100 INNOVATIONS AND CAPABILITIES
ECONOMICS
OF EDUCATION KNOWLEDGE HUB
UNSW RESEARCH
High-quality education is both a human right and a key driver of economic growth . Improving education requires rigorous quantitative analysis .
The mission of the Economics of Education Knowledge Hub is to provide robust evidence on educational interventions that improve student outcomes . For instance , in one of its projects ( Cultural Context in Standardised Tests ), the hub conducted a randomised controlled trial and found large effects of cultural context on performance in standardised reading tests in NSW schools .
The difference in performance on contextualised reading tests represents 33 per cent of the rural / urban gap and 50 per cent of the Indigenous / non- Indigenous gap .
> Real-world impact via closing education gaps .
> Improved academic performance .
> Established solid links with AECG and NSW DoE .
> Extensive media coverage .
In another project ( Is fun a complement or a substitute in the education production function ? An RCT ) The Hub explores the impact of injecting pure fun / leisure in the education experience ( like the choice of hats or pets for one ’ s avatar in an online assignment ) and find that female students can benefit from it educationally , while males instead get distracted .
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