Brugernes reaktion når det offentlige øger serviceniveauet. Resultater fra et lodtrækningsforsøg på skoleområdet

Det er først for nylig, at det inden for uddannelsesområdet er blevet undersøgt, hvordan brugere reagerer, når investeringer i den offentlige serviceproduktion øges. Disse nye studier tyder på, at det får brugerne til at sænke deres bidrag til produktionen af disse ydelser. Det er uheldigt i den forstand, at det sænker den samlede effekt af de offentlige investeringer. Teori om samproduktion tilsiger imidlertid, at brugernes reaktion på forstærkede offentlige indsatser vil afhænge af, om de opfatter indsatserne som komplementære i forhold til, hvad de selv kan bidrage med, eller om de opfatter dem som rene substitutter. Vi undersøger brugernes reaktion ved i et felteksperiment på skoleområdet at sammenligne effekten af tre forskellige men sammenlignelige indsatser. Resultaterne viser, at den indsats, der appellerede til forældrenes aktive bidrag ved at give de fagligt svageste børn flere lektier for – og som samtidig var målrettet hjælp til børnene frem for hjælp til læreren – faktisk gjorde, at børnene oplevede, at forældrene hjalp dem mere med skolearbejdet. Resultaterne giver derfor grund til at forvente, at effekten af offentlige indsatser kan forstærkes frem for svækkes, hvis de tilrettelægges, så de giver brugerne en oplevelse af, at deres bidrag kan komplementere den offentlige indsats

Service users’ response to increased public services: Results from a randomized field experiment in education

Recent studies indicate that service users may respond to increased investments in the public service production (in education) by lowering their contribution to the service production. This is unfortunate as it reduces the overall effect of increased public investments. However, coproduction theory suggests that service users’ response depends on whether they perceive the increased public effort as complementary to their own input or as a substitute. In a randomized field experiment in primary education we examined the behavioral response of service users to three different, but comparable public initiatives. In one initiative, the academically weakest students were assigned significantly more homework in an attempt to involve their parents in helping them with homework. According to our results, the children experienced that their parents did help them more. This suggests that if the design of such public initiatives makes service users perceive their contribution as a complement to the public effort the effect can be strengthened rather than weakened

Fade-Out of Educational Interventions: Statistical and Substantive Sources

What appears to be ineffectiveness of educational interventions in the long run may actually be caused by statistical artefacts in the equating of tests taken at different time points or by the nature of the skill development in the absence of targeted interventions. We use longitudinal data on the full population of public school students in Denmark to estimate central parameters in the equating of reading test scores and in a skill formation model. We compare the model's predictions to observed fade-out in a randomized controlled trial two and four years after the end of the intervention. Predicted and observed estimates consistently show that about half of the initial effect has faded out after four years. However, because of the concave nature of skill development, the treated students maintain more than 80 % of their time lea