External Exams
Central exams act as an accountability device that reveals the overall outcome of the efforts of students and schools. As such, they constitute an important feature of a school system’s institutional framework that can hold students, teachers, schools, and administrators accountable for student outcomes. Central exams can increase external rewards for learning, enhance monitoring of teachers and schools, and decrease peer pressure against learning.
Ample evidence indicates that central exit exams are related to better student achievement, favorable labor-market outcomes, and higher economic growth. They improve the learning outcomes of students and their subsequent labor-market performance and raise the understanding of grades - their information value - in the labor market. As such, implementing central exams at the end of secondary school may prove much more effective at improving student outcomes than many other resource-intensive educational initiatives.
Looking at reforms in exam systems across countries over time, the introduction of standardized testing improves student achievement in low- and medium-performing countries, whereas internal testing and teacher inspectorates without external comparisons do not. In high-performing countries, expansion of standardized internal testing and teacher monitoring appears harmful.
As a member of the Aktionsrat Bildung, I have developed the concept of a "Gemeinsames Kernabitur" for Germany that would introduce national components into the high-school leaving exam.
Non-technical contributions:
Central Exit Exams Improve Student Outcomes. IZA World of Labor: 419, 2018
Testing with Accountability Improves Student Achievement (with A.B. Bergbauer and E.A. Hanushek). VOX, 19.9.2018
How School Choice, Autonomy, and Accountability Impact Student Achievement: International Evidence (with M.R. West). In: C.L. Glenn, J. De Groof, and C. Stillings Candal (eds.), Balancing Freedom, Autonomy and Accountability in Education, Volume 4, Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 275-298, 2012
Important academic papers on the topic are:
Testing (with A.B. Bergbauer and E.A. Hanushek). Journal of Human Resources 59 (2): 349-388, 2024 [tweet1] [tweet2] [video]
The Information Value of Central School Exams (with G. Schwerdt). Economics of Education Review 56: 65-79, 2017
The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement. Journal of Economic Perspectives 30 (3): 3-31, 2016
Schooling Resources, Educational Institutions, and Student Performance: The International Evidence. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 65 (2): 117-170, 2003
An early report is:
Central Exams Improve Educational Performance: International Evidence. Kiel Discussion Papers 397, Kiel: Institute for World Economics, 2002
My contribution to the LSE Growth Commission includes a quick overview on external exit exams starting at minute 50:
Video on "How is Student Learning Affected by Different Types of Testing?"
A 12-minute take on our "Testing" paper on the "Latest Thinking" portal:
