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Non-Cognitive Skills and Remedial Education: Good News for Girls

Author

Listed:
  • Marianna Battaglia

    (Universidad de Alicante)

  • Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide;)

Abstract

Growing evidence shows that non-cognitive skills are crucial for labor market and other outcomes in life. However, little is known about the role of education in improving these abilities, especially for disadvantaged teenagers in developed countries. We address two questions: can remedial educational interventions improve their non-cognitive skills? and, can we expect heterogeneous effects by gender? We take advantage of a remedial program for under-performing students implemented in Spain and we consider testing behaviors as measures of non-cognitive skills. The impact of remedial programs on these abilities, especially malleable for teenagers, has been overlooked in the literature. We find that the program had a substantial positive effect on girls' non-cognitive skills but not on boys'.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianna Battaglia & Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo, 2020. "Non-Cognitive Skills and Remedial Education: Good News for Girls," Working Papers 20.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:20.10
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    remedial education; test performance; PISA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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