Mentoring improves labor-market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents
How can the labor-market prospects of adolescents from disadvantaged families be improved? In a new working paper, Sven Resnjanskij and Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Jens Ruhose from Kiel University, and Simon Wiederhold from the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt report on a multi-year project about the mentoring program "Rock Your Life!" which offers school-attending adolescents a university-student mentor. Their field experiment shows that the program has strong positive effects on math grades, patience, social skills, and labor-market orientation for low-SES adolescents one year after program start. The program does not affect adolescents with more favorable family backgrounds. The results suggest that mentoring can be effective even at adolescent age, especially when it complements lacking family support. more...
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COVID-19 learning losses: How can they be recovered?
In his editorial in Wirtschaftsdienst, Ludger Woessmann emphasizes that the COVID-19 pandemic causes major learning losses. Low-achieving students and children from disadvantaged backgrounds are particularly affected. To keep the losses as low as possible, policymakers need to set clear targets for compulsory online instruction in which teachers convey the material via video conferencing on a daily basis. In addition, societal priorities should be readjusted: by imposing more consistent restrictions on the adult population, other European countries kept schools open. To make schools as safe as possible, students and teachers should regularly be tested before entering. Finally, losses should be made up through additional support measures. more...
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Effect of instruction time depends on teacher qualifications
Recent evidence suggests a positive effect of the quantity of instruction on student achievement. In a new ifo Working Paper, Katharina Wedel from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education investigates whether this effect of instruction time depends on the quality of instruction. To this end, she examines achievement differences across subjects in the international TIMSS data. She finds that the effect of instruction time on student achievement is significantly larger for students with better qualified teachers. In developing countries, instruction time has no significant effect on average, but also increases test scores when taught by a high-qualified teacher. more...
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Specialized teachers improve students' science achievement
How do teacher characteristics affect students' science achievement? Pietro Sancassani from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education examines this question in a new ifo Working Paper. He exploits the feature that different science domains – physics, biology, chemistry, and earth science – are taught by different teachers in many education systems. The results show a significant positive effect of teacher specialization in the specific science domain on students' results. Holding a Master's degree, pedagogical preparation, and teacher experience have no significant effects. Teachers' experience has a negative impact on the extent to which students like to study a subject or find teaching engaging. more...
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Socioeconomic achievement gaps already at school start
Does school education level out social differences? Lukas Mergele and Larissa Zierow from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education explore this question together with Johanna Raith from Goethe University Frankfurt in an article in Wirtschaftsdienst. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), they examine the development of achievement gaps by socioeconomic background from preschool to 9th grade. They find that achievement gaps exist already at the beginning of the school career and do not change significantly over the years. Thus, while the German school system does not reduce the existing gaps, it does prevent them from drifting further apart. If targeted measures in early childhood succeeded in reducing the achievement gap at school start, this could increase social mobility in the long term. more...
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Can incentivization improve belief elicitation in online surveys?
In a paper that is forthcoming in the Journal of Econometrics, Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner, and Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education investigate whether incentivization improves belief elicitation in online surveys. Their randomized experiment shows that incentive provision does not impact earnings beliefs but improves school-spending beliefs. However, response spikes suggest that the latter effect likely reflects increased online-search activity. Hence, incentivizing beliefs in online surveys must weigh increased respondent effort against the risk of inducing online-search activity. more...
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IN THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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The hard lessons of home schooling
The OECD report by Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann on the economic impacts of learning losses is reported on by ft.com, tbsnews.net, heritage.org, and savethechildren.it. 74million ranks the article on this report among the 20 best education articles of 2020.
Should we consider shorter summer breaks for students?
Ludger Woessmann's estimates of income losses in later life resulting from school closures are picked up on bloomberg.com.
Martin Luther rewired your brain
The research of Sascha Becker and Ludger Woessmann on Protestantism and education is discussed on thisviewoflife.com.
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Schools open? Schools closed? The difficult balance
In an essay in Wirtschaftswoche, Ludger Woessmann argues for prioritizing school instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Out of the poverty trap
Guest article by Ludger Woessmann in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on how mentoring programs can help disadvantaged adolescents.
Patience positively affects learning
Essay by Lavinia Kinne, Philipp Lergetporer, and Ludger Woessmann in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the role of patience and risk-taking for educational success.
How religion shaped economic history
Guest article by Sascha Becker, Jared Rubin, and Ludger Woessmann in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on three lessons from a rapidly growing research field.
Bright future ahead thanks to mentors
Interviews with Ludger Woessmann on Welt/N24, Deutschlandfunk Campus & Karriere, B5 Campusmagazin (from minute 9:30 onwards), and Deutschlandfunk Aus Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften about the study on the effectiveness of mentoring programs.
Mentoring program for adolescents is measurably successful
Sven Resnjanskij is interviewed about the effect of mentoring programs on disadvantaged youth on Deutschlandfunk Nova and SWR1 Arbeitsplatz.
Mentoring by university students helps disadvantaged adolescents
The study on the effect of mentoring programs on labor-market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents is also taken up by tagesschau24, ARD alpha (from minute 24 onwards), Bayern 2, rbb Radio Eins, Zeit online, Business Insider, sz.de, handelsblatt.com, welt.de, Sonntagsblatt, Badische Zeitung, Bildungsklick and many more.
Even during late adolescence, you can still have a great impact
The impaktmagazin of the Wuebben Foundation includes an interview with Ludger Woessmann alongside Elisabeth Hahnke and Stefan Schabernak on the effectiveness of mentoring programs. The blog of the Jacobs Foundation also reports on the study.
Invest in education now!
In an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, the German Council of Economic Experts quotes Ludger Woessmann's calculations on the high costs of learning losses.
Apprenticeships during the COVID-19 crisis
Interview with Ludger Woessmann on ZDF WISO about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working life of apprentices (from minute 10 onwards).
Are school children the losers of the pandemic?
Interview with Ludger Woessmann on 3sat Kulturzeit about reduced learning time of children during COVID-19 (from minute 2:20 onwards).
The consequences of learning losses during COVID-19
In an interview on 3sat nano, Ludger Woessmann reports on the size of the learning losses during COVID-19 and what this means for children's later working lives (from minute 2 onwards).
Generation COVID-19 – what about their future?
Ludger Woessmann talks about the costs of lost learning in an interview on 3sat makro (from minute 4:30 onwards).
Schools in lockdown
Larissa Zierow in a discussion round on NDR Redezeit about the effects of COVID-19-related school closures, especially on lower-performing students.
What are the costs of closed schools and day-care centers?
Katharina Werner in an interview on WDR5 Profit on reduced long-term economic growth due to lost education (from minute 9 onwards).
Which children are particularly disadvantaged by school closures?
In an interview on B5 Thema des Tages, Ludger Woessmann emphasizes that lower-performing students are hit particularly hard by the school closures.
School closures cause vast economic damage
Interviews with Ludger Woessmann on SWR2
and SWR Aktuell about the economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
School closures become a trillion-dollar bomb
In detailed articles, Spiegel+, Handelsblatt, Die Zeit, and bild.de, among others, report on Ludger Woessmann's calculations of the high costs of COVID-19-related school closures.
The overlooked billion-dollar costs of the pandemic
Further articles on the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic due to learning losses can be found among many others on NDR extra 3, Arte, wiwo.de, Zeit Online, spiegel.de, welt.de, handelsblatt.com, tagesspiegel.de, sueddeutsche.de, cicero.de, Focus Online, fr.de, welt.de, spiegel.de, and Focus.
Priority for school education
Ludger Woessmann's call for prioritizing school education during the COVID-19 pandemic is quoted by Zeit Online, sz.de, taz.de, and Wiarda Blog.
The consequences of school closures
Interview with Ludger Woessmann in the Frankfurter Rundschau.
Students learn less during distance teaching
The ifo study on education during the COVID-19 crisis is discussed in Welt am Sonntag, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Tagesspiegel Plus, tagesspiegel.de, welt.de, and derstandard.de. Die Welt quotes Ludger Woessmann on the fact that many schools are still ill-prepared for online teaching.
A new state agreement is supposed to fix it
A guest article on Spiegel Online quotes the ifo Education Survey on educational federalism.
Which hobbies you should mention on your CV – and which you should not
An article on welt.de reports on the ifo study on what matters to HR managers.
Credibility and quality in research
Numerous scientists, amongst whom Ludger Woessmann, speak out in favor of Open Science in the blog of the Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (ZBW).
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Call for Papers – Area Conference on the Economics of Education 2021
From September 3-4, 2021, the CESifo Area Conference on the Economics of Education will take place again under the scientific leadership of Eric Hanushek from Stanford University and Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education. The Jacobs Foundation Lecture will be delivered by Philippe Aghion from the College de France. Here you can find the Call for Papers.
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Leibniz "Book a Scientist"
On March 18, 2021, Sven Resnjanskij will be available for individual discussions about his research on the impact of mentoring programs on disadvantaged adolescents at the Leibniz Association's "Book a Scientist" science speed-dating event.
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Call for Papers – ifo Conference on Genes, Social Mobility, and Inequalities across the Life-Course
The ifo Institute will host a conference on Genes, Social Mobility, and Inequalities across the Life-Course on July 1-2, 2021. The conference is partly funded through the NORFACE project The Impact of Childhood Circumstances on Individual Outcomes over the Life-Course (IMCHILD) to which the ifo Center for the Economics of Education contributed. Keynote lectures will be delivered by Paige Harden (University of Texas at Austin) and Pia Pinger (University of Cologne). The Call for Papers is available here.
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New presentations
Presentation on COVID-19 and educational inequality available online
The video of the keynote lecture delivered by Ludger Woessmann at the UCD CHilD Conference 2020 of the University College Dublin is now available on YouTube.
Video of the press conference: Evaluation of a mentoring program
The video of the press conference on the study evaluating the effectiveness of a mentoring program is now available in the ifo Media Center and on YouTube.
Podcast interview on mentoring and labor-market success
Ludger Woessmann speaks with the founder of "Rock Your Life!", Elisabeth Hahnke, in a podcast interview about how mentoring programs can improve the labor-market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents.
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Articles in refereed journals
Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner, and Ludger Woessmann, "Incentives, Search Engines, and the Elicitation of Subjective Beliefs: Evidence from Representative Online Survey Experiments", Journal of Econometrics, forthcoming.
Working papers
Philipp Lergetporer, Marc Piopiunik, and Lisa Simon, "Does the Education Level of Refugees Affect Natives' Attitudes?", ifo Working Paper No. 346, January 2021.
Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, Simon Wiederhold, and Ludger Woessmann, "Can Mentoring Alleviate Family Disadvantage in Adolescence? A Field Experiment to Improve Labor-Market Prospects", CESifo Working Paper No. 8870, January 2021.
Pietro Sancassani, "The Effect of Teacher Characteristics on Students' Science Achievement", ifo Working Paper No. 348, February 2021.
Katharina Wedel, "Instruction Time and Student Achievement: The Moderating Role of Teacher Qualifications", ifo Working Paper No. 344, January 2021.
Further articles
Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner, Ludger Woessmann, and Larissa Zierow, "Corona-Schulschließungen treffen leistungsschwächere Schüler*innen besonders hart", Ökonomenstimme, 21.12.2020. English version on VoxEU, 15.11.2020.
Lukas Mergele, Johanna Raith, and Larissa Zierow, "Gleicht Schulbildung soziale Unterschiede aus?", Wirtschaftsdienst 100 (12): 932-936, 2020.
Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, Simon Wiederhold, and Ludger Woessmann, "Mentoring verbessert die Arbeitsmarktchancen von stark benachteiligten Jugendlichen", ifo Schnelldienst 74 (02), 2021.
Pietro Sancassani, "The More Experienced the More...Boring?", International Education Blog, 01.03.2021.
Katharina Werner, "Was kostet es, nicht in Bildung zu investieren?", Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ) 51, 2020.
Ludger Woessmann, "Bildungsverluste durch Corona: Wie lassen sie sich aufholen?", Wirtschaftsdienst 101 (3): 150-151, 2021.
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