Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of a major reform in the final years of the two highest levels of Dutch secondary education. The reform focused on increasing active and independent learning and aimed to improve the match between secondary and higher education. We use data from six graduation cohorts from Dutch higher education and exploit the fact that two recent graduation cohorts contain both students that were treated with the new curriculum and students that were treated with the old curriculum. The effects of the curriculum change have been estimated by using a difference-in-differences approach for matched samples of treated and untreated graduates. We find that the reform had no effect on student performance and labour market outcomes.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Altonji J. (1995) The effects of high school curriculum on education and labor market outcomes. Journal of Human Resources 30: 409–438
Berkhout, E. E., Berkhout, P. H. G., & de Graaf, D. (2002). Verplichte profielen in het voortgezet onderwijs: effect op studieduur en inkomen van hoger opgeleiden. (Compulsory profiles in secondary education: effects on study spells and wages of higher educated), SEO-report nr. 639, SEO Economic Research, Amsterdam.
Cameron C. A., Trivedi P. K. (2005) Microeconometrics, methods and applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Dearden L., Emmerson C., Frayne C., Meghir C. (2009) Conditional cash transfers and school dropout rates. Journal of Human Resources 44(4): 827–857
de Vries, R., & van der Velden, R. (2005). Brug of Kloof? (Bridge or gap?), ROA report 2005/8, Maastricht.
Hamermesh D. S., Donald S. G. (2008) The effect of college curriculum on earnings: Accounting for non-ignorable non-response bias. Journal of Econometrics 144: 479–491
Rivkin S. G., Hanushek E. A., Kain J. F. (2005) Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement. Econometrica 73(2): 417–458
Rose H., Betts J. (2004) The effect of high school courses on earnings. The Review of Economics and Statistics 86(2): 497–513
Tweede Fase Adviespunt. (2005). Zeven jaar Tweede Fase, een balans; Evaluatie Tweede Fase. Seven years of the Second Phase an evaluation, The Hague.
Tweede Fase Adviespunt. (2007). Zakboek Tweede Fase; Tweede fase oude regeling en vernieuwde tweede fase. Second Phase Handbook original and renewed Second Phase curriculum, The Hague.
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Berkhout, E., Berkhout, P. & Webbink, D. The Effects of a Dutch High School Curriculum Reform on Performance in and After Higher Education. De Economist 159, 41–61 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-010-9156-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-010-9156-z