Evidence on the effectiveness of school inputs remains inconclusive, partly due to the challenge of identification as families sort themselves into school districts and resources are potentially allocated to compensate (or reinforce) differences in pupil abilities. Using variation in school resources induced by the location of waterfalls in…

It is well established that girls outperform boys in schools, but the available empirical evidence suggests that the determinants of the gender achievement gap are poorly understood. The present paper looks inside families for explanations. Rich data for families with children in the lower secondary school in Norway are used to investigate whether…

Investigates the performance of a regulated, equalized school system by analyzing the relationship between resource use and student achievement in 34 Norwegian high schools. Distinguishing between quantity and quality, uses data envelopment analysis to establish a reference frontier representing best practices and measure technical efficiencies.…