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International Assessment Surveys of Educational Achievement in Developing Countries: Why Education Economists Should Care

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  • Gérard Lassibille

    (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Institut de Recherche sur l’Economie de l’Education)

Abstract

This paper reviews the most known international assessment studies that are conducted in the context of poor countries and highlights the lack of empirical evidence on the degree to which the contents of the tests really match countries’ curricula. To illustrate, the paper evaluates the sensitivity of an international testing instrument by comparing the responses of students in two consecutive grades on the same battery of tests. Using propensity score matching to control for student and teacher characteristics, the results show that the tests are not grade sensitive, which raises the question of the validity of many empirical works that are based on similar instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Gérard Lassibille, 2015. "International Assessment Surveys of Educational Achievement in Developing Countries: Why Education Economists Should Care," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 57(4), pages 655-668, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:57:y:2015:i:4:d:10.1057_ces.2015.19
    DOI: 10.1057/ces.2015.19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hanushek, Eric A, 1995. "Interpreting Recent Research on Schooling in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 10(2), pages 227-246, August.
    2. Pritchett, Lant & Filmer, Deon, 1999. "What education production functions really show: a positive theory of education expenditures," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 223-239, April.
    3. Hanushek, Eric A, 1986. "The Economics of Schooling: Production and Efficiency in Public Schools," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1141-1177, September.
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