Information and communication technologies (ICT) can help increase teachers' abilities and, as a result, the learning of new cohorts of students who, in the age of mass higher education, enter university classrooms less prepared. Although ICT-based teacher training initiatives are well known, there is little proof that the results are useful for…

In the international literature, discussion of the impact of physical activities is mainly focused on improvements in quality of life, particularly in terms of health. However, sports can have other positive effects on individuals that may contribute to improving their academic performance. This study explores the effect of physical activities and…

Cooperative learning has positive effects on student motivation, participation, and performance. Following the methodology's principles, an intervention was designed to be implemented online during confinement in a university subject called Transport Infrastructure (n=40). The data collected shows that the operation of cooperative learning in…

This dissertation examines the different aspects of education policies and their socioeconomic implications through three distinct research papers. The first chapter investigates the causal impact of grade retention in primary school on juvenile crime in Chile and it was written jointly with Juan Diaz, Nicolas Grau, and Jorge Rivera. Utilizing a…

This paper presents evidence that women and men benefit from having a higher percentage of female peers in post-secondary vocational STEM programs. I use idiosyncratic variation in gender composition across cohorts within majors within branches (campuses) for identification. Having a higher percentage of female peers positively affects students in…

With the increasing adoption of information and communication technologies among youngsters, it has become common for high school students to incorporate the use of multiple devices and digital platforms in their study habits. Although these digital resources support and motivate them to learn, these are also a source of continuous distraction.…

Even when parents have the time required to support their children's education, they can increase their children's anxiety about school when they try to help, especially if they are not confident in their own abilities. This study measures the effects of having parents complete nonacademic schoolwork with their teenage children. Half of the 422…

Introduction: High-stake testing plays a crucial role in many educational systems, guiding policies of accountability, resource allocation, and even school choice (OECD, 2013). However, non-representative patterns of attendance can skew how useful these measures are for accomplishing their main objective. Are we really measuring the quality or…

Grade retention and early dropout are two of the biggest challenges facing education systems in middle-income countries today, representing waste in school resources. We investigate whether reducing parent-school information gaps can improve outcomes that are early-warning signals for grade retention and dropout. We conducted an experiment in…

A student's ranking in the grade point average (GPA) distribution has emerged as an admission variable that increases admission rates of both segregated minorities and high-performance individuals. In 2012, Chile's centralized university admission system introduced a GPA ranking variable relative to the previous cohorts' average GPA. Such a system…

There is a consensus that family involvement is key to academic achievement. However, it is often difficult to keep parents involved, particularly when they lack the time or academic knowledge. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact on achievement in mathematics among adolescent children when involving parents from low-income communities…

During the last five years a group of universities in Chile started to implement admissions programs that consider the achievement of students in context of the educational opportunities they had, thus reducing reliance on the national college entrance exam. This study explores the program theories in a sample of these programs and their effects…

The decision to pursue formal education has significant labor market implications. To approach the decision rationally, a student must consider the costs and benefits of each available option. However, mounting empirical evidence suggests that reported expectations of costs and benefits are uncertain and vary across students. Hastings et al.…

This study is about persistence and perceived difficulties of gifted students in college explored through sociodemographic and academic characteristics. Two hundred and nine nongifted and 45 gifted participated in the study. A persistence scale along with sociodemographic variables were used to compare both groups. The groups shared many…

The article describes a test-blind admission initiative in a Chilean research university aimed at expanding the inclusion of talented, albeit educationally and socially disadvantaged, students. The outcomes of the test-blind admission cohort were compared with those of students admitted via the regular admission procedure to the same academic…