This study was prepared by Elke Lüdemann while she was working in the Department Human Capital and Innovation of the Ifo Institute. It was completed in July 2011 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Economics Department of the University of Munich (LMU). The subject of this study is a micro econometric analysis of how schooling contributes to the formation of students' cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. The main emphasis is on investigating the role of educational institutions in the formation of students' cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Besides that, the role of school peers in the formation of occupational intentions is investigated.
A growing body of research highlights the importance of non-cognitive skills as determinants of young people's cognitive outcomes at school. However, little evidence exists about the effects of policies that specifically target students' non-cognitive skills as a way to improve educational achievements. In this paper, we shed light on this issue by studying a remedial education programme aimed at English secondary school pupils at risk of school exclusion and with worsening educational trajectories. The main peculiarity of this intervention is that it solely targets students' non-cognitive skills such as self-confidence, locus of control, self-esteem and motivation - with the aim of improving pupils' records of attendance and end-of-compulsory-education (age 16) cognitive outcomes. We evaluate the effect of the policy on test scores in standardized national exams at age-16 using both least squares and propensity-score matching methods. Additionally, we exploit repeated observations on pupils' test scores to control for unobservables that might affect students' outcomes and selection into the programme. We find little evidence that the programme significantly helped treated youths to improve their age-16 test outcomes. We also find little evidence of heterogeneous policy effects along a variety of dimensions.
AbstractHypoxia‐ischaemia (HI) can result in structural brain abnormalities, which in turn can lead to behavioural deficits in various cognitive and motor domains, in both adult and paediatric populations. Cardiorespiratory arrest (CA) is a major cause of hypoxia‐ischaemia in adults, but it is relatively rare in infants and children. While the effects of adult CA on brain and cognition have been widely studied, to date, there are no studies examining the neurodevelopmental outcome of children who suffered CA early in life. Here, we studied the long‐term outcome of 28 children who suffered early CA (i.e., before age 16). They were compared to a group of control participants (n = 28) matched for age, sex and socio‐economic status. The patient group had impairments in the domains of memory, language and academic attainment (measured using standardised tests). Individual scores within the impaired range were most commonly found within the memory domain (79%), followed by academic attainment (50%), and language (36%). The patient group also had reduced whole brain grey matter volume, and reduced volume and fractional anisotropy of the white matter. In addition, lower performance on memory tests was correlated with bilaterally reduced volume of the hippocampi, thalami, and striatum, while lower attainment scores were correlated with bilateral reduction of fractional anisotropy in the superior cerebellar peduncle, the main output tract of the cerebellum. We conclude that patients who suffered early CA are at risk of developing specific cognitive deficits associated with structural brain abnormalities.Research Highlights Our data shed light on the long‐term outcome and associated neural mechanisms after paediatric hypoxia‐ischaemia as a result of cardiorespiratory arrest. Patients had impaired scores on memory, language and academic attainment. Memory impairments were associated with smaller hippocampi, thalami, and striatum. Lower academic attainment correlated with reduced fractional anisotropy of the superior cerebellar peduncle.
This study investigated time patterns and the relationships between perceived stress, recovery, control, attention lapses, and defense mechanisms (DM) during a 12-month wintering in Concordia polar station with an international crew of 14 volunteers. This ICE (Isolated, Confined, Extreme) environment induced some stress, mainly in the social dimension and showed relationships (a) between DM and both stress and recovery and (b) between recovery and perceived control, highlighting the roles of DM and control in psychological adaptation. These results offer additional insights into the affective, social, and cognitive processes involved in adaptation. The findings suggest that preventive psychological countermeasures should be developed for crew members to counteract detrimental psychological outcomes and to improve adaptation to long-duration ICE situations such as planned human interplanetary space missions.
Based on the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data, the current study examines Head Start's long-term impacts on cognitive outcomes for children with disabilities: (a) Do children with disabilities who enroll in Head Start at age 4 years have better cognitive outcomes when they are 4 to 9 years old? (b) Are there other factors associated with long-term cognitive development for children with disabilities? Linear regression analysis indicated that Head Start enrollment had positive impacts on children's short-term outcomes. However, the difference between Head Start and non-Head Start children became insignificant for cognitive scores measured at age 9 years. Children who were Black or Hispanic, without an individualized education plan, were non-English speaking at home, and who had lower preacademic skills prior to Head Start enrollment had significantly lower cognitive outcomes at age 9 years.
