BUU, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 88: Spm. om, hvorfor "Child Development - Perspectives from Private and Public Investments" er på ministerens liste over referencer om evidens mellem antallet af aktivitetstimer og øget faglighed i folkeskolen, til undervisningsministeren

Svar på spørgsmål 88 (Alm. del):I brev af 23. januar 2014 har udvalget efter ønske fra Merete Riisager(LA) stillet mig følgende spørgsmål:Spørgsmål 88:”Kan ministeren oplyse, hvorfor "Child Development - Perspectivesfrom Private and Public Investments" er på ministerens liste over refe-rencer, der er tilgået udvalget som alm. del - bilag 115 (2012-13) i forbin-delse med samrådsspørgsmål J, hvori ministeren bedes "oplyse om evi-dens mellem antallet af aktivitetstimer og øget faglighed i folkeskolen",når det af denne fremgår, at "As in existing studies, the findings showthat classroom hours affect student performance in maths. However, Ifail to provide robust findings for literacy"?”Svar:Overskriften på bilag 115 er ”Oversigt over referencer nævnt i børne- ogundervisningsministerens samrådstale den 22. januar 2013”.Undersøgelsen er nævnt i samrådstalen og derfor også i oversigten overreferencer.Det er i øvrigt en af de få danske undersøgelser af sammenhæng mellemelevernes faglige resultater og en politisk besluttet og udefrakommendeændring af antallet af undervisningstimer. I det danske resumé af under-søgelsen konkluderes det, at ekstra undervisningstimer i 9. klasse har enpositiv betydning for elevernes kundskaber, og at analysen alt i alt peger iretning af, at eleverne er sensitive over for antallet af undervisningstimer.I juni 2013 er resultaterne af undersøgelsen blev offentliggjort i en artikeli Educational Research (vol. 455, nr. 2, 2013). Konklusionen i artiklen ergengivet i sin helhed følgende:

2”Given that most local school authorities have budget constraints, theoptimal allocation of school resources becomes important. I exploit achange in the classroom hour administration during which municipalitiesand schools switched from local to national classroom hour regulations.Using this reform-induced variation in classroom hours, I identify theeffect of classroom hours on student performance. As in existing studies,the findings show that classroom hours affect student performance inmaths. However, I fail to provide robust findings for literacy. The stron-ger effects for maths is in line with Marcotte (2007), who argues thatstudents are more sensitive to changes in maths than in literacy teachingbecause literacy teaching also takes place at home. For further support, Iapply several robustness checks. In general, the results for the maths testare robust in these checks, whereas the results for the writing test arenot.The findings are very important in the context of debates about the cost-effectiveness of intra-school resource allocation. For example, the resultssuggest that one extra annual classroom hour per year in maths increasesthe maths score by 0.21% of a standard deviation. The average class-room hour change from the pre- to the post-reform period was 2.63annual hours in maths. This change is equivalent to 2.2 % or 4 minutesof weekly classroom hours (from the base of 40 weeks per year), and theeffect of these 2.64 hours translate into 0.46% of a standard deviationincrease in the maths score. This estimation indicates that academicachievement is sensitive to even small changes in classroom hours, sug-gesting that changes to classroom hours might be an effective way ofincreasing student performance”.