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International and comparative
Can learning be measured by phone? Evidence from Kenya
Topics: MethodsSchool closures induced by COVID-19 placed heightened emphasis on alternative ways to measure student learning besides in-person exams. We leverage the administration of phone-based assessments (PBAs) measuring numeracy and literacy for primary school children in Kenya, along with in-person… more →
Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceWe study whether compulsory religious education in schools affects students' religiosity as adults. We exploit the staggered termination of compulsory religious education across German states in models with state and cohort fixed effects. Using three different datasets, we find that abolishing… more →
Sibling Spillovers in Rural China: A Story of Sisters
Topics: Families and CommunitiesWe study sibling spillover effects on the school performance of the elder sibling from the younger sibling using data on multi-children households in rural China. We use the variation in the younger sibling’s schooling status to parse out the spillover effects and exploit the arbitrary school… more →
Reaping the Rewards Later: How Education Improves Old-Age Cognition in South Africa
Topics: Student LearningCognition, a component of human capital, is fundamental for decision-making, and understanding the causes of human capital depreciation in old age is especially important in aging societies. Using various proxy measures of cognitive performance from a longitudinal survey in South Africa,… more →
The Spillover Effects of Parental Conflict on Classmates' Cognitive and Noncognitive Outcomes
Topics: Student Well-BeingChildren exposed to Interparental Verbal Conflict (IPVC) exert negative spillovers on their peers. Using nationally representative survey data from middle schools in China, focusing on schools that randomly assign students into classrooms, and using both (1) within-school, across-classroom… more →
A Cautionary Tale of Tutoring Hard-to-Reach Students in Kenya
Topics: Student LearningCovid-19-induced school closures generated great interest in tutoring as a strategy to make up for lost learning time. Tutoring is backed by a rigorous body of research, but it is unclear whether it can be delivered effectively remotely. We study the effect of teacher-student phone call… more →
Do students improve their academic achievement when assigned to a growth mindset teacher? Evidence from Census Data in Chile using a Student Fixed Effect Design
Topics: Student LearningGrowing evidence shows that a student's growth mindset (the belief that intelligence is malleable) can benefit their academic achievement. However, due to limited information, little is known about how a teachers’ growth mindset affects their students’ academic achievement. In this paper, we… more →
Higher education decisions and macroeconomic conditions at age eighteen
Using individual data from PIAAC and aggregate data on GDP and unemployment for the US, Europe, and Spain, we test how macroeconomic conditions experienced at age eighteen affect the following decisions in post-secondary and tertiary education: i) enrollment ii) dropping-out, iii) type of degree… more →
A Half Century of Progress in U. S. Student Achievement: Agency and Flynn Effects; Ethnic and SES Differences
Topics: Student LearningPrincipals (policymakers) disagree as to whether U. S. student performance has changed over the past half century. To inform conversations, agents administered seven million psychometrically linked tests in math (m) and reading (rd) in 160 survey waves to national probability samples of cohorts… more →
Student Learning in Online College Programs
We draw on administrative data from the country of Colombia to assess differences in student learning in online and traditional on-campus college programs. The Colombian context is uniquely suited to study this topic, as students take an exit examination at the end of their studies. We can… more →
Apart but Connected: Online Tutoring and Student Outcomes during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Topics: Student LearningIn response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the governments of most countries ordered the closure of schools, potentially exacerbating existing learning gaps. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention implemented in Italian middle schools that provides free individual tutoring online… more →
Aspirations, Education, and Extreme Poverty
Topics: Families and CommunitiesAspirations shape important future-oriented behaviors, including educational investment. Higher family aspirations for children predict better educational outcomes in multiple developing countries. Unfortunately, aspirations sometimes outstrip people's ability to pursue them. We study the… more →
Vocational Education: An International Perspective
Vocational education is formal education about work, and vocational programs of study typically target a narrow subset of middle-income occupations. In this chapter, we trace vocational education from competing 20th century education philosophies to its varied structures throughout the 21st… more →
The role of student effort on performance in PISA: Revisiting the gender gap in achievement
International assessments are important to benchmark the quality of education across countries. However, on low-stakes tests, students’ incentives to invest their maximum effort may be minimal. Research stresses that ignoring students’ effort when interpreting results from low-stakes assessments… more →
What Factors Drive Individual Misperceptions of the Returns to Schooling in Tanzania? Some Lessons for Education Policy
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceEvidence on educational returns and the factors that determine the demand for schooling in developing countries is extremely scarce. We use two surveys from Tanzania to estimate both the actual and perceived schooling returns and subsequently examine what factors drive individual misperceptions… more →
Culture and Student Achievement: The Intertwined Roles of Patience and Risk-Taking
Topics: Families and CommunitiesPatience and risk-taking – two cultural traits that steer intertemporal decision-making – are fundamental to human capital investment decisions. To understand how they contribute to international differences in student achievement, we combine PISA tests with the Global Preference Survey. We find… more →
The data revolution comes to higher education: Identifying students at risk of dropout in Chile
Enrollment in higher education has risen dramatically in Latin America, especially in Chile. Yet graduation and persistence rates remain low. One way to improve graduation and persistence is to use data and analytics to identify students at risk of dropout, target interventions, and evaluate… more →
Can Greater Access to Education Be Inequitable? New Evidence from India's Right to Education Act
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceIndia took a decisive step toward universal basic education by proclaiming a constitutionally-guaranteed Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2009 that called for full access of children aged 6-14 to free schooling. This paper considers the offsetting effects to RTE from induced expansion of private… more →
The Non-Democratic Roots of Mass Education: Evidence from 200 Years
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceBecause primary education is often conceptualized as a pro-poor redistributive policy, a common argument is that democratization increases its provision. But primary education can also serve the goals of autocrats, including redistribution, promoting loyalty, nation-building, and/or… more →
Can Camp Get You Into a Good Secondary School? A Field Experiment of Targeted Instruction in Kenya
Access to quality secondary schooling can be life-changing for students in developing contexts. In Kenya, entrance to such schools has historically been determined by performance on a high-stakes exam. Understandably then, preparation for this exam is a high priority for Kenyan families and… more →