Schooling quality in a cross-section of countries

This paper presents a newly constructed panel data-set that includes output and input measures of schooling quality for a broad number of countries. B ased on this data-set, we investigate the determinants of educational quali ty. The results show that family inputs and school resources are closely re lated to school outcomes, as measured by internationally comparable test sc ores, repetition rates and dropout rates. Family characteristics, such as i ncome and education of parents, have strong relations with student performa nce. The findings also suggest that more school resources- especially small er class sizes, but probably also higher teacher salaries and greater schoo l length -enhance educational outcomes.