Do international cognitive tests misguide educational policy?

Time: Tuesday November 13th, 13.00-14.00 hours
Location: CPB-office, Van Stolkweg 14, The Hague

Presentation: Sander Gerritsen (CPB)

Discussant: Thomas Buser (UvA)

Language: English

Registration:  Please register by sending an email to seminars@cpb.nl.

Abstract subject: International cognitive tests, such as PISA, TIMSS or PIRLS, are increasingly used for designing educational policies. This study investigates to which extent a countries’ ranking in these tests reflects the quality of the education system. We estimate the effect of one year of school time on the performance in international cognitive tests and define this ‘value-added’ estimate as the quality of the education system. For the estimation we apply a regression discontinuity frame work that exploits the assignment of students to different grades based on school entry rules. We find no association between the (officially published) level of test scores and the value added estimates. At all levels of test scores we observe high performing and low performing education systems. As such, a countries’ ranking in international cognitive tests might misguide educational policy.

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