Can Targeted, Non-Cognitive Skills Programs Improve Achievement?

This is the title of a new research paper by Pedro Martins from the University of London. Martins’ findings show that a targeted program related to non-cognitive ability – in this case study skills, motivation, and self-esteem – can improve student achievement at state schools in Portugal. In work that I have done with Liam and Colm, there is a clear demonstration of academic advantage for Irish university students who are more future-orientated and more conscientious. Given all of the above, there is a case for considering whether the Portugese program can translate (with obvious modifications) to Irish universities, and Irish schools. Of course, it must be borne in mind that there is an existing Access program in Irish universities (and Irish schools) which provides academic and social supports. The Access program was evaluated in the setting of an Irish university by Denny, Doyle, O’Reilly and O’Sullivan (2010); the results suggesting that Access programs can be an effective means of improving academic outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students attending Irish universities. One question that I plan to investigate further is whether the design of Access programs in Ireland exlicitly considers the concept of non-cognitive skill formation. I would be interested to hear from any readers who have any information on this.

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Cunha, Heckman and Schennach - Estimating the Technology of Human Skill Formation - IZA

Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation
 by Flavio Cunha, James J. Heckman, Susanne Schennach
(January 2010)

Abstract:
This paper formulates and estimates multistage production functions for children's cognitive and noncognitive skills. Skills are determined by parental environments and investments at different stages of childhood. We estimate the elasticity of substitution between investments in one period and stocks of skills in that period to assess the benefits of early investment in children compared to later remediation. We establish nonparametric identification of a general class of production technologies based on nonlinear factor models with endogenous inputs. A by-product of our approach is a framework for evaluating childhood and schooling interventions that does not rely on arbitrarily scaled test scores as outputs and recognizes the differential effects of the same bundle of skills in different tasks. Using the estimated technology, we determine optimal targeting of interventions to children with different parental and personal birth endowments. Substitutability decreases in later stages of the life cycle in the production of cognitive skills. It increases slightly in later stages of the life cycle in the production of noncognitive skills. This finding has important implications for the design of policies that target the disadvantaged. For some configurations of disadvantage and for some outcomes, it is optimal to invest relatively more in the later stages of childhood than in earlier stages.