UNEQUAL EDucation: The Role of Educational Constraints in Shaping Inequalities

Project Information

UNEQUALED

Grant agreement ID: 101044361

DOI

10.3030/101044361

Project closed

EC signature date 29 June 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 January 2026

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 602 003,88

EU contribution

€ 602 003,88

Coordinated by

FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UNEQUALED (UNEQUAL EDucation: The Role of Educational Constraints in Shaping Inequalities)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Project UNEQUALED aims to study educational constraints faced by individuals at a stage when they are planning their future investments in human capital. Despite its importance, understanding the determinants of educational choices has been a longstanding challenge for two important reasons. First, it requires broad, representative, data. Secondly, because the environment in which individuals’ educational plans are formed, and adjust, is typically endogenous to their characteristics.

Different parts of project UNEQUALED target specific questions that will help construct an overall picture. The project will seek to understand, and quantify, the role of the different barriers in leading to unequal learning and opportunities and the effects of easing the constraints. Specifically asking: Can the easing of technological constraints reduce learning inequality (Part 1)? What role does ICT access and training play for distance learning (Part 1)? Does differential social exposure within the classroom impact student outcomes (Part 2)? Can role models help an individual reach their goal (Part 3)?

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Part 1 of the project studies the important economic question of the impact of technology in the classroom on students’ academic and non-academic outcomes. The project aims to evaluate a national program in France (the “Digital Plan”) to understand the effect of giving tablets to adolescents, aged 13 to 15 years old. It studies first-order outcomes like test-scores but also look on several other outcomes, to look on other margins and other agents to get at the channels and the heterogeneity of the effect. The first step has been to secure administrative data access has been completed. Similarly, the preparation of creating treatment and control groups, survey preparation, and survey implementation have been completed. I am currently in the process of combining administrative data on all schools (both treated and non-treated) with survey data to analyse the data.

Part 2 of the project evaluates a national educational desegregation program initiative in France. The aim is shed light on whether more social diversity in the classroom helps or harms students’ outcomes. With the combination of evaluating the pilot, running surveys and looking over multiple periods, we will be able to uncover whether there are differential effects for students from different social backgrounds. As with part 1, the project will go beyond traditional outcome measures and study changes in students’ goals and self-perceptions. We have constructed control group for each treated site in which the program using matching methods based on being geographically close, to have similar socio-demographics and performance within school. We have prepared and implemented survey to measure cognitive changes, as well as social and behavioural, their attitudes, their perceptions. The data is now collated, and we are in the process of analysing the data.

The final part, Part 3, of the project studies the importance of mentors and role models for the choices that are made by students at a stage of becoming young professionals. This part of the project is at an early stage. I am currently at the experiment preparation stage.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

There is a growing literature on the topic of digital tools in the classroom, but the findings are often ambiguous.They tend to be small-scale or very context specific, focus on very few outcomes, or are one-shot. Part 1 of my project has many layers and steps. It is nationally representative. I can look at important outcomes like test-score but combine this with social/behavioural/non-cognitive skills. The administrative data allows me to uniquely identify students and schools, so I can track and merge in other data and I can look at more agents, such as teachers and principals. I could offer a huge amount of insight and to look at various margins
Similarly, with respect to Part 2, there is an established literature on peer effects and the relevance of social diversity in schools. However, no such large-scale evaluation has been conducted in Europe. This project is nationally representative and can look at important outcomes, such as test-score but combine this with social/behavioural/non-cognitive skills.
Part 3 is still at an early stage.

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