Can the keyboard beat the good old ten? The effect of computer-based testing on students- performance

Abstract

Computer-based testing is being increasingly adopted by several education institutions worldwide. Whether this transition from paper-based testing yields different impacts on students’ performance is still an open question. This paper aims to assess the impact of computer-based testing exploiting a large-scale pilot-program deployed in 2022 low-stake exams in Portugal. We rely on rich cross-sectional student-level data to implement pooled OLS and difference in differences approaches. Results indicate statistically significant differences in students’ score between computer-based and paper-based testing with differences ranging from -5pp to -24pp. Finally, we discuss important heterogeneity effects and implications of implementing this policy at scale.