Sociology Seminar 
Time: 12:00 pm – 13:30 pm
Date: 6th of february
Room : 3049

Philippe COULANGEON (Sciences Po) – “Reducing educational inequalities through music instruction? Evidence from a quasi-experiment on a violin program for young disadvantaged children.”

Abstract : 

This communication examines the impact of a music education program on the academic progress of young disadvantaged students. The program integrates three weekly violin lessons into the regular school schedule, over four years. It is based on the widely held — though inconsistently supported by scientific evidence — belief that learning a musical instrument enhances general cognitive abilities.

This presentation draws on findings from a four-year quasi-experimental design involving 2,000 children across 57 schools in the northern suburbs of Paris. Using entropy balancing and linear regression analyses, we identified a small positive effect on academic performance toward the end of preschool. However, this effect reversed in the first and second grades, showing a significant negative impact on language skills (reaching d=-0.132, p<0.01 by the end of grade 2), which disproportionately affected students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

These results raise a larger question: the opportunity cost of school time allocation. Indeed, most impact evaluations tend to focus on the direct benefits of educational interventions — such as measuring progress in math after a math-related program —  without considering potential adverse effects on other subjects that lose instructional time as a consequence. Our findings suggest that the growing demands placed on school (such as providing health prevention, media literacy, environmental education, etc.) may undermine foundational learning if overall instructional time is not increased. Furthermore, as demonstrated in previous research, the most vulnerable students are the most sensitive to changes in school time allocation, as they have fewer opportunities to recover lost learning outside the classroom.

Philippe Coulangeon, CRIS, Cnrs-Sciences Po

Julie Pereira, CRIS, Cnrs-Sciences Po

Zoom link : https://zoom.us/j/98754508380?pwd=OdGW1e2hH0NzLAiHfGFH4RwrEWdJEE.1

Organizers:
Paola TUBARO (Pôle sociologie CREST)

Sofian EL ATIFI (Pôle sociologie CREST)

Patrick PRÄG (Pôle sociologie CREST)

Sponsors:
CREST