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We adapt the Becker et al. (2015) model to study intergenerational educational mobility in Indonesia with a focus on the role of complementarities. We develop an empirical methodology for testing whether parental financial investment is complementary to school quality and parent's education. The empirical analysis is based on two estimating equations derived from the model: a quadratic mobility equation specifying the association between a father's and his children's schooling, and a linear investment equation specifying the optimal financial investment in children's schooling as a function of fathers' schooling. We find that the mobility curve is convex in rural, and linear in urban areas, even though parental education is complementary to financial investment in both locations. School quality is complementary to investment in all rural households but only in educated urban households. It is a substitute in uneducated urban households. Public investment in school quality is expected to improve absolute mobility in most households, but worsen relative mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large administrative dataset of schools in India, we examine the impact of increasing female representation in school management on school performance and children's learning outcomes. Exploiting an education legislation that mandated female representation in school governing committees, we show that participation of females in these committees results in improvement in number of teachers, qualification of teachers and student enrollment. Besides, we provide evidence of positive impact on learning outcomes of children, particularly for girls. We conduct an array of robustness checks to ensure that confounding factors like initial school characteristics, pre-trends are not driving the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Black and Latine students often experience lower-quality pre-kindergarten. • School climate (SC) is measured here as strong leadership, family ties, and trust. • SC ameliorated disparities in pre-k classroom organization and emotional support. SC did not moderate disparities in instructional support. • Improving SC may mitigate inequitable pre-k quality. We investigated whether school climate, specifically effective school leadership, strong family ties, and trusting relationships, moderates the well-documented disparities in pre-kindergarten quality for Black and Latine students relative to their peers. In a sample of 615 public schools in a large, urban school district serving a minoritized student population (the average school in the sample served 66% Black and Latine students), we first explored patterns of disparities and found that Black and Latine children, on average, experience lower-quality pre-kindergarten in terms of classroom organization, emotional support, and instructional support. Using structural equation modeling, we found that a multi-dimensional index of school climate moderated this relationship with pre-kindergarten quality in terms of classroom organization and emotional support, but not instructional support. These findings suggest a potential role for school climate in mitigating existing inequities in the quality of pre-kindergarten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between early school- and family-related factors and later psychological well-being (PWB) has been insufficiently studied. To address this gap, a comprehensive model was employed to investigate the effects of school and family predictors (ages < 14) on PWB, and a related construct, life satisfaction (LS), at age 35 for a large urban childhood cohort. 30-year follow-up data were analyzed for 72 % (N = 1,112) of the original 1,539 participants (93 % Black) in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a prospective investigation on the impact of an early childhood education program. Hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed both parent (β = 0.51p = 0.013) and student educational attainment expectations (β = 1.48; p = 0.032) as well as peer social skills (β = 0.25; p = 0.003) were the most significant predictors of midlife PWB. Peer social skills (β = 0.02; p = 0.032), school mobility (β = -0.09; p = 0.012), and student educational attainment expectations (β = 0.17; p = 0.022) were strongly associated with midlife LS. Sex differences were also examined. Implications for shaping key components of school-family programs, services, and policies that foster positive development across different social ecologies are discussed. Further research should explore the mediational pathways to better understand the mechanisms behind these observed relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the UN's SDG Summit 2023 marks the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, many of the SDGs are moderately to severely off-track. In this commentary, we place emphasis on addressing hidden quality gaps that can help fix broken interlinkages, and in turn create positive correlations and harness untapped synergies, across goals. To illustrate broken interlinkages between SDGs 4 and 5, we focus on the puzzle of "education without employment" in South Asia. We argue that a hidden form of gender inequality in education quality -- gender stereotypes in learning materials – potentially undermines interlinkages between SDG targets in the region, among other factors. If gender inequality in educational production is overlooked, a focus on enrolling more girls will not fix the broken links between SDGs 4 and 5. Addressing hidden gaps in public service quality should be a priority during the final half of the SDG campaign. • While SDG 4 prioritizes quality education for all, gaps remain in the form of gender-biased learning materials. • Hidden quality gaps undermine positive interlinkages between SDG 4 and SDG 5. • The paradox of South Asia displays that despite progress in girls' education, women's labor force participation remains low. • In the final years of the SDGs, gender equality in educational production must be a priority to strengthen links between SDGs 4 and 5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing gender gap in educational attainment between men and women has raised concerns that the skill development of boys may be more sensitive to family disadvantage than that of girls. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data we find, as do previous studies, that boys are more likely to experience increased problems in school relative to girls, including suspensions and reduced educational aspirations, when they are in poor quality schools, less-educated neighborhoods, and father-absent households. Following these cohorts into young adulthood, however, we find no evidence that adolescent disadvantage has stronger negative impacts on long-run economic outcomes such as college graduation, employment, or income for men, relative to women. We do find that father absence is more strongly associated with men's marriage and childbearing and weak support for greater male vulnerability to disadvantage in rates of high school graduation. An investigation of adult outcomes for another recent cohort from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 produces a similar pattern of results. We conclude that focusing on gender differences in behavior in school may not lead to valid inferences about the effects of disadvantage on adult skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We study the effect of competition among schools on a wide range of educational quality indicators. • An instrumental variable approach is implemented to address endogenity. • Results suggest a tension in the school between various objectives of educational policy. • To improve standardized test scores could produce an undesired effect of deterioration in other dimensions of quality. Abstract Using Chilean data for fourth grade students, this research studies the effect of competition among schools on the results of standardized tests, academic self-esteem and motivation, the climate within the school, civic participation, and healthy lifestyle habits. To address the potential bias due to the endogeneity of the competition among schools, an instrumental variable approach is implemented, using instruments associated with the size of each "educational market." The results show that an increase of one standard deviation in competition among schools generates a moderate increase in standardized test results (0.06 standard deviations) and a more significant decrease in the other indicators of quality (between 0.02 and 0.16 standard deviations). Therefore, the results suggest a tension in the school between various objectives of educational policy, in which pressure to improve standardized test scores resulting from competition among schools could produce an undesired effect of deterioration in other dimensions of quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Do differences in colonial origins affect student test scores today? More generally, do differences in national education systems matter for test scores? • In Cameroon, a Francophone education system with French colonial origins coexists with an Anglophone system with British colonial origins. • Focusing on schools located close to the border between the Francophone and Anglophone parts, we find that pupils schooled in the Francophone system perform better in mathematics in Grage 5 of primary school. • Francophone schools have better classroom equipment, Francophone teachers use more vertical teaching methods and make students repeat more, but none of these differences seem to explain our result. • The Francophone advantage might be explained by hard to measure differences in pedagogical practices and culture. We revisit the question of colonial legacies in education by focusing on quality rather than quantity. We study Cameroon, a country where a Francophone education system with French colonial origins coexists with an Anglophone system with British colonial origins. This allows us to investigate the impact of different teaching practices on students' test scores. We find that pupils schooled in the Francophone system perform better in mathematics in Grade 5, with test scores higher by two thirds of a standard deviation. Thanks to detailed school survey data, we are able to account for a wide array of inputs of the education production function, such as the economic and social conditions of students, the material conditions of the schools and classrooms, as well as some information on the teachers' practices and pedagogical culture. We find that Francophone schools have better classroom equipment and that Francophone teachers use more vertical teaching methods, but that these differences cannot explain why Francophone students perform better in mathematics. In the end, we cannot pin down the exact mechanism behind our result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Longitudinal quantitative and qualitative analysis. • Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. • Strong, significant quantitative relationship between low learning and dropout. • Low learning contributes to other drivers of dropout including marriage and work. • Implications that improving learning could also increase average years of schooling. Using longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data we examine the role that learning plays in school persistence and dropout in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Regression analysis shows a strong, significant association, with one standard deviation higher test scores associated with 50% lower odds of dropping out between the ages of 8 and 12, and a similar association between ages 12 and 15. Qualitative analysis indicates a direct relationship between low learning and dropout, with children and parents choosing to discontinue school when they realize little is being learned. Qualitative findings also show that low learning interacts with and exacerbates proximate causes of dropout, including early marriage and leaving school to work, as families decide which options will best provide for children in the long run. These findings suggest that low learning may play a larger role in dropout decisions than has been previously recognized, and that improving learning may also improve schooling attainment and completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Government launched the My School website in 2010 to provide standardised information about the quality of schools to the Australian public. This paper combines data from this website with home sales data for the state of Victoria to estimate the effect of the publication of school quality information on property prices. We use a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the causal effect of the release of information about high-quality and low-quality schools relative to medium-quality schools in the neighborhood and find that the release of information about high-quality schools increases property prices by 3.6 percent, whereas the release of information about low-quality schools has no significant effect. The findings indicate that many buyers are unaware of the relevance of school quality information and that real estate agents pursue a strategy of disclosing information about high-quality schools to increase the sales price. Results from a survey of Victorian real estate agents provide evidence in favor of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the long-term impact on earnings of attending a tuition-free, top-quality university in Brazil. We identify the causal effect through a sharp discontinuity in an admission process based on test scores. If admitted, low-income students are found to increase their earnings by 26% ten years later. However, admission has a small and insignificant effect on high-income students. The difference between income groups is not explained by educational attainment, program choice, or selection into better-paying jobs. The evidence suggests that most low-income applicants, if not admitted, still graduate from college but with much lower returns to education. High-income applicants who just miss the cutoff, however, can find other opportunities such that earnings trajectories are unchanged. Our results underscore the role of affordable higher education in promoting social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems that facilitating access to a higher spectrum of schools implies that students will attend higher quality schools, as measured by students' end-of-class test scores. We test this hypothesis showing new evidence for the effects of school transport subsidies targeting low-income students on school choice in the context of a developing country (Colombia) using a unique panel dataset involving a public-school population with approximately 15 million records. We built a creative instrument deducing unobserved optimal commute decisions, which seems to satisfy the exclusion and relevance conditions, and we found by means of two-stage least squares that metro and bus subsidy beneficiaries choose statistically and economically significantly better schools, approximately a 33% and 37% improvement in the quality school index, respectively. In addition, we found using endogenous ordered probit models that these subsidies increase the probability of attending very high-quality schools by 59% and 94% for the representative beneficiary, respectively. These results suggest that the reduction of costs of transport not only increases accessibility and the set of school choices among low-income students, but also targets students enrolled in better quality schools. Therefore, the local government should increase efforts to get more subsidies targeting uncovered areas. • We explore the effects of school transport subsidies on the school choice. • Metro and bus transport subsidy programs that target low-income students were analyzed. • Subsidized beneficiaries choose statistically and economically significantly better schools. • Higher spectrum of schools by decreasing transport costs can boost to attend better quality schools. • Our results are useful for helping to design transportation policies that improve student accessibility to better school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ability grouping or tracking during secondary schooling is widespread. Previous research shows academic track schools are more successful than non-academic track schools in teaching mathematics, reading and foreign languages. Reasons include a more favorable student composition and higher instructional quality. However, there is less evidence that between track differences are even large enough to differentially affect the students' cognitive development. We used data from a large Hamburg panel study to test this hypothesis ( N = 8628). By employing several propensity score matching algorithms we formed parallelized samples of academic track and either non-academic track students or comprehensive school students. After four years of tracking, academic track students showed considerably higher intelligence scores than their counterparts at the non-academic tracks and slightly higher scores than students at the comprehensive schools. Our results underline the importance of a cognitively stimulating learning environment in school to support students' cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measure the impact of universal prekindergarten for four-year-olds by exploiting a natural experiment in which the Australian state of Queensland eliminated its public prekindergarten program in 2007. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that five months of access to universal prekindergarten leads to an increase of 0.23 standard deviations in general school readiness. Cognitive benefits are evident across socioeconomic status, while behavioral improvements of 0.19 standard deviations are restricted to girls. Our evidence suggests that the positive effects of universal prekindergarten provision on children's development are driven by the use of higher-quality formal early education and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Individual academic achievement is a well-known predictor of adult health, and addressing education inequities may be critical to reducing health disparities. Disparities in school quality are well documented. However, we lack nationally representative studies evaluating the impact of school quality on adult health. We aim to determine whether high school quality predicts adult health outcomes after controlling for baseline health, socio-demographics and individual academic achievement. Methods We analyzed data from 7037 adolescents who attended one of 77 high schools in the Unites States and were followed into adulthood from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Selected school-level quality measures—average daily attendance, school promotion rate, parental involvement, and teacher experience—were validated based on ability to predict high school graduation and college attendance. Individual adult health outcomes included self-rated health, diagnosis of depression, and having a measured BMI in the obese range. Results Logistic regressions controlling for socio-demographics, baseline health, health insurance, and individual academic performance demonstrated that school quality significantly predicted all health outcomes. As hypothesized, attending a school with lower average daily attendance predicted lower self-rated health (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.59, p = 0.003) and higher odds of depression diagnosis (AOR 1.35, p = 0.03); and attending a school with higher parent involvement predicted lower odds of obesity (AOR 0.69, p = 0.001). However, attending a school with higher promotion rate also predicted lower self-rated health (AOR1.20, p < 0.001). Conclusions High school quality may be an important, but complex, social determinant of health. These findings highlight the potential inter-dependence of education and health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood effects are often asserted to be attributable to differences in school zones. However, few studies explore the confounding interactions between the quality of school zones and those of neighbourhoods. This study examines whether the effects of school quality interact with neighbourhood effects in determining house price premia. Using micro-level student data from the New Zealand Ministry of Education, we operationalise school quality as the variation in university entrance rates over the years. We then exploit the overlapping geographically defined school zones and a unique socioeconomically based funding system in New Zealand to decompose the total effect of neighbourhoods and school qualities. Our results from the hedonic pricing, boundary-discontinuity, and repeat-sales model indicate that school quality, school decile, and school options are complement to each other that leads homebuyers to have a higher willingness to pay. We also discuss the planning implications on school segregation. • Disentangles the effects of school zone on house prices: (a) school choices, (b) school quality, (c) socioeconomic status • Homebuyers are found to pay premia for school options, school quality and the neighbourhood of higher socioeconomic status • A long-term solution is to increase the supply of high-quality education in districts other than the high-income neighbourhoods [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which increased access to primary schooling in ten Southern and East African countries between 2000 and 2007 was also accompanied by increased access to actual learning. We develop a measure of access to learning that combines data on education access and learning achievement to measure the proportions of children in the population (including those enrolled and not enrolled) that reach particular thresholds of literacy and numeracy. In all countries there was greater access to learning in 2007 than in 2000. These improvements in access to learning especially benefited girls and children from poor households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] This paper examines returns to education in India for consumption and wages. [•] The returns appear high at the individual level for both men and women. [•] Yet comparing across cohorts the returns are low for men and zero for women. [•] The results are robust to measurement error and school quality. [•] There are higher returns in the regular wage market but that employs few people. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper examines recent studies that estimate the impact of education on economic growth. It explains why cross-country regressions face formidable econometric problems. Recent studies are reviewed: some show strong impacts of education on economic growth; others show little effect. All have multiple estimation problems, which may explain their divergent results. Evidence shows that education quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is much lower than in other developing countries. Estimates from three influential studies are extended; the results suggest that the impact of education on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is lower than in other countries, likely due to lower school quality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Using the Thai PISA 2009 literacy test, this paper offers two contributions to the literature on the achievement gap between students in urban and rural areas. The first contribution relates to the estimation of the student-level education production function at different points along the achievement distributions. With the use of Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, the second contribution demonstrates how much of the achievement differential between urban–rural students can be explained by unmeasured school characteristics. It has been found that the impact of student, family as well as school characteristics on student achievements vary along the test achievement distributions. Decompositions exercises at the mean find that about 45–48 percent of urban–rural achievement gaps are accounted for by the unmeasured characteristics of schools. The disaggregated decomposition exercise along the achievement percentile shows that these characteristics account for about 12–15 percent low-performing students and increase to about 61–69 percent for high-performing students. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study examines the psychometric properties of a student-reported measure of school quality, the CFS Conditions for Learning Survey, to examine its utility as a cross-national comparative measure to evaluate UNICEF''s Child Friendly Schools initiative. Factor analyses conducted on data from fifth- and sixth-grade students in 68 schools across the Philippines, Nicaragua, and South Africa revealed a core set of items that loaded highly onto each of the three dimensions of the CFS Conditions for Learning survey across all three countries. Formal tests established measurement invariance for a subset of these items, indicating that they were free from methodological bias across countries. However, meaningful differences in the country-specific structure and substantive interpretation of school quality were also detected. The results suggest that items in the CFS Conditions for Learning survey can be used to create both reliable cross-national and country-specific indicators of school quality and provide a blueprint for future psychometric work in the field of comparative child and family policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study analyzes school dropout in rural Guatemala using event history data and unusually detailed data on schools and teachers. Significant results for language of instruction, teacher education and fighting between students demonstrate the importance of accounting for school context influences on an outcome that has, historically, been analyzed mainly as a function of family background. Less support is found for the contention that dropout is lower in schools that are better at maximizing student achievement. Finally, using interaction analysis some of the school effects vary significantly by student gender and ethnicity. The various linkages between school features and dropout highlight the complicated reality of identifying the kinds of features of schools that are valued by poor families. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the effect of school quality on the relationship between schooling and health outcomes using the substantial improvements in the quality of schools attended by black students in the segregated southern states during the mid-1900s as a source of identifying variation. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, our results suggest that improvements in school quality, measured as the pupil–teacher ratio, average teachers’ wage, and length of the school year, amplify the beneficial effects of education on several measures of health in later life, including self-rated health, smoking, obesity, and mortality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Statewide exit examinations play an important role in discussions on school effectiveness. Referring to educational governance concepts, this paper presumes a relation between varying organizational structures of statewide examinations across states, and heterogeneous effects on school actors. It is assumed that their ability to affect work in schools depends on how standardized their procedures are. Therefore, their structural elements must be juxtaposed, and their standardization level must be identified. This paper describes the results of a comparative review of statewide exit examinations using the example of 16 OECD-states alongside the categories Historical Context, Organizational Framework, Marking, and Handling of Results, and discusses the examinations regarding their overall standardization. The study is a basis for further research into how differently structured exit examinations affect school work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Child wellbeing at school and enjoyment of the learning environment are important economic outcomes, in particular because a growing body of research shows they are strongly linked to later educational attainments and labour market success. However, the standard working assumption in the economics of education is that parents choose schools on the basis of test-score performance, and concerns about child happiness are largely ignored. In this paper, we address this omission and investigate to what extent parents’ and children''s views of their school are linked to test-score based performance, and to what extent parents’ judgements of school quality are linked to their child''s happiness. To do so, we use information on stated attitudes from the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) matched to administrative records on pupil achievements in England. Our results suggest that test-score based measures of school quality tend to dominate parental satisfaction with the learning environment. However, school quality along this dimension is not strongly associated with pupil happiness and wellbeing at school. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of attending elite private high school on college placement using admissions data from the most selective high school in a large metropolitan area. To overcome omitted variable bias, we limit the sample to admitted applicants and control directly for the scores assigned by admissions based on in-depth analyses of the applicants and their families. In addition, we control for a wide set of covariates including student and family characteristics and entrance exam scores. Results indicate that attending selective private high school rather than other public and private high schools causes students to attend more selective universities. Effects are driven by gains for girls and students from lower-income neighborhoods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines a range of historical and geographic factors that determine the quality of public school education in post-apartheid South Africa. Empirical analysis shows, first, that population groups are still spatially segregated due to the legacy of apartheid, which implies that, given the positive correlation between school quality and school fees, quality education is concentrated in formerly white, coloured and Indian schools in areas where the majority is non-African. Second, school quality, measured by the learner–educator ratio, improves as school fee and government subsidy increase. In this sense, school fee can be decreased with an increase in government subsidy to maintain school quality. It is also shown that government subsidy is allocated to schools with lower quality and fees, increasing the number of subsidized teachers. To address the current imbalance, financial support to disadvantaged locales and schools should be strengthened further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, I estimate the effect of state school inputs on labor market returns to schooling. The method follows and , but I extend their analysis in two ways. First, I correct state-level returns to schooling for selective migration, adapting a method from . Second, I use more recent data and assess the degree to which the 1999 labor market capitalized school inputs (with 2000 Census data). Higher state-level school inputs are associated with higher returns to schooling after correcting for selective migration. These positive effects are present in all Census years I study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In 1983, Heyneman and Loxley stated that in low income countries, school-level factors could account for a greater proportion of variance in student achievement as compared to student-level characteristics. The phenomenon has come to be known as the “HL effect” and signaled the important role of schools in developing countries. This study investigated the presence of the HL effect using a longitudinal sample of 1790 11.5-year-old students from 60 schools in a developing country, the Philippines. The main variables of interest were related to socioeconomic status and proxy measures of school quality. The correlates of achievement were explored using two-level multilevel modeling, while controlling for students’ prior ability. While findings did not support the presence of the HL effect in the sample, with schools accounting for only 3–5% of overall conditional variance, schools were found to be important in the production of higher achievement scores. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study provides evidence for a non-linear and weakly monotonic relationship between school quality and house prices. Using Fremont, California, as the study area, the regression analysis shows that homeowners are unwilling to pay a premium for an increase in school quality from low to medium quality. However, they are willing to pay a) a large premium when all schools are top-quality schools and b) a premium for access to nationally-renowned schools, which is in addition to the premium for top-quality schools. These findings have important land use policy significance because they provide new insights into the homeowner's residential location choice and highlight the need to consider school quality in a jurisdiction's land use and zoning decisions. • This study provides evidence for a non-linear and weakly monotonic relationship between school quality and house prices. • Dataset includes characteristics of single-family houses during the April 2012–March 2014 period in Fremont, CA, US. • Homeowners might not be willing to pay a premium for an increase in school quality from low- to medium-quality. • Homeowners pay a large premium for high-quality elementary schools when middle and high schools are high-quality too. • Homeowners pay a significant premium (12%) for nationally-renowned schools above the premium for top-quality schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The strong correlation between having graduated from a selective college and success in the labor market has been robustly observed in many countries. There are two major explanations for this finding. One claims that graduating from a selective college assures success in the labor market in a causal sense due to better education, a better alumni network, or some factor attached to selective college graduation. The other explanation claims that the correlation is created by a “third” factor, such as selective college graduates’ greater innate ability or better family background. We attempt to test this causality by using a natural experiment. The most selective university in Japan, the University of Tokyo, did not admit new students in 1969 because the university could not administer its entrance examination due to a campus lockout by armed, leftist students, who demanded university reform. Consequently, many of the 3000 high school graduates who would have been admitted to the university went to other, second-best universities that year. We examine whether the 1973 graduation cohort of these second-best universities performed better than other graduation cohorts of the same universities by using the 2002/2003 Who''s Who for publicly traded companies and the central government. We found little evidence that the 1973 graduating cohort from the second-best universities outperformed the other cohorts in private companies, though this cohort did perform better in the central government. This evidence rejects the null hypothesis that the better performance of Tokyo graduates in the central government is solely due to the fact that they graduated from the University of Tokyo. However, the effect of this stronger performance of the graduates from the second-best schools was not large enough to compensate for the absence of Tokyo graduates. Thus, the success of Tokyo graduates in the public sector cannot be explained solely by their high innate abilities or better family backgrounds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Previous work shows that higher levels of education quality (as measured by international student achievement tests) increase growth rates of national income. This paper begins by confirming those findings in an analysis involving more countries over more time with additional controls. We then use the panel structure of our data to assess whether the mechanism by which education quality appears to improve per capita income levels is through shifting the level of the production function (probably not), through increasing the impact of an additional year of education (probably not), or through increasing a country''s rate of technological progress (very likely). Mortality rates complement income levels as indicators of national well-being, and we extend our panel models to show that improved education quality increases the rate of decline in infant mortality. In the analysis of growth, we find a stronger impact of education quality and of years of schooling in open than in closed economies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A broad literature seeks to assess the importance of schools, proxies for school quality, and family background on children''s achievement growth using the education production function. Using rich data from the Philippines, we introduce and estimate a model that imposes little structure on the relationship between intake achievement and follow-up achievement and evaluate school performance based on this estimated relationship. Our methods nest typical value-added specifications that use test score gains as the outcome variable and models assuming linearity in the relationship between intake and follow-up scores. We find evidence against the use of value-added models for our data and show that such models give very different assessments of school performance in the Philippines. Using a variety of tests we find that schools matter in the production of student achievement, though variation in performance across schools only explains about 4.4–5.3% of the total (conditional) variation in follow-up achievement. Schools providing basic facilities—in particular schools providing electricity—are found to perform much better in the production of achievement growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite Sri Lanka''s 1990 commitment to provide 10–11 years of free education to all, only 93% of children in the 5–14-year-old age group were in school by the year 2000. Moreover, the education participation rates are not equitable across the country, varying by socio-economic groups. This paper examines the determinants of school non-participation of 5–14-year olds in Sri Lanka using household, community and school-level information obtained from an island-wide survey. The study finds that demand side problems such as poverty, direct and indirect costs of schooling, and cultural factors as well as supply side shortcomings such as quality of education seem to affect schooling behavior of children. Policies facilitating compulsory education in the country at present gives prominence to awareness building, monitoring and improvements in education delivery. The results show that these efforts need to be complemented by other supply side improvements and income transfer measures, especially for the poorest, to achieve universal school attendance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using quantile regressions, this paper provides evidence that the relationship between school inputs and wages varies across points in the conditional wage distribution and educational attainment levels. Although smaller classes generally have a positive return for individuals at high quantiles, they have either no impact or a negative impact at low quantiles. Similarly, while more highly paid teachers benefit dropouts at high quantiles and graduates at low quantiles, they have a negative return for all other quantile-education groups. The results presented in this paper also suggest that the optimal school for high school graduates is likely smaller than for high school dropouts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The identification of students with the potential to succeed in mathematics- and science-based study despite previous educational disadvantage is a critical issue currently facing many South African higher education institutions. The possible use of school-leaving examination (Matric) results and/or scores on specially developed aptitude tests for the selection of disadvantaged students was investigated during a four year UNIFY Selection Research Project. UNIFY is a mathematics and science foundation year programme at the University of the North, intended specifically for disadvantaged students from previously black-only educational systems. The research results show that both Matric results and aptitude tests have predictive validity for student performance in UNIFY. Matric results add significantly to the predictive validity attained by the UNIFY selection tests. No significant predictive bias against home and school background is found for the UNIFY student group for either Matric results or aptitude tests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As scholars investigate factors to prolong early childhood education (ECE) effects on student achievement, a neglected hypothesis is that subsequent school quality promotes this goal. We test this, using data from 1844 students who attended kindergarten in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) in 2006 and who were identifiable in the school district a decade later. Approximately half of those students attended an ECE program. We establish a close link between school quality and magnet schools which we use as a proxy for higher quality schools. Using propensity score weighting with multiple imputation, we find that ECE alumni are more likely to attend a magnet middle school and a magnet high school. We find that magnet middle school attendance yields higher test scores, after controlling for multiple variables. We conclude that higher quality middle schools could help school districts to sustain short-term gains from ECE for a diverse cross-section of students. • Children who attend an early childhood education program are more likely to attend a higher quality school • Attending a magnet middle school is associated with higher state test scores • Attending a magnet middle school is associated with higher rates of attending magnet high school [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]