The sad smiley: Rise and decline of German test performance
How did the performance of German students develop over time? Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education combined all comparable representative student achievement tests in math, science, and German. The results, reported in Die Zeit, show a clear picture: After the PISA shock, average performance increased from 2000 to 2010/11 – by roughly 70-90% of what students generally learn on average in a full school year. From 2010/11 to 2019, achievement decreased by about 60% of the previous increase. This little-noticed downward trend should worry us because these basic skills are the foundation of children's future life chances and of our future prosperity. more...
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The legacy of Covid-19 in education
How does the pandemic affect school children? Based on German longitudinal time-use surveys, Katharina Werner and Ludger Woessmann from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education show that children's learning time decreased severely during the first school closures and increased only slightly one year later. Students' learning time increases substantially if schools offer daily online instruction. A review of the emerging international literature shows substantial losses in cognitive achievement, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Socio-emotional wellbeing also declined in the short run. Unless remediated, the school closures will persistently reduce skill development, lifetime income, and economic growth and increase inequality. Working Paper and Policy Brief. Relatedly, a paper on the first school closures has just been published in the European Economic Review.
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Europe's schools during the pandemic: A country comparison
How did the German Covid-19 education policy differ from other European countries? In an article in the ifo Schnelldienst, Vera Freundl, Clara Stiegler, and Larissa Zierow from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education compare school closures and compensation programs in seven European countries. With 74 days of complete and 109 days of partial school closures, Germany had comparatively long closures. Poland's schools closed for a longer period, while Austria, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Sweden had shorter closures. In addition to the restrictions for children and adolescents, differences in the pandemic-related constraints for adults are striking. Germany's schools had comparatively low levels of digitization, which complicated the switch to distance learning. more...
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How teachers affect the effectiveness of instruction time
In developed countries, one hour of additional instruction time already leads to significantly higher student achievement. This is what Katharina Wedel from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education finds in her study using international TIMSS data that has recently been published in the Economics of Education Review. This effect is magnified when students are taught by better qualified teachers. In developing countries, however, additional instruction time only has a positive impact when the material is taught by high-qualified teachers. more...
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Application assistance increases child-care enrollment of disadvantaged children
Children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to benefit more from early child care, but are substantially less likely to be enrolled. In a new study, ifo research professor Philipp Lergetporer (TU Munich and formerly ifo Center for the Economics of Education), Henning Hermes (NHH Bergen), Frauke Peter (DZHW Hannover), and Simon Wiederhold (KU Eichstaett-Ingolstadt) provide over 600 parents of children below the age of three with information and customized assistance for their child-care application. The treatment significantly increases child-care application and enrollment rates among lower-SES families. Higher-SES families are not affected by the treatment. more...
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Comportment grading meaningless for students
Numerous countries require teachers to assign comportment grades rating their students' social and work behavior. In their new CESifo Working Paper, Florian Schoner, Lukas Mergele, and Larissa Zierow from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education assess the hitherto unknown effects of such policies on student outcomes. To this end, they exploit the staggered introduction of comportment grading across German federal states. Analyzing census data, household surveys, and nationwide student assessments, they show that comportment grading does not meaningfully affect students' school-to-work transition, academic achievement, or non-cognitive abilities. Comportment grades do not seem to convey much information beyond students' grade point average. more...
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Individualism improves educational and labor-market outcomes
Individualism is a cultural trait that is very important in explaining adult skill formation. This is the result of the new CESifo Working Paper by Sven Resnjanskij from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education together with Katharina Hartinger and Simon Wiederhold from KU Eichstaett-Ingolstadt and Jens Ruhose from Kiel University. Using PIAAC data, they establish that migrants from more individualistic cultures have higher cognitive skills, acquire more years of schooling, and are more likely to participate in adult education activities. In the labor market, they earn higher wages and are less often unemployed. more...
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PhD Thesis "Human Capital and Education Policy: Evidence from Survey Data"
In her dissertation written at the ifo Center for the Economics of Education and accepted by the University of Munich, Elisabeth Grewenig studies various aspects of human capital formation and education policy. The five empirical essays address i) the impact of gender norms on labor-supply expectations of adolescents, ii) the effects of the Covid-induced school closures on students' activities, iii) the consequences of binding teacher recommendations for students, iv) the impact of information about party positions on support for educational policies, and v) a methodological debate about incentivization and belief elicitation in online surveys. more...
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IN THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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The unintended effects of the Common Core State Standards
Interview with Benjamin Arold in the Education Next podcast "Education Exchange" about the negative spillover effects of the Common Core State Standards in the US.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on younger generations
In an interview in the Education Next blog, Eric Hanushek talks, amongst others, about the calculations with Ludger Woessmann on the reduced lifetime income due to school closures.
How important is child care for equal opportunity?
In a short video, Philipp Lergetporer reports on the research findings that application assistance increases child-care enrollment of disadvantaged children.
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Learning losses remain under the radar
In an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung, Veronika Grimm and Ludger Woessmann argue for clear guidelines so that school children in quarantine can join lessons digitally and receive better support.
We live in a knowledge society
In an interview on Morgenmagazin, Ludger Woessmann emphasizes the importance of educational degrees.
Lockdown for adults before closing the schools
In an exclusive interview on wiwo.de, Ludger Woessmann argues that school children and their education must finally be prioritized.
The learning time was halved
Larissa Zierow in an interview on taz.de about children's learning losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other countries put more emphasis on keeping schools open
In an interview on welt.de, Larissa Zierow talks about Germany's Covid education policy compared to other European countries. The article on Europe's schools and the pandemic is also covered by tagesschau.de, spiegel.de, and faz.net. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on the analyses as "Number of the Week".
Superfluous comportment grades
The study about the missing effect of comportment grades at school is covered by Die Zeit,
faz.net, welt.de, spiegel.de, sueddeutsche.de, br.de, mdr Jump, augsburger-allgemeine.de, fr.de, abendblatt.de, deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Spiegel Lage am Abend, and many others.
The next educational crash
Apart from Die Zeit, welt.de also reports on Ludger Woessmann's calculations on the development of German students' test performance.
Germany seeks to catch up
Florian Schoner is quoted at tagesschau.de on digitization in education.
Effects of all-day schools as a school reform
Arnim Seidlitz and Larissa Zierow talk about the impacts of all-day schools in an interview on ganztagsschulen.org.
School children need mentors now
An article on faz.net reports on the results of the ifo evaluation on the positive impact of mentoring programs, especially for disadvantaged children and adolescents.
186 days of lockdown, last place – the terrible report card of German students
Further articles on welt.de report on ifo studies on digital formats in the classroom, on the limits of distance learning in practice, and on hobbies on the CV. In addition, spiegel.de reports on the results of the parents' survey on education during Covid-19.
Card already knew back in the 90s how school outage reduces lifetime income
An article on welt.de argues that Ludger Woessmann should feel vindicated on the connection between education and lifetime earnings by the award of the Nobel Prize in Economics to labor market researchers David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens.
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SELECTED EVENTS AND PRESENTATIONS
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Yidan Prize goes to Eric A. Hanushek
Our research professor Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford University) is this year's recipient of the Yidan Prize, the world's most highly endowed award for educational research. We congratulate him very warmly! As part of the award ceremony, Ludger Woessmann participated in a panel on "Putting Effective Education Policy into Action Today," the recording of which can be found here.
Call for Papers: Nobel Laureate Angrist to give keynote at EffEE Conference
Here you can find the Call for Papers for the 2022 EffEE Conference on Econometric Evaluation of School Reforms with keynote speaker Joshua Angrist.
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Interdisciplinary Lunch Time Seminar of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB)
On the seminar topic "Corona – Leveller or Amplifier of Social and Economic Inequality?", Larissa Zierow presented research findings on the effects of Covid-19 on educational inequality in Germany.
Dresden Lectures on Economic Policy
As part of the lecture series, Lukas Mergele spoke about his research on privatizations of the Treuhandanstalt. The recorded lecture can be found online. He also spoke about this topic at the Berlin Economic History Seminar and at EM Strasbourg.
XXIII European Conference at Bocconi University in Milan
Ludger Woessmann presented the report "The Legacy of COVID-19 in Education" at the conference "Long-term Socio-economic Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic" of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti at Bocconi University in Milan.
GRADE Lecture Series at the Goethe University Frankfurt
In a presentation on "Corona and the Consequences: A Perspective (not only) from the Economics of Education", Ludger Woessmann presented the results of parental surveys on the Covid-related school closures.
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Discussion Round "Time for Education"
At the event "Time for Education", Ludger Woessmann discussed the topic "What should schools do now? Learnings from the pandemic" – to be viewed online here.
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Laudation for the Swiss Prize for Educational Research
Ludger Woessmann was invited to hold the laudation for this year's winners of the Swiss Prize for Educational Research – Beatrix Eugster, Simone Balestra, and Helge Liebert – which was awarded for the work "Peers with Special Needs" in the presence of the Swiss President Guy Parmelin and the President of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education Silvia Steiner.
Participation in scientific conferences and workshops
Numerous researchers from the ifo Center for the Economics of Education presented their work at various conferences and workshops, e.g., the 38th EALE Conference, the Annual Conference of the German Economic Association, the Final DIAL Conference, the 2nd PhD Workshop on Causal Analyses of School Reforms, the 9th CRC Retreat, the 2nd International Workshop Machine Learning in Labor, Education, and Health Economics, the 2021 Advisory Committee Meeting of the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance, the weekly seminar of the Economics of Education Group of the London School of Economics (LSE), and the colloquium of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Munich (LMU).
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Articles in refereed journals
Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer, Katharina Werner, Ludger Woessmann, and Larissa Zierow, "COVID-19 and Educational Inequality: How School Closures Affect Low- and High-Achieving Students", European Economic Review 140: 103920, 2021.
Katharina Wedel, "Instruction Time and Student Achievement: The Moderating Role of Teacher Qualifications", Economics of Education Review 85: 102183.
Monographs
Elisabeth Grewenig, "Human Capital and Education Policy: Evidence from Survey Data", ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung 96, 2021.
Working Papers
Katharina Hartinger, Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, and Simon Wiederhold, "Individualism, Human Capital Formation, and Labor Market Success", CESifo Working Paper 9391, October 2021.
Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, and Simon Wiederhold, "Behavioral Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment", CESifo Working Paper 9282, September 2021.
Florian Schoner, Lukas Mergele, and Larissa Zierow, "Grading Student Behavior", CESifo Working Paper 9275, October 2021.
Katharina Werner and Ludger Woessmann, "The Legacy of Covid-19 in Education", CESifo Working Paper 9358, October 2021.
Further articles
Vera Freundl, Clara Stiegler and Larissa Zierow, "Europas Schulen in der Corona-Pandemie – ein Ländervergleich", ifo Schnelldienst 74(12), 41-50, 2021.
Katharina Hartinger, Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, and Simon Wiederhold, "Individualismus – treibende kulturelle Kraft für Kompetenzen und Arbeitsmarkterfolg", ifo Schnelldienst 74(12), 51-56, 2021.
Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann, "Education and Economic Growth", in: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance, Oxford University Press, 2021.
Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann, "The Political Economy of ILSAs in Education: The Role of Knowledge Capital in Economic Growth", in: Trude Nilsen, Agnes Stancel-Piatak, and Jan-Eric Gustafsson (Hrsg.), International Handbook of Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education, Springer: 1-27, 2021.
Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold, Vera Freundl, and Olivia Wirth, "Bewerbungsunterstützung erhöht Kita-Inanspruchnahme von Kindern aus bildungsferneren Familien", ifo Schnelldienst 74(9), 41-45, 2021.
Katharina Werner and Ludger Woessmann, "Will the Covid-19 Pandemic Leave a Lasting Legacy in Children's Skill Development?", CESifo Forum 22(6), 33-40, 2021.
Ludger Woessmann and Larissa Zierow, "Die Situation der Schulkinder während der Schulschließungen in der Pandemie: Ergebnisse zweier Elternbefragungen", Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht 68(4), 297-305, 2021.
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The F.A.Z. Economists' Ranking 2021 lists Ludger Woessmann as one of the most influential economists in Germany.
Larissa Zierow has been elected to the speaker group of the Leibniz Education Research Network (LERN). She has also been accepted at the Leibniz Mentoring Program.
Lavinia Kinne was awarded an Add-On Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Economics from the Joachim Herz Foundation.
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