Students' competencies are influenced by a host of factors, including the individual school's effectiveness. Measuring this contribution is extremely difficult. One way of circumventing the problem is by focusing on changes in competencies over time, i.e. value-added measures. Using the results...

Students' competencies are influenced by a host of factors, including individual school's effectiveness. Measuring this contribution is extremely difficult. One way of circumventing the problem is by focusing on changes in students' competencies, i.e., value-added measures. Using the results of...

In this paper we propose and validate cheating in standardized tests as a new indirect measure of social capital. Given the low-stakes nature of most of the tests examined here, we interpret the widespread presence of cheating as a signal of limited trustin central education authorities....

This paper estimates the effect of an administrative change in a voucher policy implemented by an Italian Regional government. The voucher has been installed in 2000, and is intended to help families that want enroll their children in private schools. In 2008/09, the policy has been changed,...