Educational resources and student performance

The relationship between educational resources and student performance is one of the most debated topics in educational research. Despite numerous studies, the evidence of the effect of resources on educational outcomes is still inconclusive, both across countries and levels of education. For policy, this implies that studies of the causal effect of resources on student performance for separate levels of education and countries are warranted. Together with researchers from NTNU and The Rockwool Foundation Research Unit in Copenhagen, NIFU has evaluated the effect of increases in resources on student performance in mathematics, reading and English for students in 5th grade in Norway. In order to investigate how resource use affects student performance, the project exploited a grant policy to increase teacher density in grades 1-4 initiated by the Norwegian government in 2015. This grant design provided an opportunity to use quasi-experimental approaches to identify the causal effect of teacher density on student performance. In addition, it could be used to investigate to what extent school districts allocated additional grants in the way intended by the central government, and whether the allocation of the grant and the effect of the grant on student performance depended on school district characteristics. In the project, we largely focused on the extent to which the receiving local governments allocated the extra funding received in 2015 in the way intended by the central government. To answer this question, we relied on data obtained from GSI -primary and lower secondary information system - and municipal data from Statistics Norway. We analyzed to what extent the grant effect depended on local government characteristics and how the grant translated into resource use at the school level. The results are of special interest for policymakers and stakeholders within the field of education but are also of more general interest, as they increase our general knowledge on how central governments can affect the level of services and output provided by local governments through "earmarked" grants. We found that even though the municipalities received the grant to hire more teachers, the grant did not have the intended effect of reducing the student-teacher ratio. This suggests that stronger enforcement mechanisms may be necessary for grants to have intended effect. This work has resulted in a article which was presented at two conferences in 2019, IIPF Annual Congress and XXVIII Meeting of the Economics of Education Association. This article was published in 2021 in the European Journal of Political Economy. We have also written a working paper reviewing the literature on the effects of teacher density on student performance, with particular focus on the Scandinavian context. The study shows that findings from Scandinavian studies are largely consistent with international studies. While there is usually no or little effect of increased teacher resources on student performance, there are some exceptions. Increasing teaching resources seem to have greater effects for children with low socioeconomic background and for younger students, in line with the literature on early intervention. Additionally, more studies are showing that how you organize the teaching resource and teacher quality may be important for finding effects. Researchers in the project have also contributed to ongoing debates about the effect of increased teacher density. In the summer of 2022, we organized an international workshop with the title "Educational resources and student performance", and with participants from Europa and the US. Results from the other two LÆREEFFEKT projects, 1+1 Two Teachers were presented, in addition to relevant national and international articles about resources and student performance. For more information, please visit our webpage: http://www.nifu.no/grunnutdanning/educational-resources-and-student-performance/

Prosjektet hadde som mål å evaluere effekten av økt ressursbruk på elevprestasjoner ved å undersøke den kausale effekten av en bevilgning i 2015, der de hundre kommunenen med lavest lærertetthet fikk en ekstrabevilgning for å øke lærertettheten på 1.-4. trinn. Prosjektet skulle i tillegg belyse om skoleeiere brukte de ekstra ressursene som tenkt, og om effekten av ressursene var avhengig av spesielle kjennetegn ved skoleeierne. Første artikkel fra dette arbeidet ble publisert i the European Journal of Political Economy i 2021 med tittelen "The effect of central government grants on local educational policy" (Reiling, Salvanes, Sandsør & Strøm, 2021). Hovedfunnet var at lærertettheten ikke økte som et resultat av bevilgningen. Dette viser at det kan være nødvendig med sterkere håndhevingsmekanismer for å sikre at øremerkede midler brukes etter formålet. Dette er et viktig funn langt utover utdanningsfeltet, og viser at effekten av øremerkede midler avhenger av hvordan bevilgningen og håndhevingsmekanismene er utformet. Som et resultat at dette funnet, var det ikke mulig å undersøke effekten av økte lærerressurer på elevresultater, siden det ikke ble hyret flere lærere. Arbeidet fokuserte istedenfor på å forstå mer om hvordan finansieringsstrukturen til utdanning påvirker ressursbruk i sektoren. Videre har prosjektet undersøkt hva vet vi om effekten av økt lærertetthet på elevenes læringsutbytte i en skandinavisk kontekst, som har resultert i et working paper (Reiling, Salvanes & Sandsør, 2022). Artikkelen omhandler den eksisterende forskningslitteraturen på effekter av lærertetthet på elevenes læringsutbytte og gir innsikt i hva som kan bidra til positive effekter, både når det gjelder hvordan lærerressursen benyttes og i hvilken grad vi kan forvente at ulike grupper påvirkes. Vi trekker i tillegg frem funn fra flere relevante nye norske studier på økt lærertettet, deriblant 1+1 prosjektet, Two Teachers prosjektet. Disse resultatene er nokså nye og vi har ventet med å sende inn artikkelen til disse funnene var på plass og kunne diskuteres i lys av annen forskning. Forskerteamet har i tillegg bidratt inn i pågående debatter om effekter av økt lærertetthet. Sommeren 2022 arrangerte prosjektet en internasjonal workshop "Educational resources and student performance", med deltakere fra Europa og USA, og keynotes fra prof. Diane Schanzenbach og prof. Victor Lavy. Prosjektet har bidratt til å se pågående studier om effekter av økte ressurser i utdanning i sammenheng, og bidratt til å være en kunnskapsleverandør inn mot videre satsinger, som for eksempel innføring av lærernorm og tiltak for å redusere læringstap etter korona og den nylig avsluttede lærerstreiken. Prosjektet har også bidratt til forståelsen om hvordan sentrale myndigheter kan påvirke nivået og effektiviteten av ressursbruk ved lokale myndigheter, blant annet ved å understreke viktigheten av håndhevingsmekanismer ved øremerkede bevilgninger.

The relationship between educational resources and student performance is one of the most debated topics in educational research. Despite numerous studies, the evidence of the effect of resources on educational outcomes is still inconclusive, both across countries and levels of education. For policy, this implies that studies of the causal effect of resources on student performance for separate levels of education and countries are warranted. The aim of the proposed project is to provide a causal understanding of how teacher density in lower elementary school affects student performance in a Norwegian context. The project will also gain knowledge on how the central government can affect the level of services and output provided by local governments. The ideal research design to identify the causal effect of teacher density on student performance is a randomized experiment where one manipulates teacher density. However, this is not how the central government and the school districts operate when resources and teachers are allocated. There will always be a question about the external validity of such experiments, and the understanding of the effect of teacher density will thus be enhanced by other research designs. One such alternative is to exploit the grant policy initiated by the Norwegian government in 2015. The government decided to introduce a special government grant to increase teacher density in grades 1-4 where the intention was to strengthen early intervention and improve student learning. This grant design provides an opportunity to use quasi-experimental approaches to identify the causal effect of teacher density on student performance. In addition, it can be used to investigate to what extent school districts allocate additional grants in the way intended by the central government, and whether the allocation of the grant and the effect of the grant on student performance depend on school district characteristics.