ORCID QR code
By Lex Borghans, Ron Diris, Mariana Tavares
In this paper, we identify the contribution of differences in test effort to gender gaps and socioeconomic gaps in achievement. We leverage question response time and random question order to obtain causal estimates of the effect of student effort on performance. Subsequently, we evaluate how differences in performance change when students would have made equal time investments. We find that effort explains around 25 percent of the socioeconomic gap in math and reading. For gender, correcting for effort closes around 18 percent of the reading gap while it increases the advantage of boys in math. Looking at average achievement, gender differences in effort can explain 49 percent of the gender achievement gap. We also show that the returns to response time are strongly underestimated by fixed effects models.
Keywords: Education Economics, Achievement gaps, Student effort, Instrumental variables
By Lex Borghans, Ron Diris, Mariana Tavares
Background: Achievement tests are designed as measurement tools for student knowledge and learning, but also reflect student effort during the test. Understanding better what determines differences in (different dimensions of) effort can help in understanding what measured achievement differences reflect.
Aim: We analyze how test-taking effort relates to students’ demographic characteristics, past attainment and personality traits. Data: 13,791 9th grade students in the Netherlands, administered in 2012, 2014 and 2016, answering a total of 449,956 observations.
Methods: We distinguish between two measures of effort: solution behavior and response time given solution behavior. We estimate multi-level cross-classified models that include individual and test characteristics as predictors. We further include interaction terms between question position and individual characteristics, to identify how effort decline across the test differs by student type.
Results: Girls, high achievers, more agreeable, more conscientious and less extravert students exert more effort. Differences by past achievement are especially large and further increase along the test, while differences in other characteristics tend to be more stable. Effort differences by socioeconomic status are relatively small.
Conclusions: Systematic differences between different types of students can partly reflect differences in test effort across these groups. Thus, test effort should be considered when analyzing achievement gaps and differences across learning outcomes. Tests with different test lengths imply different measures of educational inequality through differential effort declines.
Keywords: Achievement test scores, Student effort, Solution behavior, Question response time, Personality traits
By Sónia Cabral, Pedro S. Martins, João Pereira dos Santos, Mariana Tavares
The increasing range and quality of China’s exports is a major development internationally with potentially far-reaching effects. In this paper, on top of the direct labour market effects of imports from China studied in previous research, we also measure the indirect effects stemming from increased export competition in third markets. Our findings, based on matched employer–employee data of Portugal covering the period 1991–2008, indicate that workers’ earnings and employment are significantly negatively affected by China’s competition, but only through the indirect ‘market-stealing’ channel. In contrast to earlier evidence, the direct effects of Chinese imports are mostly non-significant. The results are robust to a number of checks and also highlight particular groups more affected by indirect competition, including women, older and less educated workers, and workers in larger, older and domestic firms.
Keywords: international trade, labour market, matched employer-employee data, China, import competition
By João Pereira dos Santos, Mariana Tavares, Pedro Pita Barros
Suicides are a major concern for public health first and foremost because they are an avoidable cause of death. Moreover, they can be an indicator of self-reported emotional satisfaction and a good marker of overall well-being. In this study we examine how different economic and social aspects affected Portuguese suicide rates for more than one hundred years (1910-2013). We place this exercise in the specific historical context of the XX and early XXI century in Portugal, emphasizing the role of economic recessions and expansions. Controlling for aspects like wars, health care availability, political instability, and demographic changes, we find a strong association between a decline in the growth rate of real output and an increase in suicide rates for the whole population. In this regard, while male suicide rates are non-negligibly influenced by economic downturns, female suicide rates are in general more responsive to a more open political and economic environment. Our results are robust if we consider the mid-term cyclical relationship. Our findings advocate that, during recessions, public health responses should be seen as a crucial component of suicide prevention.
Keywords: austerity, crisis, marriage, mental health, Portugal, suicide rates
By Mariana Tavares, PhD thesis
This thesis analyzes two different, yet related, assumptions often made regarding the way achievement test scores are generally built and seen. Both relate to the blessing and the curse of the ability that achievement tests have to synthesize information. For one, student achievement is typically conveyed as a single number, computed as the average student performance on the test. This aggregation method may hide valuable information about student knowledge on specific content and subjects, as well as variance in student performance. Second, achievement is usually taken as a pure measure of student ability. This neglects the fact that noncognitive skills matter as well. These assumptions may have consequences for the way achievement tests are used and for conclusions drawn from their scores. Are achievement test scores a magic number that captures all this information in a parsimonious, and yet sufficient way, or should researchers, education agents and policy makers be aware of these assumptions? This thesis raises awareness on these two assumptions and the implications behind them. By doing so, it calls attention to the possible need of redesigning achievement tests or redefining the skills they measure. It also contributes to the knowledge on the inner workings of achievement test scores, and the constructs they measure.
Keywords: achievement test scores, skill diversity, studetn effort, school outcomes
Mind the Gap! The role of skill diversity on school performance
By Mariana Tavares, Lex Borghans and Ron Diris
When it comes to group student performance in different subjects, two main approaches emerge from educational systems around the world: average- and target-oriented. Opting for one over the other relates to the fundamental question of whether students should enhance their strengths or improve their weaknesses. There is dearth of empirical evidence on this topic. We take advantage of a panel data set at the student-level to analyze the predictive power of pupils' skill diversity on skill acquisition. Skill diversity is captured by the standard deviation of math and language skills at the student-level. To take into account skill acquisition, we employ a value-added specification of test performance between 6th and 9th grades. We test whether the relation between skill diversity and future skills differs across ability levels. We conclude that closing the achievement gap for low-performing students and fostering skill diversity for above average students predicts higher future performance.
Keywords: skill technology function, skill diversity, specialization, student-level data
When is "enough" enough? The role of student effort on performance
By Mariana Tavares, Lex Borghans and Ron Diris
How well students perform in widely used achievement tests depends on cognitive and noncognitive skills as well as on effort put forth. Hence, measured achievement gaps may not only reflect differences in student ability but also in effort. In this paper, we study to what extent gender and socioeconomic (SES) gaps, in IQ, math and reading, change when effort is taken into account. To do so, we first leverage question response time and random question order to obtain causal estimates of the effect of student effort on performance. Subsequently, we evaluate how performance differences change when students make equal time investments. We find that gender [SES] achievement gaps in reading close by 20.69 [56.91] per cent in response to equal response times across groups. The gender [SES] achievement gap in math widens [closes] by 57.70 [20.43] per cent.
Keywords: achievment gaps, student effort, question response time
What took you so long? The role of student characteristics on effort decisions
By Mariana Tavares, Lex Borghans and Ron Diris
Achievement test scores are often perceived as pure measures of cognitive ability. There is increasing evidence that this may be a simplification. Results on achievement tests do not only depend on mental capacity, but also on decisions regarding the amount of effort exerted during the task of test-taking. We analyse the evolution of effort during this task and investigate whether there are systematic differences between genders, socioeconomic status, attainment levels and personality traits. We capture student effort through objectively measured and observed outcomes of student decisions and take advantage of random question order to identify potential effects. We find that effort levels fall as the test progresses and at different rates. Females sustain higher effort levels for longer, as well as high achievers and more conscientious and agreeable students.
Keywords: test scores, student effort, solution behaviour, question response time, personality traits
Are Basic Schools more Effective than Secondary Schools?
By Mariana Tavares, Ana Balcão Reis, Luis Catela Nunes, Maria do Carmo Seabra
This paper studies the effectiveness of Portuguese public schools provision of 7th, 8th and 9th grades. At least two school types offer these grades: Basic and Secondary. Based on previous findings, a production function is estimated for 9th grade students in the regular academic track, including a variable that indicates the specific school type attended by each student. Using individual student data from the Portuguese Ministry of Education for 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 on students’ characteristics and exams we conclude that Basic Schools are, on average, beneficial for students, enhancing their performance in both Portuguese and Mathematics standardized national exams. Looking at school characteristics we conclude that Secondary Schools have teachers with higher qualification and more experience. We also verify that these schools have and students from better backgrounds. Then, we present some alternative explanations for the main result.
Keywords: effectiveness, public schools, economics of education