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Evaluation of an Incentive Program on Educational Achievement of Indigenous Students
Author(s) -
Dulleck Uwe,
SilvaGoncalves Juliana,
Torgler Benno
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/1475-4932.12273
Subject(s) - indigenous , attendance , incentive , academic achievement , mathematics education , test (biology) , student achievement , medical education , achievement test , psychology , standardized test , economics , medicine , economic growth , ecology , paleontology , biology , microeconomics
This article introduces an incentive program that attempts to close the gap in educational attainment between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians, and provides an evaluation of its effectiveness. The program uses in‐kind incentives conditional on achievement of a specific target for academic grades, classroom behaviour and attendance, coupled with information sessions on the importance of educational achievement. In 2012, all indigenous students enrolled in 21 high schools in Queensland were invited to take part in the program. Using a differences‐in‐differences design, we find that the program improved classroom behaviour and academic grades and reduced unexplained absences for female students only. In contrast, the program improved scores on a standardised national assessment test for male students. Moreover, we find that the program is only effective for students from intact families.