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Admissible statistics of educational achievement scores

In: Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 5

Author

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  • Kristian Koerselman

    (Swedish Institute for Social Research)

Abstract

Labor economists regularly regress educational achievement scores on covariates to examine what a ects achievement. I discuss the mea surement and interpretation of achievement scores, and argue that, as the scores are typically measured on an ordinal scale, their analysis in terms of higher level statistics such as means is inappropriate, and that we should use quantile-based analysis instead. I investigate how large possible bias from mean-based methods is by comparing test score distributions to the distribution of monetary value of the same scores. In most cases, the bias will be quantitatively small, and conclusions qualitatively robust.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristian Koerselman, 2010. "Admissible statistics of educational achievement scores," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 5, in: María Jesús Mancebón-Torrubia & Domingo P. Ximénez-de-Embún & José María Gómez-Sancho & Gregorio Gim (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 5, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 40, pages 781-796, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
  • Handle: RePEc:aec:ieed05:05-40
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    File URL: http://repec.economicsofeducation.com/2010zaragoza/05-40.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wössmann, 2006. "Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences- in-Differences Evidence Across Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 63-76, March.
    2. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2011. "Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1739-1774, August.
    3. Sari Pekkala Kerr & Tuomas Pekkarinen & Roope Uusitalo, 2013. "School Tracking and Development of Cognitive Skills," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(3), pages 577-602.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    admissible statistics; educational achievement; item response theory; curriculum tracking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C40 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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