Principal investigator: Bruno Benevit
Authors: Joshua Angrist and Victor Lavy
Location of the Intervention: Israel
Sample Size: 12.188 children
Sector: Education
Primary Variable of Interest: High School Certification
Type of Intervention: Award for certification
Methodology: OLS and Logit
Summary
High school graduation certificates are often associated with university admission, increased productivity, and higher income. Despite the potential economic value attached to these certificates, some societies exhibit significant differences in graduation rates due to regional and socioeconomic disparities. This study aims to explore the rewards for obtaining an Israeli high school diploma. Bagrut To determine how these factors would affect students' chances of obtaining certification, the authors of this study conducted an experiment with randomly selected schools. Using OLS and Logit methods, the results showed that only girls from the selected schools experienced an increase in their chances of certification, leading to a higher probability of college admission. This result was partially explained by the increased time dedicated to exam preparation. No significant effects were identified for boys.
- Policy Problem
A high school diploma is a formal prerequisite for admission to universities in Israel, known as a university diploma. Bagrut. According to Angrist & Lavy (2009), certification holders earn 25% higher salaries. However, there are significant differences in Israeli society regarding completion rates. Bagrut Differences between regions and stemming from the socioeconomic context of the students. Israeli educators have adopted various programs aimed at modifying this scenario, but without apparent effect. Therefore, policymakers face the challenge of identifying which economic incentives are associated with this phenomenon.
- Implementation and Evaluation Context
obtaining the Bagrut It consists of a series of national exams in core and elective subjects that begin in tenth grade and end in twelfth grade. Bagrut certificates are usually obtained at the end of the final year (or later), the year in which most exams are taken. Students choose tests with varying levels of proficiency. Each test awards one to five credit units per subject, depending on the difficulty selected. To qualify for a certificate of Bagrut A minimum of 20 credit units is required, although some study programs require more and/or a minimum credit distribution requirement. According to the Israeli Ministry of Education (2001), approximately 52% of all high school students received a certificate of enrollment in the 1999 and 2000 cohorts.
This article conducted a randomized experiment with the Achievement Awards, a project that offered cash prizes to low-achieving high school students in Israel who completed and performed well in BagrutThe need to enter the job market and the uncertainties related to the returns on education may explain this phenomenon. In this sense, immediate financial provision can be an effective tool to encourage the involvement of this group of students in Bagrut certification.
- Policy/Program Details
The experiment was selected in December 2000 with the selection of 40 non-vocational secondary schools with the lowest rates of Bagrut The program was based on a 1999 national ranking. Additionally, only schools above the minimum rate of 3% were selected, as schools with extremely low rates were unlikely to benefit from the program. The total number of schools treated was determined by the program's budget constraint of approximately $650.000. The list of participating schools included 10 Arab religious schools, 10 Jewish religious schools, and 20 Jewish secular schools. The allocation of treatment, the offering of awards, and certificates were determined in accordance with the law. BagrutThe selection process was random. Only schools selected for treatment were informed about the program. The selection used a matching strategy that paired treatment and control schools based on lagged values of the average rate of Bagrut of 1999.
- Method
The data from the starting point (baselineData from this study were collected in January 2001, and the main outcome for the cohort of schools that underwent the intervention was collected in June 2001. Additional surveys were conducted between 2001 and 2002 to collect data on the examination results. The data encompass the results of... BagrutThe study analyzed the characteristics of the schools, basic socioeconomic information, and students' lagging academic performance scores. The sample consisted of 12.188 students distributed among the 39 schools that participated in the experiment, of which 6.267 were boys and 5.921 were girls, covering the period from 2000 to 2002.
This article presents several analyses to investigate the effects of the experiment. Two econometric models were established. The first model considered the coefficients for the certification award intervention at the school (treatment), school characteristics, and social characteristics of the students' families. The second model incorporated new variables from the lagged measures of credit scores in pre-2001 exams. In the first analysis, the authors verified the marginal effects of the experiment using the OLS and Logit methods to estimate the two econometric models with and without the peer effects of the schools. The second analysis applied the Logit method to identify the profile of students with the highest marginal chances of benefiting from the intervention among the group of schools that did not undergo the experiment intervention for the year 2001.
In order to identify the profile of the most benefited students, several other analyses were carried out applying Logit models with different specifications, disregarding the mothers' education level or incorporating fixed effects of the schools. Additionally, effects were estimated for various subgroups taking into account the distributions of the lagged score or the probability of certification.
To understand which channels caused changes in the chance of certification, the study also analyzed the effect of the experiment on outcome variables related to students' academic performance: credit attempts, exam performance, and chances of meeting the requirements of the program. BagrutFinally, the authors investigated whether the increased chance of certification was reflected in a higher probability of entering higher education.
- Main results
The results in all analyses demonstrated that offering prizes to students in low-performing schools had no effect on the certification rate for boys. However, the results for girls indicate an increase in the certification rate. This effect stems from the subgroup of female students with a higher chance of certification, generating an increase of approximately 10% in models that allow for the omission of fixed school effects. Analyzing data from the Ministry of Education's follow-up survey (2001) suggests that this effect may be explained by the greater time dedicated to studies by girls in preparatory courses for the [unclear - possibly "exam" or "test"]. Bagrut.
Regarding the mechanisms that explain how the change in incentives modified the students' study process, the results show positive effects for girls. Increases were observed in the attempt to obtain 20 credit units, in the chance of obtaining 18 and 20 credit units, and in the distribution requirements in mathematics and writing tests. Again, no significant effects were identified for boys. The difference in response to financial incentives for higher education may explain this behavior.
The observed increase in female students' certification rates translated into increased enrollment in higher education. This effect occurred in the upper half of the lagged score distribution, with an increase of 12 to 13 percentage points in the fourth quartile and about 7 percentage points in the upper half.
- Lessons in Public Policy
In this article, the authors conducted a randomized experiment in schools to test the impact of awarding prizes to all students in the treated schools who earned a high school graduation certificate. The results showed a substantial increase in graduation rates for girls, but no significant effect was observed on boys. The affected female students were already part of the group with a high probability of certification, indicating that the experiment was not effective in increasing the chance of certification for students with low academic performance. The increase in girls' certification rates resulted in an increased probability of college admission. Furthermore, the increase in girls' certification rates was partly due to the fact that female students from the participating schools dedicated more time to preparing for the exams. No evidence of negative effects resulting from offering prizes to students was identified.
References
Angrist, J. and Lavy, V. (2009), “The Effects of High Stakes High School Achievement Awards: Evidence from a Randomized Trial”, American Economic Review, Vol. 99 No. 4, pp. 1384–1414.
Israel Ministry of Education. 2001. Statistics of the Matriculation Examination (Bagrut) Test Data, 2000. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education Chief Scientist's Office.
