Are computers to blame? Empirical analysis of Swedish school policy
(2024) NEKN01 20241Department of Economics
- Abstract
- The Swedish ministry of education recently voiced intentions to uproot over a decade's worth of digital implementation in the classroom, on the back of falling PISA results and increasing reports of learning difficulties. Empirical evidence for either positive or negative effects on learning stemming from computer usage is scarce and inconclusive. Utilizing a fixed effects model that exploits within-student variations by observing students in two subjects, we attempt to quantify the arguments for policy decisions moving forward. Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 provides cross-sectional 8th grade data for our results, which indicate no significant impact on standardized test scores across different usage-levels of... (More)
- The Swedish ministry of education recently voiced intentions to uproot over a decade's worth of digital implementation in the classroom, on the back of falling PISA results and increasing reports of learning difficulties. Empirical evidence for either positive or negative effects on learning stemming from computer usage is scarce and inconclusive. Utilizing a fixed effects model that exploits within-student variations by observing students in two subjects, we attempt to quantify the arguments for policy decisions moving forward. Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 provides cross-sectional 8th grade data for our results, which indicate no significant impact on standardized test scores across different usage-levels of computers in schoolwork. Our heterogeneous regression, aiming to isolate inequality concerns over a span of socioeconomic characteristics, similarly found no statistical basis for national de-digitization policy. Ultimately and in line with relevant literature, our empirical analysis fails to reject the null hypothesis that computer implementation is linked to student achievement in any direction, thus questioning the economic proof for successful large scale revisionist policy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9169436
- author
- Ludvigsson, Carl LU and Malmström, Victor LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKN01 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Labor Economics, School policy, Computers, Within-student-between-subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9169436
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-01 13:07:46
- date last changed
- 2024-10-01 13:07:46
@misc{9169436,
abstract = {{The Swedish ministry of education recently voiced intentions to uproot over a decade's worth of digital implementation in the classroom, on the back of falling PISA results and increasing reports of learning difficulties. Empirical evidence for either positive or negative effects on learning stemming from computer usage is scarce and inconclusive. Utilizing a fixed effects model that exploits within-student variations by observing students in two subjects, we attempt to quantify the arguments for policy decisions moving forward. Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 provides cross-sectional 8th grade data for our results, which indicate no significant impact on standardized test scores across different usage-levels of computers in schoolwork. Our heterogeneous regression, aiming to isolate inequality concerns over a span of socioeconomic characteristics, similarly found no statistical basis for national de-digitization policy. Ultimately and in line with relevant literature, our empirical analysis fails to reject the null hypothesis that computer implementation is linked to student achievement in any direction, thus questioning the economic proof for successful large scale revisionist policy.}},
author = {{Ludvigsson, Carl and Malmström, Victor}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Are computers to blame? Empirical analysis of Swedish school policy}},
year = {{2024}},
}