Margherita Fort and Guglielmo Weber (2009).
Changes in Compulsory Schooling, Education and the Distribution of Wages in Europe.
In: Economic Journal
119(536)
, 516-539
.
Abstract.
Link.
Using data from 12 European countries and the variation across countries and over time in the changes of minimum school leaving age, we study the effects of the quantity of education on the distribution of earnings. We find that compulsory school reforms significantly affect educational attainment, especially among individuals belonging to the lowest quantiles of the distribution of ability. There is also evidence that additional education reduces conditional wage inequality, and that education and ability are substitutes in the earnings function. [close]
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Brunello, Giorgio, Massimo Giannini and Kenn Ariga (2007).
The Optimal Timing of School Tracking.
In: Peterson, P. and Woessmann, L. (2007).
Schools and the Equal Opportunity Problem.
, 129-158
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this chapter, we develop a simple model which determines the optimal timing of school tracking as the outcome of the trade off between the advantages of specialization, which call for early tracking, and the costs of early selection, which call instead for later tracking. The optimal tracking time is the time which maximizes total output net of schooling costs. We calibrate the model for Germany and study how relative demand shifts toward more general skills and changes in the (exogenous) rate of technical progress affect the optimal tracking time as well as the allocation of students to schools. [close]
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Böhlmark, Anders and Mikael Lindahl (2015).
Independent Schools and Long-Run Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Sweden's Large Scale Voucher Reform.
In: Economica
82(327)
, 508-551
.
Abstract.
Link.
We estimate effects on educational outcomes from the expansion of the independent school sector in Sweden, which followed as a consequence of the radical 1992 voucher reform. Using variation in this expansion across municipalities, we find that an increase in the share of independent school students improves average short- and long-run outcomes, explained primarily by external effects (e.g. school competition). For most outcomes, we observe significant effects first a decade after the reform. By using regional level TIMSS data, we can reconcile our results with the negative national trend for Swedish students in international achievement tests. [close]
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Böhlmark, Anders, Chang-Tai Hsieh and Mikael Lindahl (2006).
Did school choice in Sweden improve academic achievement?.
Mimeo:
Stockholm University
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper evaluates these arguments by assessing the impact of a school reform implemented in Sweden in the early 1990s that significantly increased the choice of schools available to Swedish families. There were three key elements of the 1991-92 reforms. First, financial responsibility for public schools was transferred from a National Board of Education to local municipalities. Second, while every student were required to attend the public school in their neighborhood prior to the reforms, many municipalities allowed students to choose between any public school in the municipality after 1991/92. Third, every municipality were required to provide non-public (i.e. independent) schools with a grant equivalent to almost all of the average expenditure in the municipal public school system for each student enrolled in the private schools. [close]
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Carnoy, Martin and Susan Loeb (2002).
Does External Accountability Affect Student Outcomes? A Cross-state Analysis. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
In: Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
24(4)
, 305-331
.
Abstract.
Link.
We developed a zero-to-five index of the strength of accountability in 50 states based on the use of high-stakes testing to sanction and reward schools, and analyzed whether that index is related to student gains on the NAEP mathematics test in 1996–2000. The study also relates the index to changes in student retention in the 9th grade and to changes in high school completion rates over the same period. The results show that students in high-accountability states averaged significantly greater gains on the NAEP 8th-grade math test than students in states with little or no state measures to improve student performance. Furthermore, students in high-accountability states do not have significantly higher retention or lower high school completion rates. [close]
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Chen, Zhiqi and Edwin G. West (2000).
Selective Versus Universal Vouchers: Modeling Median Voter Preferences in Education.
In: American Economic Review
90(5)
, 1520-1534
.
Abstract.
Link.
Under the majority voting rule, a system of universally available vouchers (UV) is politically less feasible than a system of selective vouchers (SV) confined to families with incomes equal to or less than median voter income. After the introduction of UV, public expenditure on education will have to be shared with previous private school users. Per capita expenditure will then drop and/or tax will increase. Since these events will injure the median voter, he will reject UV. He will be indifferent between the status quo and SV. Indifference will turn into enthusiasm however, if, as can be expected, the new regime (SV) brings effective new competition. [close]
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Chubb, John E. and Terry M. Moe (1990).
Politics, Markets, and America's Schools.
Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution Press
.
Abstract.
Link.
During the 1980s, widespread dissatisfaction with America's schools gave rise to a powerful movement for educational change, and the nation's political institutions responded with aggressive reforms. Chubb and Moe argue that these reforms are destined to fail because they do not get to the root of the problem. The fundamental causes of poor academic performance, they claim, are not to be found in the schools, but rather in the institutions of direct democratic control by which the schools have traditionally been governed. Reformers fail to solve the problem-when the institutions ARE the problem. The authors recommend a new system of public education, built around parent-student choice and school competition, that would promote school autonomy-thus providing a firm foundation for genuine school improvement and superior student achievement. [close]
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Clark, Damon (2009).
The Performance and Competitive Effects of School Autonomy.
In: Journal of Political Economy
117(4)
, 745-783
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper studies a recent British reform that allowed public high schools to opt out of local authority control and become autonomous schools funded directly by the central government. Schools seeking autonomy had only to propose and win a majority vote among current parents. Almost one in three high schools voted on autonomy between 1988 and 1997, and using a version of the regression discontinuity design, I find large achievement gains at schools in which the vote barely won compared to schools in which it barely lost. Despite other reforms that ensured that the British education system was, by international standards, highly competitive, a comparison of schools in the geographic neighborhoods of narrow vote winners and narrow vote losers suggests that these gains did not spill over. [close]
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Cullen, Julie B., Brian A. Jacob and Steven D. Levitt (2005).
The Impact of School Choice on Student Outcomes: An Analysis of the Chicago Public Schools.
In: Journal of Public Economics
89(5-6)
, 729-760
.
Abstract.
Link.
Current education reform proposals involve improving educational outcomes through forms of market-based competition and expanded parental choice. In this paper, we explore the impact of choice through open enrollment within the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Roughly half of the students within CPS opt out of their assigned high school to attend other neighborhood schools or special career academies and magnet schools. Access to school choice dramatically increases student sorting by ability relative to neighborhood assignment. Students who opt out are more likely to graduate than observationally similar students who remain at their assigned schools. However, with the exception of those attending career academies, the gains appear to be largely spurious driven by the fact that more motivated students are disproportionately likely to opt out. Students with easy geographical access to a range of schools other than career academies (who presumably have a greater degree of school choice) are no more likely to graduate on average than students in more isolated areas. We find no evidence that this finding can be explained by negative spillovers to those who remain that mask gains to those who travel. Open enrollment apparently benefits those students who take advantage of having access to vocational programs without harming those who do not. [close]
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Dee, Thomas S. and Brian A. Jacob (2011).
The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Student Achievement.
In: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
30(3)
, 418-446
.
Abstract.
Link.
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act compelled states to design school accountability systems based on annual student assessments. The effect of this federal legislation on the distribution of student achievement is a highly controversial but centrally important question. This study presents evidence on whether NCLB has influenced student achievement based on an analysis of state-level panel data on student test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The impact of NCLB is identified using a comparative interrupted time series analysis that relies on comparisons of the test-score changes across states that already had school accountability policies in place prior to NCLB and those that did not. Our results indicate that NCLB generated statistically significant increases in the average math performance of fourth graders (effect size 5 0.23 by 2007) as well as improvements at the lower and top percentiles. There is also evidence of improvements in eighth-grade math achievement, particularly among traditionally low-achieving groups and at the lower percentiles. However, we find no evidence that NCLB increased fourth-grade reading achievement. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [close]
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Deming, David J., Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz (2012).
The For-Profit Postsecondary School Sector: Nimble Critters or Agile Predators?.
In: Journal of Economic Perspectives
26(1)
, 139-64
.
Abstract.
Link.
Private for-profit institutions have been the fastest-growing part of the U.S. higher education sector. For-profit enrollment increased from 0.2 percent to 9.1 percent of total enrollment in degree-granting schools from 1970 to 2009, and for-profit institutions account for the majority of enrollments in non-degree-granting postsecondary schools. We describe the schools, students, and programs in the for-profit higher education sector, its phenomenal recent growth, and its relationship to the federal and state governments. Using the 2004 to 2009 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) longitudinal survey, we assess outcomes of a recent cohort of first-time undergraduates who attended for-profits relative to comparable students who attended community colleges or other public or private non-profit institutions. We find that relative to these other institutions, for-profits educate a larger fraction of minority, disadvantaged, and older students, and they have greater success at retaining students in their first year and getting them to complete short programs at the certificate and AA levels. But we also find that for-profit students end up with higher unemployment and "idleness" rates and lower earnings six years after entering programs than do comparable students from other schools and that, not surprisingly, they have far greater default rates on their loans. [close]
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Deming, David J., Justine S. Hastings, Thomas J. Kane and Douglas O. Staiger (2014).
School Choice, School Quality and Postsecondary Attainment.
In: American Economic Review
104(3)
, 991-1013
.
Abstract.
Link.
We study the impact of a public school choice lottery in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools on college enrollment and degree completion. We find a significant overall increase in college attainment among lottery winners who attend their first choice school. Using rich administrative data on peers, teachers, course offerings and other inputs, we show that the impacts of choice are strongly predicted by gains on several measures of school quality. Gains in attainment are concentrated among girls. Girls respond to attending a better school with higher grades and increases in college-preparatory course-taking, while boys do not. [close]
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Dixit, Avinash (2002).
Incentives and Organizations in the Public Sector: An Interpretative Review.
In: Journal of Human Resources
37(4)
, 696-727
.
Abstract.
Link.
The paper begins with a brief overview of the theory of incentives, with special attention to issues that are important in the public sector, in general and human capital in particular. It then reviews some case studies and empirical studies of incentives in the public sector, examining how these studies relate to the theory. Some implications for reform and de- sign of organizations are drawn. [close]
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Dobbie, Will, and Roland G. Fryer, Jr. (2013).
Getting beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City.
In: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
5(4)
, 28-60
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, we collect data on the inner-workings of 39 charter schools and correlate these data with school effectiveness. We find that traditionally collected input measures -- class size, per-pupil expenditure, teacher certification, and teacher training -- are not correlated with school effectiveness. In stark contrast, we show that an index of five policies suggested by qualitative research -- frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time, and high expectations -- explains approximately 45 percent of the variation in school effectiveness. The same index provides similar results in a separate sample of charter schools. [close]
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Duflo, Esther, Pascaline Dupas and Michael Kremer (2011).
Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya.
In: American Economic Review
101(5)
, 1739-1774
.
Abstract.
Link.
To the extent that students benefit from high-achieving peers, tracking will help strong students and hurt weak ones. However, all students may benefit if tracking allows teachers to better tailor their instruction level. Lower-achieving pupils are particularly likely to benefit from tracking when teachers have incentives to teach to the top of the distribution. We propose a simple model nesting these effects and test its implications in a randomized tracking experiment conducted with 121 primary schools in Kenya. While the direct effect of high-achieving peers is positive, tracking benefited lower-achieving pupils indirectly by allowing teachers to teach to their level. [close]
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Epple, Dennis, Elizabeth Newlon and Richard Romano (2002).
Ability Tracking, School Competition, and the Distribution of Educational Benefits.
In: Journal of Public Economics
83(1)
, 01-48
.
Abstract.
Link.
To study the effects of ability grouping on school competition, we develop a theoretical and computational model of tracking in public and private schools. We examine tracking's consequences for the allocation of students of differing abilities and income within and between public and private schools. Private schools tend to attract the most able and wealthiest students, and rarely track in equilibrium. Public sector schools can maximize attendance by tracking students. Public schools retain a greater proportion of higher-ability students by tracking, but lose more wealthy, lower-ability students to the private sector. Consequently, socioeconomic status is a predictor of track assignment in public schools. For the entire population, public-sector tracking has small aggregate effects on achievement and welfare, but results in significant redistribution from lower- to higher-ability students. [close]
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Falch, Torberg, Marte Rønning and Bjarne Strøm (2006).
A cost model of schools: School size, school structure and student composition.
In: N. Soguel and P. Jaccard (eds.).
Governance and performance of education systems.
Springer
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper analyses the relationship between school resources and school characteristics in compulsory schooling. We argue that it is inherently difficult to estimate a “cost function” that can predict how much it costs to deliver a given level of output in terms of student performance. The literature has not established a convincing positive relationship between school production and school financial resources. Instead, it is possible to estimate a reduced form model relating resource use per student to different school and student body characteristics, leaving aside school outputs from the model. By condition on school district fixed effects, effectively eliminating from the model variation in demand for education across school districts, this model can be interpreted as a within-district “allocation model” of school spending. We use data from Norway and find that resource use is diminishing within the whole range of school size observed. Further, the results clearly show that extra resources are allocated to minority students and students with special needs. [close]
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Ferreyra, Maria M. (2007).
Estimating the Effects of Private School Vouchers in Multidistrict Economies.
In: American Economic Review
97(3)
, 789-817
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper estimates a general equilibrium model of school quality and household residential and school choice for economies with multiple public school districts and private (religious and nonsectarian) schools. The estimates, obtained through full-solution methods, are used to simulate two large-scale private school voucher programs in the Chicago metropolitan area: universal vouchers and vouchers restricted to nonsectarian schools. In the simulations, both programs increase private school enrollment and affect household residential choice. Under nonsectarian vouchers, however, private school enrollment expands less than under universal vouchers, and religious school enrollment declines for large nonsectarian vouchers. Fewer households benefit from nonsectarian vouchers. [close]
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Figlio, David N. and Cecilia Elena Rouse (2006).
Do Accountability and Voucher Threats Improve Low-Performing Schools?.
In: Journal of Public Economics
90(1-2)
, 239-255
.
Abstract.
Link.
We study the effects of the threat of vouchers and stigma in Florida on the performance of “low-performing” schools. Estimates of the change in raw test scores from the first year of the reform are consistent with the early results which claimed large improvements associated with the threat of vouchers. However, we also find that much of this estimated effect may be due to other factors. The relative gains in reading are largely explained by changing student characteristics and the gains in math—though larger—appear limited to the high-stakes grade. We also find some evidence that these improvements were due more to the stigma of receiving the low grade rather than the threat of vouchers. [close]
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Figlio, David N. and Marianne E. Page (2002).
School Choice and the Distributional Effects of Ability Tracking: Does Separation Increase Inequality?.
In: Journal of Urban Economics
51(3)
, 497-514
.
Abstract.
Link.
Tracking programs have been criticized on the grounds that they harm disadvantaged children. The bulk of empirical research supports this view. These studies are conducted by comparing outcomes for across students placed in different tracks. Track placement, however, is likely to be endogenous with respect to outcomes. We use a new strategy for overcoming the endogeneity of track placement and find no evidence that tracking hurts low-ability children. We also demonstrate that tracking programs help schools attract more affluent students. Previous studies have been based on the assumption that students' enrollment decisions are unrelated to whether or not the school tracks. When we take school choice into account, we find evidence that low-ability children may be helped by tracking programs. [close]
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Figlio, David N. and Maurice E. Lucas (2004).
Do High Grading Standards Affect Student Performance?.
In: Journal of Public Economics
88(9)
, 1815-1834
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper explores the effects of high grading standards on student test performance in elementary school. While high standards have been advocated by policy-makers, business groups, and teacher unions, very little is known about their effects on outcomes. Most of the existing research on standards is theoretical, generally finding that standards have mixed effects on students. However, very little empirical work has to date been completed on this topic. This paper provides the first empirical evidence on the effects of grading standards, measured at the teacher level. Using an exceptionally rich set of data including every third, fourth, and fifth grader in a large school district over four years, we match students’ test score gains and disciplinary problems to teacher-level grading standards. In models in which we control for student-level fixed effects, we find substantial evidence that higher grading standards benefit students, and that the magnitudes of these effects depend on the match between the student and the classroom. While dynamic selection and mean reversion complicate the estimated effects of grading standards, they tend to lead to understated effects of standards. [close]
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Filer, Randall K. and Daniel Münich (2013).
Responses of Private and Public Schools to Voucher Funding.
In: Economics of Education Review
34
, 269–285
.
Abstract.
Link.
The post-communist Czech Republic provides a laboratory in which to investigate possible responses to the adoption of universal education vouchers. Private schools appear to have arisen in response to distinct market incentives. They are more common in fields where public school inertia has resulted in an under-supply of available slots. They are also more common where the public schools appear to be doing a worse job in their primary educational mission, as demonstrated by the success rate of academic secondary schools in obtaining university admission for their graduates. Public schools facing private competition improve their performance. They spend a larger fraction of their resources on classroom instruction and significantly reduce class sizes. Furthermore, Czech public academic secondary schools facing significant private competition by 1996 substantially improved their relative success in obtaining university admissions for their graduates between 1996 and 1998. The rise of private schools, however, also spurred maneuvering by the administrations of public schools to preserve these schools’ entrenched position, pointing out how important it is that any voucher system be simple and leave as little opportunity as possible for discretionary actions on the part of implementing officials. [close]
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Friedman, Milton (1962).
Capitalism and Freedom.
Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
.
Abstract.
In the classic bestseller, Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman presents his view of the proper role of competitive capitalism--the organization of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market--as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. Beginning with a discussion of principles of a liberal society, Friedman applies them to such constantly pressing problems as monetary policy, discrimination, education, income distribution, welfare, and poverty. [close]
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Fryer, Roland G. (2011).
Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
126(4)
, 1755-1798
.
Abstract.
Link.
This article describes a series of school-based field experiments in over 200 urban schools across three cities designed to better understand the impact of financial incentives on student achievement. In Dallas, students were paid to read books. In New York, students were rewarded for performance on interim assessments. In Chicago, students were paid for classroom grades. I estimate that the impact of financial incentives on student achievement is statistically 0, in each city. Due to a lack of power, however, I cannot rule out the possibility of effect sizes that would have positive returns on investment. The only statistically significant effect is on English-speaking students in Dallas. The article concludes with a speculative discussion of what might account for intercity differences in estimated treatment effects. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press. [close]
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Fuchs, Thomas and Ludger Woessmann (2007).
What Accounts for International Differences in Student Performance? A Re-examination using PISA Data.
In: Empirical Economics
32(2-3)
, 433-464
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use the PISA student-level achievement database to estimate international education production functions. Student characteristics, family backgrounds, home inputs, resources, teachers and institutions are all significantly associated with math, science and reading achievement. Our models account for more than 85% of the between-country performance variation, with roughly 25% accruing to institutional variation. Student performance is higher with external exams and budget formulation, but also with school autonomy in textbook choice, hiring teachers and within-school budget allocations. Autonomy is more positively associated with performance in systems that have external exit exams. Students perform better in privately operated schools, but private funding is not decisive. [close]
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Fuchs, Thomas and Ludger Woessmann (2004).
Computers and Student Learning: Bivariate and Multivariate Evidence on the Availability and Use of Computers at Home and at School.
In: Brussels Economic Review
47(3-4)
, 359-385
.
Abstract.
Link.
We estimate the relationship between students’ educational achievement and the availability and use of computers at home and at school in the international student-level PISA database. Bivariate analyses show a positive correlation between student achievement and the availability of computers both at home and at schools. However, once we control extensively for family background and school characteristics, the relationship gets negative for home computers and insignificant for school computers. Thus, the mere availability of computers at home seems to distract students from effective learning. But measures of computer use for education and communication at home show a positive conditional relationship with student achievement. The conditional relationship between student achievement and computer and internet use at school has an inverted U-shape, which may reflect either ability bias combined with negative effects of computerized instruction or a low optimal level of computerized instruction. [close]
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Galiani, Sebastian, Paul Gertler and Ernesto Schargrodsky (2008).
School Decentralization: Helping the Good Get Better, but Leaving the Poor Behind.
In: Journal of Public Economics
92(10-11)
, 2106-2120
.
Abstract.
Link.
The decentralization of public services is a major feature of institutional innovation. The main argument in support of decentralization is that it brings decisions closer to the people, thereby alleviating information asymmetries and improving accountability. However, decentralization can also degrade service provision in poor communities that lack the ability to voice and defend their preferences. In this paper, we analyze the average and distributional effects of school decentralization on educational quality in Argentina. We find that decentralization had an overall positive impact on student test scores. The decentralization gains, however, did not reach the poor. Thus, although “bringing decisions closer to the people” may help the good get better, the already disadvantaged may not receive these benefits. [close]
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Gertler, Paul J., Harry Anthony Patrinos and Marta Rubio-Codina (2012).
Empowering Parents to Improve Education: Evidence from Rural Mexico.
In: Journal of Development Economics
99(1)
, 68-79
.
Abstract.
Link.
We examine a very inexpensive program in Mexico that involves parents directly in the management of schools located in disadvantaged rural communities. The program, known as AGE, finances parent associations and motivates parental participation by involving them in the management of primary school grants. We find that AGE reduced grade failure by 7.4% and grade repetition by 5.5% in grades 1 through 3. However, while AGE was effective in poor communities, it had no effect in extremely poor communities. [close]
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Gradstein, Mark, Moshe Justman and Volker Meier (2004).
The Political Economy of Education: Implications for Growth and Inequality.
Cambridge, MA.:
MIT Press
.
Abstract.
Link.
The dominant role played by the state in the financing, regulation, and provision of primary and secondary education reflects the widely-held belief that education is necessary for personal and societal well-being. The economic organization of education depends on political as well as market mechanisms to resolve issues that arise because of contrasting views on such matters as income inequality, social mobility, and diversity. This book provides the theoretical framework necessary for understanding the political economy of education -- the complex relationship of education, economic growth, and income distribution -- and for formulating effective policies to improve the financing and provision of education. The relatively simple models developed illustrate the use of analytical tools for understanding central policy issues. After offering a historical overview of the development of public education and a review of current econometric evidence on education, growth, and income distribution, the authors lay the theoretical groundwork for the main body of analysis. First they develop a basic static model of how political decisions determine education spending; then they extend this model dynamically. Applying this framework to a comparison of education financing under different regimes, the authors explore fiscal decentralization; individual choice between public and private schooling, including the use of education vouchers to combine public financing of education with private provision; and the social dimension of education -- its role in state-building, the traditional "melting pot" that promotes cohesion in a culturally diverse society. [close]
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Hanushek, Eric A. and Margaret E. Raymond (2004).
The Effect of School Accountability Systems on the Level and Distribution of Student Achievement.
In: Journal of the European Economic Association
2(2-3)
, 406-415
.
Abstract.
Link.
The use of school accountability in the United States to improve student performance began in the separate states during the 1980s and was elevated through the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Evaluating the impact of accountability is difficult because it applies to entire states and can be confused with other changes in the states. We consider how the differential introduction of accountability across states affects growth in student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Our preliminary analysis finds that: 1) accountability improves scores of all students; 2) there is no significant difference between simply reporting scores and attaching consequences; and, 3) while accountability tends to narrow the Hispanic-White gap, it tends to widen the Black-White gap in scores. The last finding suggests that a single policy instrument cannot be expected to satisfy multiple simultaneous goals. [close]
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Hanushek, Eric A., John F. Kain, Steven G. Rivkin and Gregory F. Branch (2007).
Charter School Quality and Parental Decision Making with School Choice.
In: Journal of Public Economics
91(5-6)
, 823-848
.
Abstract.
Link.
Charterschools have become a very popular instrument for reforming public schools, because they expand choices, facilitate local innovation, and provide incentives for the regular public schools while remaining under public control. Despite their conceptual appeal, analysis has been hindered by the selective nature of their student populations. This paper investigates the quality of charterschools in Texas in terms of mathematics and reading achievement and finds that average schoolquality in the charter sector is not significantly different from that in regular public schools after an initial start-up period but that there is considerable heterogeneity. Perhaps more important for policy, however, is the finding that the parentaldecision to exit a charterschool is significantly related to schoolquality. The magnitude of this relationship is substantially larger than the relationship between the probability of exit and quality in the regular public school sector and consistent with the notion that the introduction of charterschools substantially reduces the transactions costs of switching schools. [close]
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Hanushek, Eric A., Susanne Link and Ludger Woessmann (2013).
Does School Autonomy Make Sense Everywhere? Panel Estimates from PISA.
In: Journal of Development Economics
104
, 212-232
.
Abstract.
Link.
Decentralization of decision-making is among the most intriguing recent school reforms, in part because countries went in opposite directions over the past decade and because prior evidence is inconclusive. We suggest that autonomy may be conducive to student achievement in well-developed systems but detrimental in low-performing systems. We construct a panel dataset from the four waves of international PISA tests spanning 2000–2009, comprising over one million students in 42 countries. Relying on panel estimation with country fixed effects, we estimate the effect of school autonomy from within-country changes in the average share of schools with autonomy over key elements of school operations. Our results suggest that autonomy affects student achievement negatively in developing and low-performing countries, but positively in developed and high-performing countries. These estimates are unaffected by a wide variety of robustness and specification tests, providing confidence in the need for nuanced application of reform ideas. [close]
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Holmstrom, Bengt and Paul Milgrom (1991).
Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design.
In: Journal of Law, Economics and Organization
7 (special issue)
, 24-52
.
Link.
[close]
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Howell, William G., Patrick J. Wolf, David E. Campbell and Paul E. Peterson (2002).
School Vouchers and Academic Performance: Results from Three Randomized Field Trials.
In: Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
21(2)
, 191-217
.
Abstract.
Link.
This article examines the effects of school vouchers on student test scores in New York, New York, Dayton, Ohio, and Washington, DC. The evaluations in all three cities are designed as randomized field trials. The findings, therefore, are not confounded by the self-selection problems that pervade most observational data. After 2 years, African Americans who switched from public to private school gained, relative to their public-school peers, an average of 6.3 National Percentile Ranking points in the three cities on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The gains by city were 4.2 points in New York, 6.5 points in Dayton, and 9.2 points in Washington. Effects for African Americans are statistically significant in all three cities. In no city are statistically significant effects observed for other ethnic groups, after either 1 or 2 years. [close]
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Hoxby, Caroline M. (2007).
Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers? Reply.
In: American Economic Review
97(5)
, 2038-2055
.
Abstract.
Link.
Rothstein has produced two comments, Rothstein (2003) and Rothstein (2004), on Hoxby "Does Competition Among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers," American Economic Review, 2000. In this paper, I discuss every claim of any importance in the comments. I show that every claim is wrong. I also discuss a number of Rothstein's innuendos--that is, claims that are made by implication rather than with the support of explicit arguments or evidence. I show that, when held up against the evidence, each innuendo proves to be false. One of the major points of Rothstein (2003) is that lagged school districts are a valid instrumental variable for today's school districts. This is not credible. Another major claim of Rothstein (2003) is that it is better to use highly non-representative achievement data based on students' self-selecting into test-taking than to use nationally representative achievement data. This claim is wrong for multiple reasons. The most important claim of Rothstein (2004) is that the results of Hoxby (2000) are not robust to including private school students in the sample. This is incorrect. While Rothstein appears merely to be adding private school students to the data, he actually substitutes error-prone data for error-free data on all students, generating substantial attenuation bias. He attributes the change in estimates to the addition of the private school students, but I show that the change in estimates is actually due to his using erroneous data for public school students. Another important claim in Rothstein (2004) that the results in Hoxby (2000) are not robust to associating streams with the metropolitan areas through which they flow rather than the metropolitan areas where they have their source. This is false: the results are virtually unchanged when the association is shifted from source to flow. Since 93.5 percent of streams flow only in the metropolitan area where they have their source, it would be surprising if the results did change much. The comments Rothstein (2003) and Rothstein (2004) are without merit. All of the data and code used in Hoxby (2000) are available to other researchers. An easy-to-use CD provides not only extracts and estimation code, but all of the raw data and the code for constructing the dataset. [close]
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Hoxby, Caroline M. (2001).
All School Finance Equalizations Are Not Created Equal.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
116(4)
, 1189-1231
.
Abstract.
Link.
Public school finance equalization programs can be characterized by the change they impose on the tax price of an additional dollar of local school spending. I calculate the tax price of spending for each school district in the United States for 1972, 1982, and 1992. I find that using the actual tax prices (rather than treating school finance equalizations as events) resolves apparently conflicting evidence about the effects of equalizations on per-pupil spending. Depending on whether they impose tax prices greater than or less than one, school finance equalizations either enjoy increased spending under most equalization schemes, but they actually lose spending under the strongest schemes such as those that exist in California and New Mexico. More importantly, regardless of whether an equalization levels down or up, it should be understood as a tax system on districts' spending. I show that school finance equalization schemes have properties that are generally considered undesirable: they raise revenue on a base that is itself a function of the school finance system and they assign tax prices so that people with a high demand for education are penalized relative to otherwise identical people with the same income. I discuss some simple, familiar schemes that do not have these undesirable properties, yet can achieve similar redistribution. [close]
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Hoxby, Caroline M. (1999).
The Productivity of Schools and Other Local Public Goods Producers.
In: Journal of Public Economics
74(1)
, 01-30
.
Abstract.
Link.
I construct an agency model of local public goods producers in which households make Tiebout choices among jurisdictions in a world of imperfect information and costly residential mobility. I examine producers’ effort and rent under local property tax finance and centralized finance. I show that, if there are a sufficient number of jurisdictions, conventional local property tax finance can attain about as much productivity as a social planner with centralized finance can, even if the social planner is armed with more information than a real social planner could plausibly have. The key insight is that decentralized Tiebout choices make some information the social planner would need verifiable and other information unnecessary. [close]
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Hoxby, Caroline M. (1996).
How Teachers’ Unions Affect Education Production.
In: Journal of Economics
111(3)
, 671-718
.
Abstract.
Link.
This study helps to explain why measured school inputs appear to have little effect on student outcomes, particularly for cohorts educated since 1960. Teachers' unionization can explain how public schools simultaneously can have more generous inputs and worse student performance. Using panel data on United States school districts, I identify the effect of teachers' unionization through differences in the timing of collective bargaining, especially timing determined by the passage of state laws that facilitate teachers' unionization. I find that teachers' unions increase school inputs but reduce productivity sufficiently to have a negative overall effect on student performance. Union effects are magnified where schools have market power. [close]
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Hoxby, Caroline M. (1994).
Do Private Schools Provide Competition for Public Schools?.
NBER Working Paper 4978.
Abstract.
Link.
Arguments in favor of school choice depend on the idea that competition between schools improves the quality of education. However, we have almost no empirical evidence on whether competition actually affects school quality. In this study, I examine the effects of inter-school competition on public schools by using exogenous variation in the availability and costs of private school alternatives to public schools. Because low public school quality raises the demand for private schools as substitutes for public schools, we cannot simply compare public school students' outcomes in areas with and without substantial private school enrollment. Such simple comparisons confound the effect of greater private school competitiveness with the increased demand for private schools where the public schools are poor in quality. I derive instruments for private school competition from the fact that it is less expensive and difficult to set up religious schools, which accounts for 9 out of 10 private school students in the U.S., in areas densely populated by members of the affiliated religion. I find that greater private school competitiveness significantly raises the quality of public schools, as measured by the educational attainment, wages, and high school graduation rates of public school students. In addition, I find some evidence that public schools react to greater competitiveness of private schools by paying higher teacher salaries. [close]
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Imberman, Scott A. (2010).
Achievement and Behavior in Charter Schools: Drawing a More Complete Picture.
In: Review of Economics and Statistics
93(2)
, 416-435
.
Abstract.
Link.
I use a long panel with broad grade coverage to establish whether charter schools affect cognitive and noncognitive skill formation. Schools that begin as charters generate large improvements in discipline and attendance but not test scores, with the exception of math in middle schools. This suggests improvements in noncognitive but not cognitive skills, although these improvements do not persist if students return to regular public schools. Charters that convert from regular public schools have little impact on either skill type. These results are robust to potential biases from selection off of precharter trends, attrition, and persistence. [close]
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Jackson, C. Kirabo (2014).
Teacher Quality at the High School Level: The Importance of Accounting for Tracks.
In: Journal of Labor Economics
32(4)
, 645-684
.
Abstract.
Link.
Unlike in elementary school, high school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and track-level treatments. I document confounding track effects and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are biased. After accounting for biases, high school algebra and English teachers have smaller test score effects than found in previous studies and value-added estimates are weak predictors of teachers’ future performance. Results indicate that either (a) teachers are less influential in high school than in elementary school or (b) test score effects are a weak measure of teacher quality at the high school level. [close]
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Jacob, Brian A. (2005).
Accountability, Incentives and Behavior: The Impact of High-stakes Testing in the Chicago Public Schools.
In: Journal of Public Economics
89(5-6)
, 761-796
.
Abstract.
Link.
The recent federal education bill, No Child Left Behind, requires states to test students in grades three to eight each year, and to judge school performance on the basis of these test scores. While intended to maximize student learning, there is little empirical evidence about the effectiveness of such policies. This study examines the impact of an accountability policy implemented in the Chicago Public Schools in 1996-97. Using a panel of student-level, administrative data, I find that math and reading achievement increased sharply following the introduction of the accountability policy, in comparison to both prior achievement trends in the district and to changes experienced by other large, urban districts in the mid-west. I demonstrate that these gains were driven largely by increases in test-specific skills and student effort, and did not lead to comparable gains on a state-administered, low-stakes exam. I also find that teachers responded strategically to the incentives along a variety of dimensions -- by increasing special education placements, preemptively retaining students and substituting away from low-stakes subjects like science and social studies. [close]
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Jacob, Brian A. and Steven D. Levitt (2003).
Rotten Apples: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Predictors of Teacher Cheating.
In: Quarterly Journal of Economics
118(3)
, 843-877
.
Abstract.
Link.
We develop an algorithm for detecting teacher cheating that combines information on unexpected test score fluctuations and suspicious patterns of answers for students in a classroom. Using data from the Chicago public schools, we estimate that serious cases of teacher or administrator cheating on standardized tests occur in a minimum of 4–5 percent of elementary school classrooms annually. The observed frequency of cheating appears to respond strongly to relatively minor changes in incentives. Our results highlight the fact that high-powered incentive systems, especially those with bright line rules, may induce unexpected behavioral distortions such as cheating. Statistical analysis, however, may provide a means of detecting illicit acts, despite the best attempts of perpetrators to keep them clandestine. [close]
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Jepsen, Christopher and Steven Rivkin (2009).
Class Size Reduction and Student Achievement: The Potential Tradeoff between Teacher Quality and Class Size.
In: Journal of Human Resources
44(1)
, 223-250
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper investigates the effects of California’s billion-dollar class-size-reduction program on student achievement. It uses year-to-year differences in class size generated by variation in enrollment and the state’s class-size-reduction program to identify both the direct effects of smaller classes and related changes in teacher quality. Although the results show that smaller classes raised mathematics and reading achievement, they also show that the increase in the share of teachers with neither prior experience nor full certification dampened the benefits of smaller classes, particularly in schools with high shares of economically disadvantaged, minority students. [close]
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Jürges, Hendrik, Kerstin Schneider and Felix Büchel (2005).
The Effect of Central Exit Examinations on Student Achievement: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from TIMSS Germany.
In: Journal of the European Economic Association
3(5)
, 1134-1155
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper makes use of the regional variation in schooling legislation within the German secondary education system to estimate the causal effect of central exit examinations on student performance. We propose a difference-in-differences framework that exploits the quasi-experimental nature of the German TIMSS middle school sample and discuss its identifying assumptions. The estimates show that students in federal states with central exit examinations clearly outperform students in federal states without such examinations. However, only part of this difference can be attributed to the existence of the central exit examinations themselves. Our results suggest that central examinations increase student achievement by the equivalent of about one-third of a school year. [close]
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Jürges, Hendrik, Kerstin Schneider, Martin Senkbeil and Claus H. Carstensen (2012).
Assessment Drives Learning: The Effect of Central Exit Exams on Curricular Knowledge and Mathematical Literacy.
In: Economics of Education Review
31(1)
, 56-65
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, we use data from the German PISA 2003 sample to study the effects of central exit examinations on student performance and student attitudes. Unlike earlier studies we use (i) a value-added measure to pin down the effect of central exit exams on learning in the last year before the exam and (ii) separate test scores for mathematical literacy and curriculum-based knowledge. The findings indicate that central exit exams improve curriculum-based knowledge but do not affect mathematical literacy. Students, although showing a better performance, are less intrinsically motivated in school. [close]
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Kane, Thomas J. (2007).
Evaluating the Impact of the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program.
In: Journal of Human Resources
42(3)
, 555-582
.
Abstract.
Link.
The D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant program dramatically changed college prices for District of Columbia residents, allowing them to pay in-state tuition at public institutions around the country. Between 1998 and 2000, the number of D.C. residents attending public institutions in Virginia and Maryland more than doubled; when public institutions in other states were added, this number again nearly doubled. The impact was largest at nonselective public four-year colleges, particularly predominantly black institutions. The total number of financial aid applicants, Pell Grant recipients, and college entrants from D.C. also increased by 15 percent or more. [close]
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Kane, Thomas J. and Douglas O. Staiger (2002).
The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School Accountability Measures.
In: Journal of Economic Perspectives
16(4)
, 91-114
.
Abstract.
Link.
In recent years, most states have constructed elaborate accountability systems using school-level test scores. However, because the median elementary school contains only 69 children per grade level, such measures are quite imprecise. We evaluate the implications for school accountability systems. For instance, rewards or sanctions for schools with scores at either extreme primarily affect small schools and provide weak incentives to large ones. Nevertheless, we conclude that accountability systems may be worthwhile. Even in states with aggressive financial incentives, the marginal reward to schools for raising student performance is a small fraction of the potential labor market value for students. [close]
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Ladd, Helen F. and Randall P. Walsh (2002).
Implementing Value-Added Measures of School Effectiveness: Getting the Incentives Right.
In: Economics of Education Review
21(1)
, 01-17
.
Abstract.
Link.
As part of their efforts to hold schools accountable, several states now calculate and publicize value-added measures of school effectiveness. This paper provides a careful evaluation of the value-added approach to measuring school success with particular attention to its implementation as a tool for increasing student achievement. In practice, even the more sophisticated of the measures currently in use fail to account for differences in resources, broadly defined, across schools and to address the problem of measurement error. The authors find that, as implemented, value-added measures of school effectiveness distort incentives and are likely to discourage good teachers and administrators from working in schools serving concentrations of disadvantaged students. The authors use a large longitudinally-matched data set of fifth grade students in North Carolina to document that approximately 2/5 of the differentially favorable outcome for schools serving advantaged students results from statistical bias associated with measurement error and that correcting for the measurement error leads to significant changes in the relative rankings of schools. [close]
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Lavy, Victor (2015).
The Long-Term Consequences of Free School Choice.
NBER Working Paper 20843.
Abstract.
Link.
I study the long-term consequences of what amounted to an effective free school choice program which
two decades ago targeted disadvantaged students in Israel. I show that the program led to significant
gains in post-secondary education, through increased enrollment in academic and teachers' colleges
but without any increase in enrollment in research universities. Free school choice increased also earnings
at adulthood of treated students. Male students had much larger improvements in college schooling
and labor market outcomes. Female students, however, experienced higher increases in marriage and
fertility rates, which most likely interfered with their schooling and labor market outcomes. [close]
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Lavy, Victor (2010).
Effects of Free Choice among Public Schools.
In: Review of Economic Studies
77(3)
, 1164-1191
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, I investigate the impact of a programme in Tel-Aviv, Israel, that terminated an existing inter-district busing integration programme and allowed students free choice among public schools. The identification is based on difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity designs that yield various alternative comparison groups drawn from untreated tangent neighbourhoods and adjacent cities. Across identification methods and comparison groups, the results consistently suggest that choice significantly reduces the drop-out rate and increases the cognitive achievements of high-school students. It also improves behavioural outcomes such as teacher-student relationships and students' social acclimation and satisfaction at school, and reduces the level of violence and classroom disruption. Copyright , Wiley-Blackwell. [close]
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Lavy, Victor (2009).
Performance Pay and Teachers' Effort, Productivity, and Grading Ethics.
In: American Economic Review
99(5)
, 1979-2011
.
Abstract.
Link.
Performance-related incentive pay for teachers is being introduced in many countries, but there is little evidence of its effects. This paper evaluates a rank-order tournament among teachers of English, Hebrew, and mathematics in Israel. Teachers were rewarded with cash bonuses for improving their students' performance on high-school matriculation exams. Two identification strategies were used to estimate the program effects, a regression discontinuity design and propensity score matching. The regression discontinuity method exploits both a natural experiment stemming from measurement error in the assignment variable and a sharp discontinuity in the assignment-to-treatment variable. The results suggest that performance incentives have a significant effect on directly affected students with some minor spillover effects on untreated subjects. The improvements appear to derive from changes in teaching methods, after-school teaching, and increased responsiveness to students' needs. No evidence found for teachers' manipulation of test scores. The program appears to have been more cost-effective than school-group cash bonuses or extra instruction time and is as effective as cash bonuses for students. [close]
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Lavy, Victor (2006).
From Forced Busing to Free Choice in Public Schools: Quasi-Experimental Evidence of Individual and General Effects.
NBER Working Paper 11969.
Abstract.
Link.
In 1994 the city of Tel Aviv replaced its existing school integration program based on inter-district busing, with a new program that allowed students to choose freely between schools in and out of district. This paper explores the impact of this program on high school outcomes while distinguishing the effect of choice on individual students from general equilibrium effects on affected districts. The identification is based on a regression discontinuity design that yields comparison groups drawn from untreated tangent neighborhoods in adjacent cities and on instrumental variables. The results suggest that the choice program had significant general equilibrium effects on high school dropout rates, matriculation rates and program of study. The gains are more pronounced among disadvantaged children but not among students who took advantage of the option to attend out of district schools with higher mean outcomes. Based on these results and on other evidence on the behavioral responses of schools and students to the program suggest that the positive impact of the program relates mainly to better matching between students and schools and to the productivity effect of choice and competition among schools. [close]
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Lavy, Victor, Avraham Ebenstein, Sefi Roth (2014).
The Long Run Human Capital and Economic Consequences of High-Stakes Examinations.
NBER Working Paper 20647.
Abstract.
Link.
Cognitive performance during high-stakes exams can be affected by random disturbances that, even if transitory, may have permanent consequences for long-term schooling attainment and labor market outcomes. We evaluate this hypothesis among Israeli high school students who took a series of high stakes matriculation exams between 2000 and 2002. As a source of random (transitory) shocks to high- stakes matriculation test scores, we use exposure to ambient air pollution during the day of the exam. First, we document a significant and negative relationship between average PM2.5 exposure during exams and student composite scores, post-secondary educational attainment, and earnings during adulthood. Second, using PM2.5 as an instrument, we estimate a large economic return to each point on the exam and each additional year of post-secondary education. Third, we examine the return to exam scores and schooling across sub-populations, and find the largest effects among boys, better students, and children from higher socio-economic backgrounds. The results suggest that random disturbances during high-stakes examinations can have long-term consequences for schooling and labor market outcomes, while also highlighting the drawbacks of using high-stakes examinations in university admissions. [close]
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Lazear, Edward P. (2003).
Teacher Incentives.
In: Swedish Economic Policy Review
10
, 179-214
.
Abstract.
Link.
Like all workers, teachers may be expected to respond to incentives inherent in compensation structures. As such, general theories of compensation should apply to teaching. Those theories suggest that output-based pay is best used when output is well defined and easily measured. Input-based pay is best when jobs are inherently risky and when output is not easily observed. The main difficulty with outputbased pay is that even if teachers can affect their students’ earnings, the evidence does not show up until many years after the student leaves the teacher’s class. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 provides evidence that earnings later in life are related to test scores when children are as young as twelve years old. Actual compensation structures in both the US and Sweden are examined. The main features for both countries include relatively low pay, the reluctance to tie compensation to output and a pattern pay compression, both across fields and by teacher performance. Low pay makes it difficult to attract a large enough quantity of high quality teachers. Compression results in some adverse selection, where the highest quality teachers may be induced to leave the profession. A primary reason to increase teacher pay and to tie it to performance is that teacher quality would be improved by such policies. Finally, teacher and student preferences may deviate from the optimum. This occurs primarily because of the failure to price working conditions and school inputs appropriately. As a result, teacher, student and parent decisions may be distorted. [close]
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Leuven, Edwin, Hessel Oosterbeek and Bas van der Klaauw (2010).
The Effect of Financial Rewards on Students’ Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment.
In: Journal of the European Economic Association
8(6)
, 1243-1265
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper reports on a randomized field experiment in which first-year university students could earn financial rewards for passing all first-year requirements within one year. Financial incentives turn out to have positive effects on achievement of high-ability students, whereas they have a negative impact on achievement of low-ability students. After three years these effects have increased, suggesting dynamic spillovers. The negative effects for less-able students are consistent with results from psychology and behavioral economics showing that external rewards may be detrimental for intrinsic motivation. [close]
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Levačić, Rosalind (2004).
Competition and the Performance of English Secondary Schools: Further Evidence.
In: Education Economics
12(2)
, 177-193
.
Abstract.
Link.
Both advocates of competition as a means to better school performance and economics-based research on this issue assume a direct relationship between a more competitive market structure (in terms of the number and concentration of schools in a local market) and better school performance. This is an application to schools of the structure-conduct-performance model. It is assumed that head teachers and other professionals are motivated solely by self-interest, so that lack of competition results in x-inefficiency. However, if educational professionals are motivated by other considerations, in particular their values and beliefs, there is no automatic link between competitive structure and forms of competitive conduct that lead to better school performance. Since it is competitive conduct that affects school performance, the hypothesis of a postitive relationship between competition and performance is investigated in this study by collecting and analysing data on perceptions of competitive conduct from a survey of headteachers. An analysis of these data combined with administrative data finds that: the two measures of perceived competition are only weakly related to measures of structural competition; the number of perceived competitors is positively and significantly related to school performance in terms of the percentage of students obtaining 5 or more grades A* to C at GCSE but not the percentage obtaining 5 + A*-G grades. [close]
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Machin, Stephen and Sandra McNally (2008).
The Literacy Hour'.
In: Journal of Public Economics
92(5-6)
, 1441-1462
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper, we evaluate the effect of the literacy hour in English primary schools on pupil attainment. The National Literacy Project (NLP) was undertaken in about 400 English primary schools in 1997 and 1998. We compare the reading and overall English attainment of children in NLP schools as compared to a set of control schools at the end of primary school education (age 11). We also compare the overall English performance of these children when they have reached the end of their compulsory education (age 16). We find a larger increase in attainment in reading and English for pupils in NLP schools as compared to pupils not exposed to the literacy hour between 1996 and 1998. We also find modest, but positive effects from exposure to the literacy hour that persist to age 16, as GCSE English performance is seen to be higher for children affected by the NLP introduction. Since there are gender gaps in English performance (in favour of girls), we consider whether the literacy hour has had a differential impact by gender. We find some evidence that at age 11, boys received a greater benefit than girls. Finally, we show the policy to be cost effective. These findings are of strong significance when placed into the wider education debate about what works best in schools for improving pupil performance. The evidence reported here suggests that public policy aimed at changing the content and structure of teaching can significantly raise pupil attainment. [close]
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Machin, Stephen, Steve Gibbons and Olmo Silva (2008).
Choice, Competition and Pupil Achievement.
In: Journal of the European Economic Association
6(4)
, 912-947
.
Abstract.
Link.
Choice and competition in education have found growing support from both policy makers and academics in the recent past. Yet, evidence on the actual benefits of market-oriented reforms is at best mixed. Moreover, while the economic rationale for choice and competition is clear, in existing work there is rarely an attempt to distinguish between the two concepts. In this paper, we study whether pupils in Primary schools in England with a wider range of school choices achieve better academic outcomes than those whose choice is more limited; and whether Primary schools facing more competition perform better than those in a more monopolistic situation. In simple least squares regression models, we find little evidence of a link between choice and achievement, but uncover a small positive association between competition and school performance. Yet, this could be related to endogenous school location or pupil sorting. In fact, an instrumental variable strategy based on discontinuities generated by admissions district boundaries suggests that the performance gains from greater school competition are limited. Only when we restrict our attention to Faith autonomous schools, which have more freedom in managing their admission practices and governance, do we find evidence of a positive causal link between competition and pupil achievement. [close]
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Meghir, Costas and Mårten Palme (2005).
Educational Reform, Ability and Family Background.
In: American Economic Review
95(1)
, 414-424
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this paper we evaluate the impact of a major school reform, that took place in the 1950s in Sweden, on educational attainment and earnings. The reform, which has many common elements with reforms in other European countries including the UK, consisted of increasing compulsor schooling, imposing a national curriculum and abolishing selectionby ability into Academic and non-academic streams at the age of 12 (comprehensive school reform). Our data combines survey data with administrative sources. We find that the reform increased both the educational attainment and the earnings of children whose fathers had just complusory education. However the earnings of those with educated parents declined - possibly because of a dilution of quality at the top end of the education levels. The overall effect of the reform was however positive. [close]
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Mühlenweg, Andrea M. and Patrick A. Puhani (2010).
The Evolution of the School-Entry Age Effect in a School Tracking System.
In: Journal of Human Resources
45(2)
, 407-438
.
Abstract.
Link.
In Germany, students are streamed at age ten into an academic or non-academic track. We demonstrate that the randomly allocated disadvantage of being born just before as opposed to just after the cutoff date for school entry leads to substantially different schooling experiences. Relatively young students are initially only two-thirds as likely to be assigned to the academic track. The possibility to defer tracking to age 12 does not attenuate school-entry age’s effect on track attendance. Some mitigation of the effect occurs only at the second time when educational institutions facilitate track modification when students are about age 16. [close]
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Neal, Derek and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2010).
Left Behind by Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability.
In: Review of Economics and Statistics
92(2)
, 263-283
.
Abstract.
Link.
We show that within the Chicago Public Schools, both the introduction of NCLB in 2002 and the introduction of similar district-level reforms in 1996 generated noteworthy increases in reading and math scores among students in the middle of the achievement distribution but not among the least academically advantaged students. The stringency of proficiency requirements varied among the programs implemented for different grades in different years, and our results suggest that changes in proficiency requirements induce teachers to shift more attention to students who are near the current proficiency standard. [close]
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Nechyba, Thomas J. (2003).
Centralization, Fiscal Federalism, and Private School Attendance.
In: International Economic Review
44(1)
, 179-204
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper uses a computational general equilibrium model to analyze the impact of public school finance regimes on rates of private school attendance. It is shown that, when viewed in such a general equilibrium context, state intervention in locally financed systems can have somewhat unexpected and counterintuitive effects on the level of private school attendance. In particular, the common perception that centralization of public school finance will necessarily lead to greater private school attendance is no longer correct when general equilibrium forces are taken into account even when that centralization involves an extreme equalization of the kind observed in California. Furthermore, if centralization occurs through less dramatic means that allow for some remaining discretion on the part of local districts, declines in private school attendance become much more unambiguous and pronounced. These results then weaken the speculation that low exit rates to private schools in centralizing states imply that general public school quality does not drop as a result of such centralization. [close]
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Oreopoulos, Philip (2006).
Estimating Average and Local Average Treatment Effects When Compulsory Schooling Laws Really Matter.
In: American Economic Review
96(1)
, 152-175
.
Abstract.
Link.
The change to the minimum school-leaving age in the United Kingdom from 14 to 15 had a powerful and immediate effect that redirected almost half the population of 14-year-olds in the mid-twentieth century to stay in school for one more year. The magnitude of this impact provides a rare opportunity to (a) estimate local average treatment effects (LATE) of high school that come close to population average treatment effects (ATE); and (b) estimate returns to education using a regression discontinuity design instead of previous estimates that rely on difference-in-differences methodology or relatively weak instruments. Comparing LATE estimates for the United States and Canada, where very few students were affected by compulsory school laws, to the United Kingdom estimates provides a test as to whether instrumental variables (IV) returns to schooling often exceed ordinary least squares (OLS) because gains are high only for small and peculiar groups among the more general population. I find, instead, that the benefits from compulsory schooling are very large whether these laws have an impact on a majority or minority of those exposed. [close]
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Patrinos, Harry A. (2011).
School-Based Management.
In: Barbara Bruns, Deon Filmer and Harry A. Patrinos.
Making Schools Work: New Evidence on Accountability Reforms.
Washington, D.C.:
The World Bank
, 87-140
.
Abstract.
Link.
This book is about the threats to education quality that cannot be explained by lack of resources. It reviews service delivery failures in education: cases where programs and policies increase inputs to education but do not produce effective services where it counts – in the classroom. It documents what we know about the extent and costs of such failures. It argues that a root cause of low-quality and inequitable public services is the weak accountability of providers to both their supervisors and clients.
The central focus of the book is that countries are increasingly adopting innovative strategies to attack these problems. Drawing on new evidence from 22 rigorous evaluations in 11 countries, this book examines how strategies to strengthen accountability relationships in school systems have affected schooling outcomes.
The book provides a succinct review of the rationale and impact evidence for three key lines of reform: (1) policies that use the power of information to strengthen the ability of students and their parents to hold providers accountable for results; (2) policies that promote schools’ autonomy to make key decisions and control resources; and (3) teacher incentives reforms that specifically aim at making teachers more accountable for results. [close]
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Pekkala Kerr, Sari, Tuomas Pekkarinen and Roope Uusitalo (2013).
School Tracking and Development of Cognitive Skills.
In: Journal of Labor Economics
31(3)
, 577-602
.
Abstract.
Link.
We evaluate the effects of the school system on mathematical, verbal, and logical reasoning skills using data from the Finnish comprehensive school reform that abolished the two-track school system. We use a difference-in-differences approach that exploits the gradual implementation across the country. Cognitive skills are measured using test scores from the Finnish Army Basic Skills Test. The reform had small positive effects on verbal test scores but no effect on the mean performance in the arithmetic or logical reasoning tests. However, the reform significantly improved the scores of the students whose parents had less than a high school education. [close]
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Peterson, Paul E., William G. Howell, Patrick J. Wolf and David E. Campbell (2003).
School Vouchers: Results from Randomized Experiments.
In: Caroline M. Hoxby (ed.).
The Economics of School Choice.
Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
, 107-144
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper is a report on the estimated effects on students and families of the offer of a voucher (the "intention-to-treat" effect) and the effects of switching from a public to a private school (the "treatment-on-the-treated" effect). Specifically, the report estimates the impact of voucher programs on student test scores, parental satisfaction with their childrens school, and parental reports of the characteristics of the school their children attended. Data for the report were gathered from test scores and parent surveys in schools with voucher programs in Washington, D.C.; New York City; and Dayton, Ohio. Following are three major findings of the study: (1) In the three cases taken together, effects of school vouchers on average test performance were found only for African-American students, whose scores were higher than scores of African-American students in public school; (2) Families that used vouchers to attend private schools were much more satisfied with their schooling than were families who remained in public schools; and (3) The educational environment of private schools was more conducive to learning than was that of public schools. [close]
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Piopiunik, Marc (2014).
The Effects of Early Tracking on Student Performance: Evidence from a School Reform in Bavaria.
In: Economics of Education Review
42
, 12-33
.
Abstract.
Link.
This paper evaluates a school reform in Bavaria that moved the timing of tracking in low- and middle-track schools from grade 6 to grade 4; students in high-track schools were not affected. To eliminate state-specific and school-type-specific shocks, I estimate a triple-differences model using three PISA waves. The results indicate that the reform reduced the performance of 15-year-old students both in low- and middle-track schools. Further evidence suggests that the share of very low-performing students increased in low-track schools. [close]
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Piopiunik, Marc, Guido Schwerdt and Ludger Woessmann (2013).
Central School Exit Exams and Labor-Market Outcomes.
In: European Journal of Political Economy
31
, 93-108
.
Abstract.
Link.
Many countries use centralized exit exams as a governance devise of the school system. While abundant evidence suggests positive effects of central exams on achievement tests, previous research on university-bound students shows no effects on subsequent earnings. We suggest that labor-market effects may be more imminent for students leaving school directly for the labor market and, on rigid labor markets, for unemployment. Exploiting variation in exit-exam systems across German states, we find that central exams are indeed associated with higher earnings for students from the school type directly bound for the labor market, as well as with lower unemployment. [close]
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Rothstein, Jesse (2007).
Does Competition Among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers? Comment.
In: American Economic Review
97(5)
, 2026-2037
.
Abstract.
Link.
In an influential paper, Hoxby (2000) studies the relationship between the degree of so-called "Tiebout choice" among local school districts within a metropolitan area and average test scores. She argues that choice is endogenous to school quality, and instruments with the number of larger and smaller streams. She finds a large positive effect of choice on test scores, which she interprets as evidence that school choice induces greater school productivity. This paper revisits Hoxby's analysis. I document several important errors in Hoxby's data and code. I also demonstrate that the estimated choice effect is extremely sensitive to the way that "larger streams" are coded. When Hoxby's hand count of larger streams is replaced with any of several alternative, easily replicable measures, there is no significant difference between IV and OLS, each of which indicates a choice effect near zero. There is thus little evidence that schools respond to Tiebout competition by raising productivity. [close]
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Rouse, Cecilia Elena and Lisa Barrow (2009).
School Vouchers and Student Achievement: Recent Evidence and Remaining Questions.
In: Annual Review of Economics
1
, 17-42
.
Abstract.
Link.
In this article, we review the empirical evidence on the impact of education vouchers on student achievement and briefly discuss the evidence from other forms of school choice. The best research to date finds relatively small achievement gains for students offered education vouchers, most of which are not statistically different from zero. Furthermore, what little evidence exists regarding the potential for public schools to respond to increased competitive pressure generated by vouchers suggests that one should remain wary that large improvements would result from a more comprehensive voucher system. The evidence from other forms of school choice is also consistent with this conclusion. Many questions remain unanswered, however, including whether vouchers have longer-run impacts on outcomes such as graduation rates, college enrollment, or even future wages, and whether vouchers might nevertheless provide a cost-neutral alternative to our current system of public education provision at the elementary and secondary school level. [close]
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Sandstrom, F. Mikael and Fredrik Bergstrom (2005).
School Vouchers in Practice: Competition Will Not Hurt You.
In: Journal of Public Economics
89(2-3)
, 351-380
.
Abstract.
Link.
An important issue in the debate on voucher systems and school choice is what effects competition from independent schools will have on public schools. Sweden has made a radical reform of its system for financing schools. Independent and public schools operate on close to equal terms under a voucher system covering all children. Sample selection models are estimated, using a data set of about 28 000 individuals. In addition, panel data models are estimated on 288 Swedish municipalities. The findings support the hypothesis that school results in public schools improve due to competition. [close]
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Schwerdt, Guido and Ludger Woessmann (2015).
The Information Value of Central School Exams.
In: Economics of Education Review
56
, 65-79
.
Abstract.
Link.
The central vs. local nature of high-school exit exam systems can have important repercussions on the labor market. By increasing the informational content of grades, central exams may improve the sorting of students by productivity. To test this, we exploit the unique German setting where students from states with and without central exams work on the same labor market. Our difference-in-difference model estimates whether the earnings difference between individuals with high and low grades differs between central and local exams. We find that the earnings premium for a one standard-deviation increase in high-school grades is indeed 6 percent when obtained on central exams but less than 2 percent when obtained on local exams. Choices of higher-education programs and of occupations do not appear major channels of this result. [close]
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Schwerdt, Guido and Martin R. West (2013).
The Impact of Alternative Grade Configurations on Student Outcomes through Middle and High School.
In: Journal of Public Economics
97
, 308-326
.
Abstract.
Link.
We use statewide administrative data from Florida to estimate the impact of attending public schools with different grade configurations on student achievement through grade 10. To identify the causal effect of structural school transitions, we use student fixed effects and instrument for middle and high school attendance based on the terminal grade of the school attended in grades 3 and 6, respectively. Consistent with recent evidence from other settings, we find that students moving from elementary to middle school in grade 6 or 7 suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. We confirm that these achievement drops occur in nonurban areas and persist through grade 10, by which time most students have transitioned into high school. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students' performance trajectories. [close]
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Schwerdt, Guido, Martin R. West and Marcus A. Winters (2017).
The Effects of Test-Based Retention on Student Outcomes over Time: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Florida.
In: Journal of Public Economics
152
, 154-169
.
Abstract.
Link.
Many American states require that students lacking basic reading proficiency after third grade be retained and remediated. We exploit a discontinuity in retention probabilities under Florida's test-based promotion policy to study its effects on student outcomes through high school. We find large positive effects on achievement that fade out entirely when retained students are compared to their same-age peers, but remain substantial through grade 10 when compared to students in the same grade. Being retained in third grade due to missing the promotion standard increases students' grade point averages and leads them to take fewer remedial courses in high school but has no effect on their probability of graduating. [close]
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Schütz, Gabriela, Heinrich Ursprung and Ludger Woessmann (2008).
Education Policy and Equality of Opportunity.
In: Kyklos
61(2)
, 279-308
.
Abstract.
Link.
We provide a measure of equality of educational opportunity in 54 countries, estimated as the effect of family background on student performance in two international TIMSS tests. We then show how organizational features of the education system affect equality of educational opportunity. Our model predicts that late tracking and a long pre-school cycle are beneficial for equality, while pre-school enrollment is detrimental at low levels of enrollment and beneficial at higher levels. Using cross-country variations in education policies and their interaction with family background at the student level, we provide empirical evidence supportive of these predictions. [close]
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Shleifer, Andrei (1998).
State versus Private Ownership.
In: Journal of Economic Perspectives
12(4)
, 133-150
.
Abstract.
Link.
Private ownership should generally be preferred to public ownership when the incentives to innovate and to contain costs must be strong. In essence, this is the case for capitalism over socialism, explaining the dynamic vitality' of free enterprise. The great economists of the 1930s and 1940s failed to see the dangers of socialism in part because they focused on the role of prices under socialism and capitalism and ignored the enormous importance of ownership as the source of capitalist incentives to innovate. Moreover, many of the concerns that private firms fail to address social goals' can be addressed through government contacting and regulation without resort to government ownership. The case for private provision only becomes stronger when competition between suppliers, reputational mechanisms, and the possibility of provision by private not-for-profit firms, as well as political patronage and corruption, are brought into play. [close]