The effect of central exit examinations on student achievement: Quasi-experimental evidence from TIMSS Germany

IZA Logo
   

IZA Seminar

Place: Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 9, 53113 Bonn

Date: 26.11.2002, 12:15 - 13:30

   

Presentation by 

Hendrik Jürges (University of Mannheim)
   

Abstract:

This paper makes use of the regional variation in schooling legislation
within the German secondary education system to estimate the causal effect of central exit
examinations on student performance. We propose alternative difference-in-differences
estimators that exploit the quasi-experimental nature of the national TIMSS middle school
sample. The estimates show that students in federal states with central exit examinations
clearly outperform students in other federal states, but that only part of this difference is due
to central exit examinations themselves. Our most preferred estimator suggests that such
examinations increase student achievement by at least one third school year equivalent.

   
Download complete paper   
   
For more information, please contact seminar@iza.org