November 21, 2012

Does intensive coaching reduce school dropout?

Intensieve coaching mbo-leerlingen verlaagt schooluitval

Press release
Intensieve coaching van leerlingen in het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs brengt de schooluitval omlaag en dat zou de samenleving 27 miljoen euro kunnen opleveren. Het effect van een jaar intensieve coaching blijkt namelijk substantieel. Na 1 jaar coaching wordt de kans op voortijdig schoolverlaten met ruim 40 procent verminderd.
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This paper investigates the effect of coaching in vocational education on school dropout using data from a randomized experiment. We find that one year of coaching reduces school dropout by more than 40 percent from 17 to 10 percentage points.

The reduction in school dropout results from two equally important channels: a reduction of dropout from the study and a reduction of dropout from the education system once students dropped out of their studies. This suggests that coaching interventions before as well as after study dropout have contributed to less school dropout.

The effectiveness of coaching is largest for students with a high ex ante probability of dropout, such as older students, males and students with an adverse socioeconomic background. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that one year of coaching is likely to yield a net social gain.

 

Authors

Marc van der Steeg
Dinand Webbink

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