Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies – Roel Van Elk Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies
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Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies – Roel van Elk van – Roel Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies Roel van Elk ISBN/EAN: 978-94-91955-01-3 Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies Roel van Elk ISBN/EAN: 978-94-91955-01-3 Printed by Pasmans Drukkerij, Den Haag © 2014 R.A. van Elk All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author. Evaluating the Effects of Educational Policies De effecten van onderwijsbeleid geëvalueerd Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam op gezag van de rector magnificus Prof.dr. H.A.P. Pols en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op vrijdag 2 mei 2014 om 13.30 uur Roel Adriaan van Elk geboren te Nijmegen Promotiecommissie Promotor: Prof.dr. H.D. Webbink Overige leden: Prof.dr. L. Borghans Prof.dr. A.J. Dur Prof.dr. P.W.C. Koning Promotiecommissie Preface Promotor: Prof.dr. H.D. Webbink My interest in writing a PhD thesis started ten years ago. At that time, I was finishing the Master’s program in mathematical economics and econometric methods at Tilburg University. I did my Master’s Overige leden: Prof.dr. L. Borghans Prof.dr. A.J. Dur internship at a commercial organization specialized in online marketing. My research was about optimal Prof.dr. P.W.C. Koning advertising strategies on search engines. During my internship I found out that I enjoyed the process of conducting my own research and writing a thesis. As opposed to many of my friends that worked on their theses, I had no idea what was meant with a ‘writers block’. In addition, I found out that it satisfied me that my findings could be applied in practice. I was intrinsically motivated to translate the results of my thesis into useful advices for the organization. After finishing my Master’s thesis I had the opportunity to start as a PhD student at Tilburg University. Although I considered this as an interesting option, I was not fully convinced of working as a full time PhD student. I decided to look further for a job where I could combine ‘practical work’ with doing a PhD research, and applied at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. The thing that attracted me most at CPB was the work at the crossroads of the economic sciences and public policy. I have always felt the need to focus my research on topics with clear goals and practical relevance. CPB provided the opportunity to work in a scientific environment on topics that were directly relevant for policymakers and society. I started as a young professional in 2005 with the prospect of potentially writing a PhD thesis later on in my career. During my young professional period I got the opportunity to take M-Phil courses at the Tinbergen Institute to improve my economic and econometric skills. I mostly liked the courses on (applied) micro-econometrics and a course in the economics of education by Hessel Oosterbeek and Erik Plug. After two years, I started working at the education program, headed by Dinand Webbink. We mainly used quasi-experimental evaluation techniques and set up field experiments to investigate the effects of specific educational policy measures. I enjoyed the pleasant collaboration with Dinand and my CPB colleague Marc van der Steeg, with whom I have worked on numerous projects. We often carried out our research at the request of the Ministry of Education and it satisfied me that our empirical findings were directly informative to policymakers. Dinand taught me how to write papers that were suitable to submit to an economic journal and started motivating me for writing a PhD thesis. I have to say that after having worked at CPB for about four years the idea of writing a PhD thesis had been erased a bit, but his enthusiasm made me start thinking about it again. When Dinand left CPB to work as Professor at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2010, this provided a clear opportunity to turn my thoughts about writing a PhD thesis into concrete plans. With the support of CPB I started as an external PhD student under the supervision of Dinand at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. This enabled me to combine my work at CPB with writing a PhD thesis on policy evaluations in education. I felt privileged with this unique opportunity. The fact that I had already worked on educational policy evaluations for a couple of years helped to get off to a flying start. Although work priorities naturally kept me from spending time on my thesis sometimes, the combination between my work at CPB and my PhD research turned out to be fruitful. My PhD research has benefited from substantial spillovers of my work at CPB. Most of the chapters in this thesis are based on published CPB Discussion Papers. The CPB rather generously enabled me to devote time on my PhD research, which contributed much to the progress I could make. I have enjoyed working on this thesis and I am happy to see now that my alternative route has eventually, after ten years, still resulted in a PhD thesis. My experience with writing a PhD thesis could not have been so positive without the help and support of several important people surrounding me. First of all, I would like to thank Dinand for our fruitful discussions, his always positive and constructive comments, creative ideas, enthusiasm and sense of humour. He gave me a lot of freedom to carry out my PhD research in the way that suited me best. I feel lucky that he was my supervisor. I am indebted to my employer, CPB, for enabling me to combine work with writing a PhD thesis. I would like to thank Coen Teulings, Casper van Ewijk, George Gelauff and Ruud Okker for giving me the opportunity to start my PhD research in 2010. I am very grateful to Bas ter Weel for his trust and support in the latter phase of my PhD research. The last two chapters of the thesis have benefited from his valuable comments. Furthermore, I would like to thank Debby Lanser for our great cooperation during the last couple of years and her flexibility when I needed time for my PhD research. My co-authors also deserve special mention. It was a pleasure working with Marc and Suzanne. Special thanks to Marc for being my paranimf. Thanks also go to my other CPB colleagues who have provided a nice and inspiring work environment each day. Furthermore, I am grateful to the members of my PhD committee, Lex Borghans, Robert Dur, and Pierre Koning, for their time and effort. Last but not least I would like to thank my family and friends, who have indirectly contributed a lot to my work performance. In particular I would like to thank my mother who has always been a special support during my entire educational career, and my father who always gave me the feeling that I did well. I am sure that he would have been proud. Special thanks also go to Freek, for being a ‘broeder’, Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2010, this provided a clear opportunity to turn my thoughts about friend and paranimf. Finally, I would like to express my love and gratitude for my wife Rieneke. Our writing a PhD thesis into concrete plans. story also started ten years ago at Tilburg University.....After writing my Master’s thesis while living together on a 16m2 student room, I knew that our relationship was solid. She has been on my side ever With the support of CPB I started as an external PhD student under the supervision of Dinand at the since. I was finishing this thesis during the first months after the birth of our beautiful son Mauk. I cannot Erasmus University Rotterdam. This enabled me to combine my work at CPB with writing a PhD thesis say that he contributed substantially to it. But much more importantly, he contributed most to my life. I on policy evaluations in education. I felt privileged with this unique opportunity. The fact that I had am proud of him. already worked on educational policy evaluations for a couple of years helped to get off to a flying start. Although work priorities naturally kept me from spending time on my thesis sometimes, the combination between my work at CPB and my PhD research turned out to be fruitful. My PhD research has benefited Roel van Elk from substantial spillovers of my work at CPB. Most of the chapters in this thesis are based on published The Hague, March 2014. CPB Discussion Papers. The CPB rather generously enabled me to devote time on my PhD research, which contributed much to the progress I could make. I have enjoyed working on this thesis and I am happy to see now that my alternative route has eventually, after ten years, still resulted in a PhD thesis. My experience with writing a PhD thesis could not have been so positive without the help and support of several important people surrounding me. First of all, I would like to thank Dinand for our fruitful discussions, his always positive and constructive comments, creative ideas, enthusiasm and sense of humour. He gave me a lot of freedom to carry out my PhD research in the way that suited me best. I feel lucky that he was my supervisor. I am indebted to my employer, CPB, for enabling me to combine work with writing a PhD thesis.