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Pupil Achievement, School Resources and Family Background

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Author Info
Hægeland, Torbjørn (Statistics Norway and Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research)
Raaum, Oddbjørn (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research)
Salvanes, Kjell G. () (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Statistics Norway and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

Whether increasing resource use in schools has a positive effect on pupil performance has occupied governments, parents and researchers for decades. A main challenge when trying to answer this question is to separate the effects of school resources from the effects of pupils’ family background, since resources may be allocated in a compensatory manner, and pupils may sort into schools. We address these issues using a comprehensive dataset for two cohorts of pupils graduating from lower secondary school in Norway. The dataset is rich in performance measures, resource use variables and family background variables. As performance measures we use results at age 16 across 11 subjects, and we exploit the fact that we have both information from results from national exams and from continuous assessment in class. Controlling for family background, we find a positive but modest effect of resource quantity such as teacher hours per pupil, on pupil achievement. Observable teacher qualifications, within the variation present in lower secondary school in Norway, do not appear to have significant effects on school results. Resource quality as measured by teacher characteristics does not appear to have a significant impact on pupils’ marks. We find clear evidence of compensating resource allocation and teacher sorting as well as relative setting of marks.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1459.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2005
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1459

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Related research
Keywords: exam results; school resources; family background; compensating resource allocation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hanushek, Eric A., 2006. "School Resources," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1999. "Using Maimonides' Rule To Estimate The Effect Of Class Size On Scholastic Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 533-575, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Christian Dustmann & Najma Rajah & Arthur van Soest, 2003. "Class Size, Education, and Wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F99-F120, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Black, Sandra & Devereux, Paul J. & Salvanes, Kjell G, 2003. "Why the Apple Doesn't Fall: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital," CEPR Discussion Papers 4150, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Bonesronning, Hans & Falch, Torberg & Strom, Bjarne, 2005. "Teacher sorting, teacher quality, and student composition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 457-483, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra, 2004. "The Literacy Hour," IZA Discussion Papers 1005, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  7. Jnah E. Rockoff, 2004. "The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 247-252, May. [Downloadable!]
  8. Bonesronning, Hans, 2004. "The determinants of parental effort in education production: do parents respond to changes in class size?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-9, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Eric A. Hanushek, 2003. "The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F64-F98, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2003. "Why the apple doesn't fall far: understanding intergenerational transmission of human capital," CeMMAP working papers CWP16/03, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Betts, Julian R, 1996. "Do School Resources Matter Only for Older Workers?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(4), pages 638-52, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Heckman, James J & Ichimura, Hidehiko & Todd, Petra, 1998. "Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 65(2), pages 261-94, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Edward P. Lazear, 2001. "Educational Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 116(3), pages 777-803, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates Of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Hans Bonesrønning, 2003. "Class Size Effects on Student Achievement in Norway: Patterns and Explanations," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 69(4), pages 952-965, April.
  17. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F3-F33, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F34-F63, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Martin Browning & Eskil Heinesen, 2003. "Class size, teacher hours and educational attainment," CAM Working Papers 2003-15, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics, revised Jun 2005. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Julian R. Betts, 1996. "Do School Resources Matter Only for Older Workers?," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 96-21, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  21. Lorraine Dearden & Javier Ferri & Costas Meghir, 2002. "The Effect Of School Quality On Educational Attainment And Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 1-20, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Leuven, Edwin & Oosterbeek, Hessel & Rønning, Marte, 2008. "Quasi-Experimental Estimates of the Effect of Class Size on Achievement in Norway," IZA Discussion Papers 3474, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  2. Torbjørn Hægeland, Oddbjørn Raaum and Kjell G. Salvanes, 2007. "Pennies from heaven. Using exogenous tax variation to identify effects of school resources on pupil achievement," Discussion Papers 508, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Bratsberg,Bernt & Røed, Knut & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Naylor, Robin & Jäntti, Markus & Eriksson, Tor & Österbacka, Eva, 2007. "Nonlinearities in Intergenerational Earnings Mobility : Consequences for Cross-Country Comparisons," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 782, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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