This paper analyses the impact of teacher gender towards students’ test results in a blinded Math test administered to students in Catalonia (Spain). The data for this analysis are drawn from a sample of secondary school students who participated in an international blind-test known as the...

We analyze the effects of several class compositional dimensions on individual student achievement. We make use of a rich dataset that allows tackling major endogeneity concerns stemming from non-random allocation of students between and within schools. We find that increasing the percentage of...

PISA uses a complex sampling procedure based on stratification variables chosen by the participating countries’ authorities. In this paper we analyse the representativeness of the samples used in terms of the distribution of students per grade and track of studies for Portugal. For the three...

Being the youngest in a cohort entails many penalties. Using administrativedata of every public-school student in Portugal, we show that although performancegains from being 1-year older fade quickly from primary education to high school,age-related penalties persist through a combination of...

Previous research has identified a gender gap in the difference between teacher grading andscores on national exams at the end of secondary school. We go a step further and look at howteacher characteristics may influence this gender gap. We find that exams are relatively morefavorable for boys,...

The increasing number of contract teachers in developing countries has led to concerns about the effect of their employment on teacher quality. Contract teachers are in general less trained and qualified. However, they are more likely to be hired from the local community, which can positively...