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The Production of Cognitive Achievement in Children: Home, School and Racial Test Score Gaps

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Author Info
Petra E. Todd () (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania)
Kenneth I. Wolpin () (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania)
Abstract

This paper studies the determinants of children’s scores on tests of cognitive achievement in math and reading. Using rich longitudinal data on test scores, home environments, and schools, we implement alternative specifications for the production function for achievement and test their assumptions. We do not find support for commonly used restrictive models that assume test scores depend only on contemporaneous inputs or that assume conditioning in a lagged score captures the effects of all past inputs. Instead, the results show that both contemporaneous and lagged inputs matter in the production of current achievement and that it is important to allow for unobserved child-specific endowment effects and endogeneity of inputs. Using a specification that incorporates these features, we analyze sources of test score gaps between black, white and Hispanic children. The estimated model captures key patterns in the data, such as the widening of minority-white test score gaps with age, which is most pronounced for black children.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania in its series PIER Working Paper Archive with number 04-019.

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Length: 50 pages
Date of creation: 26 Apr 2004
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Handle: RePEc:pen:papers:04-019

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Related research
Keywords: Education production function; racial test score gaps; school quality; child development and cognitive achievement;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Weili Ding & Steven F. Lehrer & J. Niels Rosenquist & Janet Audrain-McGovern, 2006. "The Impact of Poor Health on Education: New Evidence Using Genetic Markers," NBER Working Papers 12304, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Jere R. Behrman, University of Pennsylvania & John Hoddinott, International Food Policy Research Institute & John Maluccio & Erica Soler-Hampejsek, University of Pennsylvania & Emily L. Behrman, Unive, 2006. "What Determines Adult Cognitive Skills? Impacts of Pre-Schooling, Schooling and Post-Schooling Experiences in Guatemala," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0615, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Alessandro Lizzeri & Marciano Siniscalchi, 2006. "Parental Guidance and Supervised Learning," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000395, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2007. "The Racial Test Score Gap and Parental Involvement in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 2613, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Cascio, Elizabeth & Lewis, Ethan, 2005. "Schooling and the AFQT: Evidence from School Entry Laws," IZA Discussion Papers 1481, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Elizabeth Cascio & Ethan Lewis, 2005. "Schooling and the AFQT: evidence from school entry laws," Working Papers 05-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  7. Elizabeth U. Cascio & Ethan G. Lewis, 2005. "Schooling and the AFQT: Evidence from School Entry Laws," NBER Working Papers 11113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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