The effect of ability matching and differentiated instruction in financial literacy education. Evidence from two randomised control trials

Kaat Iterbeke, Kristof De Witte, Koen Declercq and Wouter Schelfhout

Economics of Education Review, 2020, vol. 78, issue C

Abstract: The present paper examines the impact of ability matching and differentiated instruction on the learning outcomes of eighth and ninth grade students in a financial education programme. In particular, the effect of within-class ability matching is investigated by forming pairs of students either randomly or based on their abilities. In addition, the paper studies whether differentiated instruction, in the form of additional instructions for lower ability students, enhances the impact of the financial education programme. The paper provides evidence on the effects of both practices using two randomised control trials involving 65 schools and 2,407 students. Overall, the results suggest that the programme raises the financial proficiency of students by 0.18 standard deviations. Although the learning outcomes of the average student are not affected by the differentiation practices, non-native students significantly benefit from differentiated instruction.

Keywords: Financial literacy; Ability matching; Differentiated instruction; Randomised Control Trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I21 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: The Effect of Ability Matching and Differentiated Instruction in Financial Literacy Education. Evidence from Two Randomised Control Trials (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s0272775719302821

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101949

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