Noncognitive skills and educational outcomes: a study based on São Paulo public school system

• Grant number: 14/08834-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date until: September 29, 2014
• End date until: March 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics
• Principal Investigator: Marcos de Almeida Rangel
• Grantee: Ana Paula Melo da Silva
• Supervisor: James Joseph Heckman
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Chicago, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/21099-5 - EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS: NON-COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF STUDENT'S ACHIEVEMENT FROM SAO PAULO'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BP.MS

Abstract

Education has been recognized as one of the most important elements on human capital accumulation. Achievement tests have been used as a measure of intelligence (acquired knowledge) and it has been widely used as basis for public policy. However, evidence has shown that firstly, these standardized tests measure not only intelligence but also other aspects of personality and secondly that cognitive skills are just a part of what drives people to succeed in life. Thus, a lot of theoretical as well as empirical evidence has been found on the importance of noncognitive skills to better understand of life outcomes. The objective of this master dissertation is to analyze how noncognitive skills can predict educational outcomes. We look forward to add evidence on how personality is correlated to achievement, attainment and other relevant educational variables as well as analyzing heterogeneous effects. However, the inclusion of personality into economic studies generates identification issues and demands a specific econometric approach. The objective of the present research proposal is to work on measured personality identification in order to complement causality findings in the literature. The idea that these skills are somehow malleable makes this kind of study important to support future public policy. (AU)