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This paper studies the impact of India's "model" school program which aimed to provide high quality education to economically disadvantaged students. Model schools combine better infrastructure with more accountability, contract teachers, and lower per-pupil spending than regular public schools. Using a fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design based on entrance exam cutoffs, I find attending a model school for five years increases test scores in math by 0.38 standard deviations, in science by 0.26 sd, and in social science by 0.26 sd on average. Furthermore, model schools increase the probability of joining pre-university by 11.5 percentage points. The results suggest it is possible to deliver substantial improvement of outcomes in public schools at a slightly lower level of school spending through a package of reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student retention has emerged as a significant and expensive challenge for higher education institutes worldwide. Although several studies have been conducted on increasing student numbers and diversity in higher education institutes, studies on the relationship between student retention and entry grades are limited, particularly in the UK. The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between entry grades and student attrition in the context of higher education in the UK. A quantitative methodology was used in this study, wherein data were derived from secondary sources, including University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) tariff points and full- and part-time undergraduate student enrolment between 2012 and 2017. The data were extracted and analyzed using Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) performance indicators. The findings indicate that there exists a clear association between entry grades and student retention for part-time students, which may aid policy makers, academics, university staff, and higher education stakeholders to develop appropriate strategies to address attrition levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations together with various national and local actors have acknowledged the importance of sustainable development. However, sustainable development implementation is not straightforward and requires contribution by different actors. Universities have a role in influencing and contributing towards sustainable development. Also, some universities have committed to support sustainable development implementation. One of the instruments to implement sustainable development are policy frameworks, which exist at international, national and institutional level. Vertical policy integration is crucial to support effective implementation of sustainable development. Analysing vertical policy integration could provide information to help improve sustainable development implementation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to improve understanding of sustainable development implementation in higher education by undertaking a multilevel (international, nationally, organisational) analysis of policy frameworks. Results suggested that policy frameworks include policy issues such as collaboration, partnership, education, outreach, teaching and learning, staff development, curriculum review, research, campus operations and policy that can support sustainable development implementation. However, these policy issues are not consistently integrated at all levels of policy frameworks. Achieving consistency could enhance sustainable development implementation in higher education institutions. Image 104 • Higher education policy includes relevant sustainable development policy issues. • Inappropriate policy issues such as advocacy can hinder implementation. • Policy is comprehensive and aggregated for relevant sustainable development policy issues. • Policy is not consistent for relevant sustainable development policy issues. • Consistency of policy issues could enhance sustainable development implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically evaluates the effects of college admissions policies on high school students’ academic effort. I build a rank-order tournament model where high school students decide their level of effort and whether or not to take the college admissions test, considering how those decisions affect their future university admissions chances. Using administrative Chilean data for the 2009 college admissions process, I structurally estimate the parameters of the model. Two affirmative action policies are simulated: (a) SES-quota system, which imposes the population’s socioeconomic group (SES) distribution for each university; (b) increasing the weight of high school GPA in the admission final score. These simulations support the claim that affirmative action in college admission may boost the amount of academic effort exerted by high school students. I also find that while increasing the weight of high school GPA is more effective in boosting students’ academic effort in high school, the SES-quota system is more efficient in allocating the best students to the best universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is nowadays a milestone in government, administrative, business, manufacturing and educational policies. In the current difficult economic context, small and medium enterprises represent the most disadvantaged realities concerning environmental innovation, basically because they cannot invest in and consequently benefit from Research and Development units. This paper deals with the objectives, methods and collective short and medium-term results of a cross border network project, aimed at the engineering of eco-compatible products, led in cooperation with universities, public authorities and research centres. This applied research aims at disseminating the possible results obtained by a technology transfer to a selection of Italian and French case studies that, at the end of the biennial tutoring path, will represent some possible best practices able to integrate the theories of ecodesign into practical reality. The paper will illustrate the accompanying pathway undertaken by the Politecnico di Torino, with an overview of five Italian case studies, and a deeper focus on the most significant one in terms of qualitative and quantitative results achieved with this project. The effectiveness of this international research will be discussed, by highlighting the potential of creating an international comparison on the topic of how to implement eco-innovative strategies for small and medium enterprises. Finally, in conclusion some considerations on short, medium and long-term benefits will be presented, pointing out the added value of cross-border collaborations that may be shifted to other productive and geographical realities. Results focus on an Italian context even if the theme is also relevant outside of Italy: considerations could be made about how this method could be applied to other contexts and countries, where this kind of research and approach could be adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence of the effects of a decrease in the cost of travelling to schools outside the neighbourhood on the choice of school among low income families. I examine a policy reform that occurred in England in academic year 2007/2008, which provided free transport to low socio-economic status (SES) students to schools between 2 and 6 miles away from home only, but not to closer schools. Using confidential panel school micro data, providing information on the postcode of both schools and students’ residence, I find strong evidence of a decline in the probability of attending schools closer than 2 miles. Conversely, the decrease in the cost of travelling affects negatively the quality of the school attended. Consistent with the predictions of a simple theoretical model, results suggest that the negative estimates on quality are driven by students who are willing to trade quality for savings in transport costs. This mechanism is reinforced by school over-subscription combined with distance-based admission criteria, which de facto limits choice to low quality institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent English education policy has been to encourage state primary schools to become academies: state-funded, non-selective, and highly autonomous establishments. Primary schools have been able to opt-in to academy status since 2010 and academies now account for twenty-one percent of the primary sector. This paper investigates the causal effect of becoming a converter academy on primary school assessment outcomes, and on entry-year intake composition. Unlike existing evidence focused on earlier academies formed from failing secondary schools, no evidence is found of a converter academy effect on attainment for the average pupil. Although, there is evidence of a slight positive effect on age 11 attainment for pupils eligible for free school meals. There is no evidence that becoming a converter academy affects the composition of the entry-year intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Returns to education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are thought to have decreased in recent decades leading to youth frustration and political mobilization. Existing estimates of the evolution of education returns in the region have not had a causal focus and observed patterns may be driven by changes in selection bias as educational attainment expanded from a privileged few to large masses of the population. This paper exploits three comparable education policy changes over more than two decades in Tunisia to estimate the effect of education on public sector employment for different cohorts born from the 1950s to the 1970s. I combine census and labor force surveys from 2004 to 2010 amounting to more than one million observations of relevant cohorts. I find that returns have decreased across cohorts by around 1/3 although they remain large even for the later cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the link between innovation and sustainability in the context of higher education, with the purpose of investigating the fundamental barriers for innovation and sustainable development in universities around the world. The method used involves both a quantitative and a qualitative approach, gathering the views of 301 experts from 172 universities across all continents. The results show that there are similar barriers across different geographical regions that require greater support from university administrations and management. In particular, the willingness of leaders, policy makers and decision-makers to envisage a sustainable future inside universities is often missing. Yet, without the support of senior management within a university, bottom-up sustainable initiatives seem destined to fail in the longer term due to a lack of investment and administrative support. This study also identifies that in order to yield the anticipated benefits, the challenges listed should be taken seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is transformative education aiming at developing participants’ understanding of sustainability issues and transforming their attitudes and behaviours regarding environment, society and economy. Sustainability consciousness, an expected outcome of ESD, is a complex of cognitive and affective learning. Development of sustainability consciousness requires transformative learning experiences. The study presented in this paper employed action research to enhance sustainability consciousness of the preservice teachers through inquiry based learning. The study was done in the Institute of Education, Lahore College for Women University, Pakistan. The study integrated sustainability education in an existing course entitled ‘Research Methods in Education’. The course is included in the final year of B.Ed. (Honours) programme. Outcome of the ESD-integration was measured in terms of change in the sustainability consciousness of the preservice teachers. The Action Research project engaged 27 preservice teachers in inquiry-based learning (empirical investigations and research based discussions) for a period of 11 weeks. The participants investigated sustainability issues collaboratively. To investigate the change in participants’ sustainability consciousness through inquiry based learning, researchers collected through pre- and post-tests, interviews and observation. Quantitative data were analyzed through paired t -test while qualitative data through thematic coding. The data indicate that empirical investigations into sustainability issues by the presevice teachers and research-based discussions enhanced preservice teachers’ sustainability consciousness. This highlights the transformative potential of inquiry based learning. Moreover, it indicates that sustainability education can be successfully integrated in the course of ‘research methods in education’. The findings suggest that teacher education programmes and other university programmes may employ inquiry based learning as a vehicle to enhance sustainability consciousness of the undergraduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance college completion, many institutions have introduced college remedial programs. Yet, till now there is little evidence that this policy helps raise students’ persistence and performance in college. To better understand how to design cost-effective remedial education, this paper studies the impact of an intervention implemented in an undergraduate economics program in Italy. This remedial policy aims at raising students’ effort and performance by combining a short remedial course with the threat of re-enrolling them in the first year in case of a failure in the remedial exam. To estimate causal effects, I implement a sharp regression discontinuity design that exploits the cutoff rule used to assign students to remediation. Results indicate that this nudge-type policy fails to obtain any positive and significant effect on either persistence or performance in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When designing and maintaining a product configuration system (PCS), complete and up-to-date documentation of the system is needed in the form of a product model that outlines the structures, attributes, and constraints of the PCS. Furthermore, up-to-date documentation for the PCS is crucial for maintenance, further development, system quality and communication with domain experts. Product models are the main communication and documentation tools used in PCS projects. Recent studies have shown that up-to-date documentation for the PCS is often lacking due to the significant amount of work required to maintain product models. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an approach for documenting the PCS that is based on the structure, attributes, and constraints modelled within the PCS, in which the product model is generated directly from the PCS. The suggested approach avoids knowledge duplication, as knowledge needs to be maintained within the PCS only. It involves two steps: the first is the building of the initial product model, which is used for the programming of the PCS. In the second step, the product model is generated directly from the PCS and is based on the structure, attributes, and constraints inside the PCS. The product model does not need to be maintained, therefore, outside the PCS. This approach meets the demand for agile documentation and efficient communication with domain experts, and uses the fewest resources possible. Furthermore, to support the framework, an IT documentation system is proposed that is capable of retrieving knowledge from the PCS and thus generating the product model. Our framework and IT documentation system were developed and tested at a case company on five different projects. The results confirm that benefits can be achieved by using the proposed IT documentation system, as time and resources are saved, while the quality of the PCS is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of a grade ceiling policy on grade distributions and course evaluations. Results show that the effects vary based upon the level of the grade ceiling. A ceiling set at 2.8 decreased overall grade point average (GPA) by reducing the number of As and Bs and increasing the number of lower grades given. This low ceiling also increased the number of withdrawals and significantly lowered course evaluations. A ceiling set at 3.2 decreased overall GPA by reducing the number of As and increasing the number of Bs given, but the effects on course evaluations were smaller in magnitude and insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the English premium in a globalizing economy, by exploiting an exogenous language policy intervention in India that abolished teaching of English in public primary schools. Our results indicate that a 10% lower probability of learning English in primary schools leads to a decline in weekly wages by 8%. On an average, this implies 26% lower wages for cohorts exposed to the policy change. We find supporting evidence that occupational choice played an important role in determining this wage-gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the impact of education on regional mobility in Europe using compulsory schooling reforms. Using data on individuals from eight European countries, I find that people who are induced by a school reform to acquire one more year of education are much more likely to relocate to another region in their country between the age of 15 and 50. I also show that education increases the probability of moving to a city for people from rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental Impact Assessment is well established in higher education worldwide, with a history going back to the 1970s. In contrast, the teaching and training of Strategic Environmental Assessment is a relatively novel, less consolidated and implanted, but of growing importance as a decision support tool in planning and policy. Therefore, training needs in this domain have grown accordingly, demanding new answers from higher education institutions. Despite the existence of relevant work on sustainability in higher education, and on impact assessment education, there is a dearth of research on education of environmental assessment approaches for strategic levels of decision making. The goal of this research paper is to characterize the profile of Strategic Environmental Assessment in higher education in two distinct situations; Portugal and Brazil. Surveys were conducted to assess Strategic Environmental Assessment integration in their higher education institutions' curricula. Bachelor and masters' programmes and course curricula were analysed through a content analysis based approach. The main results showed a medium state of integration for Strategic Environmental Assessment, while stressing that it is still an unconsolidated area. These results also emphasized that there is a need to discuss the design of Strategic Environmental Assessment specialized courses that respond to societal needs, rethinking the impact assessment educational initiatives and approaches. The integration of this assessment instrument in curricula could have significant implications for the enhancement of higher education practices for sustainable development, by promoting better assessment and management of strategies, policies, legislation, plans and programmes and the decision-making processes involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key factors affecting the sustainability of our society are research, conversion, delivery and the efficient use of energy resources. The expertise, attitudes and sustainability awareness of decision-makers determine far-reaching political decisions made regarding whole energy systems as well as the choices available for individual consumers. Despite the significance of education with respect to renewable energy and sustainability, the position of these topics remains unclear in degree programmes. Measuring the relevance of these subjects can be considered a central issue in terms of promoting a more sustainability-oriented perspective on education strategy formation. Therefore, this paper presents a new curriculum development method for stimulating discussions about the learning outcomes of the degree programmes. This method has been used to calculate a proposed relevance ratio (RR) index, which indicated the relative weight of renewable energy and sustainability topics for energy studies in Aalto University's energy degree programme. The benefits of this RR index include the ability to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of selected contents in the curricula. However, more research is needed to integrate wider working life skills with the students' learning path as a means of promoting student expertise. This new tool will be universally applicable and quantify the desired contents of learning outcomes in degree programmes at universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability issues in higher educational institutions have attracted increasing levels of attention from both the public and policy makers in recent decades. A number of previous studies have called for a more comprehensive integration of sustainable development into mainstream university operations and curricula. However, there is a lack of sufficient studies that investigate sustainable development in higher education in Spain. Therefore, the present paper has two goals: First, the study analyses the extent to which Spanish universities have implemented sustainability practices in their institutions. To accomplish this task, data were collected using a survey distributed to rectors and senior management at Spanish higher education institutions. The second goal is to examine the main factors that might explain the implementation of sustainability practices in Spanish universities. For this purpose, Pearson chi-square tests were used to analyse the data collected in the survey. Key findings show the slow rate of progress of many Spanish universities with regard to implementing sustainability practices, a fact which could indicate that there are clearly a number of obstacles to overcome. Additionally, there were no factors influencing the implementation of sustainability practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The black–white test score gap remains a measurable phenomenon in the United States. Up to this point the literature has primarily focused on the black–white achievement gap without taking into account the underlying mobility patterns of individual students as they progress from one grade to the next. However, the degree to which policy makers and educators should be concerned about the black–white test score gap should be tied to how mobile the two groups of students are through the distribution of test scores from one grade to the next. In this paper I apply two nonparametric estimators of distributional mobility to data on test scores and track black–white differences in mobility across the entire distribution of achievement. When compared to whites, blacks tend to be less upwardly mobile and more downwardly mobile for both math and reading. This pattern is particularly prominent for reading in the very early years of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of early childhood care and education on subsequent educational attainment in Egypt. Comparisons between siblings are used to control for selection and duration analysis methods are used to account for the presence of current students in the data. These methods are compared to OLS to demonstrate the importance of accounting for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity and for students who have not yet completed their schooling. Early childhood care and education significantly reduces the probability of dropping out, specifically during basic education. The change in educational attainment from early childhood care and education is approximately one additional year of schooling. Key pathways for this effect include improved school performance, such as increases in test scores and decreases in repetition, during basic education. Results indicate expanding early childhood care and education would be an important and effective policy for improving educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I estimate the differential effects of compulsory schooling laws on school quality between black and white schools in the United States segregated South. I employ state-level data on length of school terms and pupil–teacher ratios to examine these responses. Other literature has found that stricter compulsory schooling legislation failed to impact black students’ education levels in terms of years of schooling, while having a modest increase on white students’ years of schooling. I find that an increase in the age at which a child could receive a work permit led to a small increase in the term length in black schools relative to white schools. On the whole, however, the differential effects on school quality are small in scope and magnitude. This finding suggests that in the context I examine, changes in school quality are a minor issue when using compulsory schooling laws as an instrument for educational attainment or when estimating the overall impact of compulsory schooling laws on educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of a compositional shift in a school’s testing population brought about by the elimination of special education testing exemptions. The policy change forced schools to add varying levels of generally low-achieving students to their testing pools, altering accountability incentives. I provide evidence that the elimination of exemptions caused significant test score increases for initially low-achieving students and narrowed the black-white test gap. I show that the measured effects were not caused by changes in classroom composition. Rather, benefits flowed to low-achieving students because Texas’ accountability standard was low relative to the skills of its students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community colleges play a major role in postsecondary education, yet previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on four-year students rather than two-year students. Furthermore, researchers have focused on the impact of merit aid on enrollment and outcomes during college, but to my knowledge, none have yet considered the impact of aid on earnings after college. This paper utilizes discontinuities in eligibility criteria for a large merit scholarship to examine the local impact of aid on student outcomes both during college and after college. The findings suggest that reducing the cost of community college does not impact persistence, academic performance, degree completion, expected earnings, or short-term earnings after college for marginally eligible students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a general methodology for measuring the value added of institutions of higher education using commonly available administrative data. Our approach recognizes the data limitations and selection problems inherent in higher education, and highlights the challenges these issues pose for education policy. Combining information from different administrative sources in the state of Texas, we follow the universe of Texas college applicants from the time of application (pre-enrollment) through public college and into the labor market. In specifications that do not control for selection, we find large, significant differences across colleges in terms of persistence, graduation, and earnings; however, these differences decrease substantially when we control for selection. In light of the growing interest in using value-added measures in higher education for both funding and incentivizing purposes, our methodology offers unique evidence and lessons for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Techniques for controlling rural non-point source pollution (RNSP) represent cleaner production techniques that can provide an effective guarantee for regional sustainable development. The majority of studies on RNSP control technologies are mainly aimed at handling only a single pollution source. However, such studies are difficult to perform in rural areas, which have dense populations, complex terrains and extreme climates, such as the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA), China. Therefore, this paper focuses on the application of the RNSP control technologies based on the following four aspects: crop planting, livestock production, domestic inputs and water-level-fluctuating (WLF) zone. Based on the unique topography, land features and planting patterns of the TGRA, a three-dimensional (3D) and multi-source integrated technology system for controlling RNSP was established according to the principle of source reduction, runoff regulation, and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loss control. From the results of the long-term observations, the risk of RNSP has been significantly reduced in the study area. The nutrient capacity of the soil increased by 9–15%, while the chemical fertilizer application reduced by 30–50%. The loss of sediment, N and P were reduced by 60–80%, 30–70% and 50–90% in the sloping land at the backslope, respectively, by 30–60%, 70–90%, and 70–90% in the paddy field at the footslope, respectively, and by 75–90%, 30–50%, 65–95% in the WLF zone, respectively. The average removal rates of COD, NH 3 -N and TN in sewage in the residential area were higher than 82%, 87% and 63.3%, respectively. Overall, more than 90% of RNSP was reduced by using this 3D and multi-source technology system, and it can be widely promoted for controlling RNSP in similar ecological areas with support from local governments by implementing effective measures, such as strengthening environmental protection education and government subsidies. Image 1 • A multi-source integrated technology system was constructed to control RNSP in the TGRA. • A 3D controlling mode was adopted to intercept RNSP based on the terrain of TGRA. • More than 90% RNSP was reduced by this 3D and multi-source technology system. • This technology system promoted the sustainable development of environment in the TGRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first causal estimates of the effect of children's access to computers and the internet on educational outcomes in early adulthood, such as schooling and choice of major. I exploit cross-cohort variation in access to technology among primary and middle school students in Uruguay, the first country to implement a nationwide one-laptop-per-child program. Despite a notable increase in computer access, educational attainment has not increased; the schooling gap between private and public school students has persisted, despite closing the technology gap. Among college students, those who had been exposed to the program as children were less likely to enroll in science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]