This study uses a newly compiled data set of instructional time and student performance by subject across German federal states for student cohorts enrolled at the primary level in the 1990s and tested at the secondary level in the 2000s. It finds evidence for the school inputs-student achievement relationship, taking nonlinearity,…

At a time when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and partner countries are trying to figure out how to reduce burgeoning debt and make the most of shrinking public budgets, spending on education is an obvious target for scrutiny. Education officials, teachers, policy makers, parents and students struggle to determine…