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New Evidence on the Importance of Instruction Time for Student Achievement on International Assessments

Author

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  • Bietenbeck, Jan

    (Department of Economics, Lund University)

  • Collins, Matthew

    (Department of Economics, Lund University)

Abstract

We revisit and substantially extend the evidence on the importance of instruction time for student achievement on international assessments. We first successfully replicate the estimate of a positive effect of weekly instruction time in the seminal paper by Lavy (Economic Journal, 125, F397-F424) in a narrow sense. We then extend the analysis to data from other international student assessments and find effects that are consistently smaller in magnitude. We provide suggestive evidence that this divergence is partly due to different measurement of instruction time in the data used in the original paper. Our results suggest that differences in instruction time play a less important role than previously thought for explaining international gaps in student achievement.

Suggested Citation

  • Bietenbeck, Jan & Collins, Matthew, 2020. "New Evidence on the Importance of Instruction Time for Student Achievement on International Assessments," Working Papers 2020:18, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2020_018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eric Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2012. "Do better schools lead to more growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 267-321, December.
    2. Maria A. Cattaneo & Chantal Oggenfuss & Stefan C. Wolter, 2017. "The more, the better? The impact of instructional time on student performance," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 433-445, September.
    3. Nazmul Chaudhury & Jeffrey Hammer & Michael Kremer & Karthik Muralidharan & F. Halsey Rogers, 2006. "Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
    4. Steven G. Rivkin & Jeffrey C. Schiman, 2015. "Instruction Time, Classroom Quality, and Academic Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(588), pages 425-448, November.
    5. Victor Lavy, 2015. "Do Differences in Schools' Instruction Time Explain International Achievement Gaps? Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(588), pages 397-424, November.
    6. Tessa Bold & Deon Filmer & Gayle Martin & Ezequiel Molina & Brian Stacy & Christophe Rockmore & Jakob Svensson & Waly Wane, 2017. "Enrollment without Learning: Teacher Effort, Knowledge, and Skill in Primary Schools in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 185-204, Fall.
    7. Steven G. Rivkin & Jeffrey C. Schiman, 2015. "Instruction Time, Classroom Quality, and Academic Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(588), pages 425-448, November.
    8. Bingley, Paul & Heinesen, Eskil & Krassel, Karl Fritjof & Kristensen, Nicolai, 2018. "The Timing of Instruction Time: Accumulated Hours, Timing and Pupil Achievement," IZA Discussion Papers 11807, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Victor Lavy, 2020. "Expanding School Resources and Increasing Time on Task: Effects on Students’ Academic and Noncognitive Outcomes," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 232-265.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexandra de Gendre & Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2023. "Same-sex teacher effects," ECON - Working Papers 438, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised May 2024.
    2. Jan Bietenbeck & Natalie Irmert & Mohammad Sepahvand, 2022. "Teacher Subject Knowledge, Didactic Skills, and Student Learning in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers ECARES 2022-15, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Jeffrey C. Schiman & Rand Ressler, 2024. "The return to classroom instruction time in private and public schools," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 449-464, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    instruction time; student achievement; PISA; TIMSS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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