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The Impact of School Resources on Student Performance: A Study of Private Schools in the United Kingdom

Author

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  • Kathryn Graddy
  • Margaret Stevens

Abstract

This article reports the results of an empirical study of the impact of school inputs on pupils' performance in private (independent) schools in the United Kingdom, using a new school-level panel dataset constructed from information provided by the Independent Schools Information Service. The authors show a consistent negative relationship between the pupil-teacher ratio at a school and the examination results achieved by pupils aged 18, controlling for the pupils' performance in examinations two years earlier. The results are noteworthy in comparison with results of studies for the state sector, relatively few of which have found a consistent and statistically significant effect of the pupil-teacher ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathryn Graddy & Margaret Stevens, 2005. "The Impact of School Resources on Student Performance: A Study of Private Schools in the United Kingdom," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(3), pages 435-451, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:58:y:2005:i:3:p:435-451
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390505800307
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Anne Aidla & Maaja Vadi, 2007. "Relationships between Organizational Culture and Performance in Estonian Schools with Regard to Their Size and Location," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 3-17, July.
    2. Debopam Bhattacharya & Shin Kanaya & Margaret Stevens, 2017. "Are University Admissions Academically Fair?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 449-464, July.
    3. Raphaela Schlicht & Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen & Markus Freitag, 2010. "Educational Inequality in the EU," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(1), pages 29-59, March.
    4. Pedro Luis Silva & Carla Sá & Ricardo Biscaia & Pedro N. Teixeira, 2022. "High school and exam scores: Does their predictive validity for academic performance vary with programme selectivity?," NIPE Working Papers 4/2022, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    5. Caroline Elliott & Palitha Konara & Yingqi Wei, 2016. "Competition, Cooperation and Regulatory Intervention Impacts on Independent School Fees," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 243-262, July.
    6. López-Torres, Laura & Johnes, Jill & Elliott, Caroline & Polo, Cristina, 2021. "The effects of competition and collaboration on efficiency in the UK independent school sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 40-53.
    7. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2007. "The Impact of Direct Democracy on Public Education: Evidence for Swiss Students in Reading, Mathematics and Natural Science," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 688, Stockholm School of Economics.

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