Time to learn? The organizational structure of schools and student achievement

Abstract

Utilizing parametric and nonparametric techniques, we asses the impact of a heretofore relatively unexplored `input' in the educational process, time allocation, on the distribution of academic achievement. Our results indicate that school year length and the number and average duration of classes affect student achievement. However, the effects are not homogeneous --- in terms of both direction and magnitude --- across the distribution. We find that test scores in the upper tail of the distribution benefit from a shorter school year, while a longer school year increases test scores in the lower tail. Furthermore, test scores in the lower quantiles increase when students have at least eight classes lasting 46--50 min on average, while test scores in the upper quantiles increase when students have seven classes lasting 45 min or less or 51 min or more.