1. Is academic tracking related to gains in learning competence?

Using propensity score

matching and differential item change functioning analysis for better understanding
of tracking implications
Abstract: his study analyzes gains in cognitive components of learning competence
with respect to cohorts based on ability tracking in a Czech longitudinal study.
Propensity score matching is used to form parallelized samples of academic and non-
academic track students and to eliminate the effect of selective school intake. We
applied regression models on the total scores to test for the overall track effect.
Furthermore, we analyze scores and gains on the subscores and check for differential
item functioning in Grade 6 and in change to Grade 9. While after 3 years, no
significant difference between the two tracks was apparent in the total learning
competence score, we did, however, find significant differences in some subscores and
in the functioning of some items. We argue that item-level analysis is important for
deeper understanding of the tracking implications and may provide the basis for more
precise evidence-based decisions regarding the tracking policy.(Martinková et al.,
2020)

2. Funding, school specialization, and test scores: An evaluation of the specialist schools
policy using matching models
Abstract: We evaluate the causal association between the specialist schools policy, a
UK reform that has increased funding and encouraged secondary school specialization
in particular subjects, and pupils' test score outcomes. Using the National Pupil
Database, we estimate difference-in-difference matching models. We find a small,
positive, and statistically significant causal effect on test scores at age 16. Pupils from
poorer social backgrounds benefited more than pupils from richer backgrounds; pupils
from ethnic minority backgrounds benefited less. We disentangle the funding effect
from a specialization effect, which yields a relatively large proportionate improvement
in test scores in particular subjects. © 2013 by The University of Chicago. All rights
reserved.(Bradley et al., 2013)

3. Higher education and health investments: Does more schooling affect preventive
health care use?
Abstract: In this paper, we use regression analysis, sibling fixed effects, and matching
estimators to examine the impact of education on preventive care. Using a large
cohort of Wisconsin high school graduates that has been followed for nearly 50 years,
we find that attending college is associated with an approximately 5-15 percent
increase in the likelihood of using several types of preventive care. We also find that
greater education may influence preventive care, partly through occupational channels
and access to care. These findings suggest that increases in education have the
potential to spill over onto long-term health choices. © 2009 by The University of
Chicago.(Fletcher & Frisvold, 2009)

4. The nonmarket benefits of education and ability

Abstract: This paper analyzes the nonmarket benefits of education and ability. Using a
dynamic model of educational choice, we estimate returns to education that account
for selection bias and sorting on gains. We investigate a range of nonmarket outcomes,
including incarceration, mental health, voter participation, trust, and participation in
welfare. We find distinct patterns of returns that depend on the levels of schooling and
 ability. Unlike the monetary benefits of education, the benefits to education for many
nonmarket outcomes are greater for low-ability persons. College graduation decreases
welfare use, lowers depression, and raises self-esteem more for less-able individuals.
(Heckman et al., 2018)

5. Disappointing returns to education in Ghana: A test of the robustness of OLS estimates

using propensity score matching
Abstract: This paper uses propensity score matching to test the robustness of OLS
returns to education estimates in Ghana, a country for which other researchers have
found low returns to primary school. Matching provides a way to test for common
support, which would fail when there are not enough similar non-educated individuals
with whom to compare educated individuals. Matching also relaxes the typical linear
functional form used in OLS estimates. Common support issues do not seem to bias
OLS results, and matching estimates are not statistically different from OLS results,
indicating that inflexible functional forms do not bias estimates. These results indicate
that, at least in this application, OLS provides reasonable estimates of education
returns.(Gundersen, 2016)

6. Targeting Noncognitive Skills to Improve Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from a

Remedial Education Intervention
Abstract: JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and
students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital
archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
support@jstor.org.(Holmlund & Silva, 2014)

7. Does a food for education program affect school outcomes? The Bangladesh case
The Food for Education (FFE) program was introduced to Bangladesh in 1993.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the effect of this program on school participation and
duration of schooling using household survey data collected in 2000. Using propensity
score matching combined with difference-in-differences methodologies, we find that
the program is successful in that eligible children on average have 15% to 26% higher
school participation rates, relative to their counterfactuals who would have been
eligible for the program had they lived in the program-eligible areas. Conditional on
school participation, participants also stay at school 0.7 to 1.05 years longer than their
counterfactuals. © Springer-Verlag 2009.(Meng & Ryan, 2010)

8. Effect of multidisciplinary pre-dialysis education in advanced chronic kidney disease:

Propensity score matched cohort análisis
Abstract: Aim: The mortality and morbidity of end-stage renal failure patients remains
high despite recent advances in pre-dialysis care. Previous studies suggesting a positive
effect of pre-dialysis education were limited by unmatched comparisons between the
recipients and non-recipients of education. The present study aimed to clarify the roles
of the multidisciplinary pre-dialysis education (MPE) in chronic kidney disease patients.
Methods: We performed a retrospective single centre study, enrolling 1218
consecutive pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients, between July 2007 and Feb
2008 and followed them up to 30 months. By using propensity score matching, we
matched 149 recipient- and non-recipient pairs from 1218 patients. The incidences of
 renal replacement therapy, mortality, cardiovascular event and infection were
compared between recipients and non-recipients of MPE. Results: Renal replacement
therapy was initiated in 62 and 64 patients in the recipients and non-recipients,
respectively (P > 0.05). The MPE reduced unplanned urgent dialysis (8.7% vs 24.2%, P <
0.001) and shortened hospital days (2.16 vs 5.05 days/patient per year). MPE
recipients had a better metabolic status at the time of initiating renal replacement
therapy. Although no significant survival advantage from MPE was exhibited, MPE
recipients had lower incidence of cardiovascular events (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.24;
95% confidence interval (CI), 0.08 to 0.78; P = 0.017), and a tendency toward a lower
infection rate (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.17 to 1.11; P = 0.083). Conclusion:
MPE was associated with better clinical outcomes in terms of urgent dialysis,
cardiovascular events and infection. © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology.(Cho
et al., 2012)

9. Long-Term Effects of School Quality on Health and Lifestyle: Evidence from

Comprehensive Schooling Reforms in England
Abstract: Members of the National Child Development Study cohort attended very
different types of secondary schools, as their schooling lay within the transition period
of the comprehensive education reform in England and Wales. This provides a natural
setting to explore the impact of educational attainment and of school quality on health
and health-related behavior later in life. We use a combination of matching methods
and parametric regressions to deal with selection effects and to evaluate differences in
adult health outcomes and health-related behavior for cohort members exposed to
the old selective and to the new comprehensive educational systems.(Jones M et al.,
2011)

10. Longitudinal associations between reading for pleasure and child maladjustment:
Results from a propensity score matching análisis
Abstract: Rationale: Reading for pleasure has been shown to have benefits for
academic attainment and the development of empathy. Yet, whether reading for
pleasure is linked with other aspects of children's development remains unclear.
Objective. This study examines the association between reading for pleasure and
children's psychological and behavioural adjustment at the onset of adolescence.
Method. We analysed data from 8936 participants in the Millennium Cohort Study,
Sweeps 4 (age 7) and 5 (age 11), and used propensity score matching methods to
match children who read frequently with children with similar individual, social,
familial, and behavioural characteristics who read less often. Results. Daily reading for
pleasure at age 7 was associated with lower levels of hyperactivity/inattention and
better prosocial behaviour at age 11. These results for hyperactivity/inattention were
replicated when analysing data specifically from children with a history of
hyperactivity/inattention at age 7. Results also show that daily reading for pleasure
was associated with lower levels of emotional problems. Results were robust to a
range of sensitivity analyses. Conclusions. Daily reading for pleasure in childhood is
independently associated with better behavioural adjustment at the onset of
adolescence. Future studies could explore the potential benefit of interventions to
encourage reading.(Mak & Fancourt, 2020)

11. Increasing higher education access: Supply, sorting, and outcomes in Colombia
 Abstract: Between 2000 and 2013, higher education (HE) in Colombia expanded
substantially in response to greater demand, greater supply of capacity and programs
on the part of HE institutions, and policies enhancing HE access and attractiveness. We
use rich student-and program-level data to decompose the observed enrollment
expansion, and we show that changes in HE supply, policy, and returns account for
most of the expansion and have been critical to the inflow of low-ability students. We
investigate the supply expansion and the opening of new programs and find that these
were driven by the economic incentives facing the institutions.(Carranza & Ferreyra,
2019)

12. The impact of hiv education on behavior among youths: A propensity score matching
approach
Abstract: There has been a long-standing debate as to whether sex or human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) education actually influences the way young people
behave. To the extent these programs work, they represent a potential mechanism
policy-makers might use to reduce risky behavior among youths. This paper uses data
from the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey to examine if students who have received
school-based HIV instruction behave differently than those who have not. To address
potentially endogenous exposure to HIV education, this paper considers a propensity
score matching approach. Findings from the propensity score analysis suggest that
standard ordinary least squares results are biased. Despite this, there remains some
evidence that exposure to HIV education decreases risky sexual activity. Among male
students, HIV education is also negatively related to the rate of using needles to inject
illegal drugs into the body. The needle use results are robust to a sensitivity analysis,
while the results for sexual behaviors are not. © 2012 Western Economic Association
International.(Anderson, 2013)

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