Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Rural Northeast Brazil

Book•

Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Rural Northeast Brazil

23 Jul 1992-

TL;DR: In this paper, the EDURURAL project was used to evaluate the performance of primary schools in rural northeast Brazil and showed that improving the quality of schools could lead to gains in efficiency that more than offset the direct costs of the improvements.

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Abstract: Education policy in developing countries is often expressed as a tradeoff between quality of schools and equity of access by students. The analysis behind this book demonstrates that such a distinction may be artificial. The research, which emerged from an effort to improve educational performance in rural northeast Brazil, shows that improving the quality of schools could lead to gains in efficiency that more than offset the direct costs of the improvements. Through the cost savings they generate, quality improvements can also increase equity of access. This quantitative assessment of eduational performance and school promotion in primary schools is unique in its ability to address directly a range of important policy concerns facing developing countries. The study relies on longitudinal data collected over seven years to evaluate the EDURURAL project, an educational intervention by the Brazilian government supported by the World Bank. The extensive data base permits more precise analysis of the underlying determinants of student achievement and promotion than was previously possible. The study includes a standard investigation of teachers and resources. In addition it examines the relationships between both achievement and promotion and student health and promotion and considers the likely effects of differences in teachers' skills and knowledge of subject matter.

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Journal Article•DOI•

Effects of Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching on Student Achievement:

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Heather C. Hill¹, Brian Rowan¹, Deborah Loewenberg Ball¹•Institutions (1)

University of Michigan¹

20 Jun 2005-American Educational Research Journal

TL;DR: It is found that teachers’ mathematical knowledge was significantly related to student achievement gains in both first and third grades after controlling for key student- and teacher-level covariates.

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Abstract: This study explored whether and how teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching contributes to gains in students’ mathematics achievement. The authors used a linear mixed-model methodology in which first and third graders’ mathematical achievement gains over a year were nested within teachers, who in turn were nested within schools. They found that teachers’ mathematical knowledge was significantly related to student achievement gains in both first and third grades after controlling for key student- and teacher-level covariates. This result, while consonant with findings from the educational production function literature, was obtained via a measure focusing on the specialized mathematical knowledge and skills used in teaching mathematics. This finding provides support for policy initiatives designed to improve students’ mathematics achievement by improving teachers’ mathematical knowledge.

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2,755 citations

Cites background from "Educational Performance of the Poor..."

...Two of the mathematics studies cited, for example, took advantage of an assumed greater variation in teacher preparation and ability in other countries to estimate the effects of mathematics content knowledge on students’ mathematics achievement (Harbison & Hanushek, 1992; Mullens et al., 1996)....
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...…shown a relationship of teachers’ verbal ability with gains in student achievement, but only three have focused explicitly on both teachers’ and students’ mathematical knowledge and students’ gains in mathematics achievement (Harbison & Hanushek, 1992; Mullens et al., 1996; Rowan et al., 1997)....
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...…exams or tests of subject-matter competence, on student achievement (e.g., Boardman, Davis, & Sanday, 1977; Ferguson, 1991; Hanushek, 1972; Harbison & Hanushek, 1992; Mullens et al., 1996; Rowan et al., 1997; Strauss & Sawyer, 1986; Tatto, Nielsen, Cummings, Kularatna & Dharmadasa, 1993;…...
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...Harbison and Hanushek (1992), for instance, administered the same fourth-grade math assessment to both teachers and students, using scores from the first group to predict performance among the second....
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...As we discuss below, only a few educational production function studies have assessed teachers’ mathematical knowledge directly and used this measure as a predictor of student achievement (Harbison & Hanushek, 1992; Mullens, Murnane, & Willett, 1996; Rowan, Chiang, & Miller, 1997)....
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Posted Content•

The role of cognitive skills in economic development

[...]

Eric A. Hanushek, Ludger Woessmann

01 Mar 2008-Research Papers in Economics

TL;DR: This article reviewed the role of cognitive skills in promoting economic well-being and concluded that the cognitive skills of the population are powerfully related to individual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth.

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Abstract: The role of improved schooling, a central part of most development strategies, has become controversial because expansion of school attainment has not guaranteed improved economic conditions. This paper reviews the role of cognitive skills in promoting economic well-being, with a particular focus on the role of school quality and quantity. It concludes that there is strong evidence that the cognitive skills of the population – rather than mere school attainment – are powerfully related to individual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth. New empirical results show the importance of both minimal and high level skills, the complementarity of skills and quality of economic institutions, and robustness of the relationship between skills and growth. International comparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skills reveal much larger skill deficits in developing countries than generally derived from just school enrollment and attainment. The magnitude of change needed makes clear that closing the economic gap with developed countries will require major structural changes in schooling institutions.

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1,655 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge, Cognitive Activation in the Classroom, and Student Progress:

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Jürgen Baumert¹, Mareike Kunter¹, Werner Blum², Martin Brunner¹, Thamar Voss¹, Alexander Jordan, Uta Klusmann¹, Stefan Krauss², Michael Neubrand³, Yi-Miau Tsai¹ - Show less +6 more•Institutions (3)

Max Planck Society¹, University of Kassel², University of Oldenburg³

01 Mar 2010-American Educational Research Journal

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the significance of teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for high-quality instruction and student progress in secondary-level mathematics and reported findings from a 1-year study conducted in Germany with a representative sample of Grade 10 classes and their teachers.

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Abstract: In both the United States and Europe, concerns have been raised about whether preservice and in-service training succeeds in equipping teachers with the professional knowledge they need to deliver consistently high-quality instruction. This article investigates the significance of teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for high-quality instruction and student progress in secondary-level mathematics. It reports findings from a 1-year study conducted in Germany with a representative sample of Grade 10 classes and their mathematics teachers. Teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge was theoretically and empirically distinguishable from their content knowledge. Multilevel structural equation models revealed a substantial positive effect of pedagogical content knowledge on students’ learning gains that was mediated by the provision of cognitive activation and individual learning support.

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1,553 citations

Cites methods from "Educational Performance of the Poor..."

...Harbison and Hanushek (1992) administered a mathematics test to fourth graders in rural areas of Brazil as well as to their teachers and used the teacher scores to predict change in students’ scores in Grade 4....
[...]
...…the various components of teachers’ knowledge directly and used them to predict instructional quality and student outcomes (Fennema et al., 1996; Harbison & Hanushek, 1992; Hill, Ball, Blunk, Goffney, & Rowan, 2007; Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005; Mullens, Murnane, & Willet, 1996; Rowan, Chiang, &…...
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...Harbison and Hanushek (1992) administered a mathematics test to fourth graders in rural areas of Brazil as well as to their teachers and used the teacher scores to predict change in students’ scores in Grade 4. Mullens and colleagues (1996) used the scores attained by elementary school teachers in Belize in their final mathematics test at the end of compulsory schooling, at the age of 14 years, as an indicator of their mathematical Teachers’ Knowledge and Student Progress...
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Journal Article•DOI•

The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development

[...]

Eric A. Hanushek, Ludger Woessmann¹•Institutions (1)

Ifo Institute for Economic Research¹

01 Jan 2008-Journal of Economic Literature

TL;DR: The role of cognitive skills in pro- moting economic well-being, with a particular focus on the role of school quality and quantity, has been reviewed in this paper, concluding that there is strong evidence that the cognitive skills of the population are powerfully related to indi- vidual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The role of improved schooling, a central part of most development strategies, has become controversial because expansion of school attainment has not guaranteed improved economic conditions. This paper reviews the role of cognitive skills in pro- moting economic well-being, with a particular focus on the role of school quality and quantity. It concludes that there is strong evidence that the cognitive skills of the population—rather than mere school attainment—are powerfully related to indi- vidual earnings, to the distribution of income, and to economic growth. New empiri- cal results show the importance of both minimal and high level skills, the comple- mentarity of skills and the quality of economic institutions, and the robustness of the relationship between skills and growth. International comparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skills reveal much larger skill deficits in developing coun - tries than generally derived from just school enrollment and attainment. The mag- nitude of change needed makes clear that closing the economic gap with developed countries will require major structural changes in schooling institutions.

...read moreread less

1,396 citations

Cites background from "Educational Performance of the Poor..."

...In Brazil, a country plagued by high rates of grade repetition and ultimate school dropouts, Ralph W. Harbison and Hanushek (1992) show that higher cognitive skills in primary school lead to lower repetition rates....
[...]

Posted Content•

Human resources: empirical modeling of household and family decisions.

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John Strauss, Duncan Thomas

31 Dec 1995-Research Papers in Economics

TL;DR: A literature review focusing on education and health in its examination of the role that households and families play in choosing how to invest the human capital of their members is presented in this paper.

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Abstract: This literature review focuses on education and health in its examination of the role that households and families play in choosing how to invest the human capital of their members. The introductory section describes the history of the development of economic models of the household and reviews how theoretical developments have become linked with data collection. The second section of the report looks at the effects of income on nutritional status and the reverse influence of nutrition (health) on labor productivity (income). Despite the controversies existing in the literature and the difficulties in choosing among the array of solutions to defined problems there is little doubt that investments in education and health enhance productivity fertility child health and child educational attainment. In an attempt to shed light on the underlying mechanisms in these relationships Section 3 focuses on the estimation of reduced form demands for human capital and considers the measurement of human capital; the effects of determinants such as education household resources and community resources; endogenous program placement and selective migration; and the possible estimation bias imposed by fertility and mortality selection. Section 4 continues this investigation by considering the process underlying the production of human capital in terms of the empirical issues involved in estimation of static and dynamic production functions as well as applications to child health and applications to educational attainment. Section 5 relates labor productivity to education and considers data issues the functional form of studies ability family background and school quality. Recent developments in modeling household behavior in a dynamic setting are reviewed in Section 6 and Section 7 describes links among individuals households and families. The concluding section notes that continued integration of survey data collection with theoretical frameworks will lead to a substantial improvement in our understanding of the magnitude of the significance of the effects predicted by the theory.

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1,297 citations

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Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Rural Northeast Brazil

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Cites background from "Educational Performance of the Poor..."

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