Dutch counterfactual cohort design combining NCO register data, Cito LVS test scores, and the PRIMS survey

Design · All designs
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 2 studies (2 causal), q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description

The study merges three individual-level datasets: the Netherlands Cohort Study on Education (NCO) register data, the longitudinal standardized student monitoring system (LVS) tests in grades 4-5 from Cito, and the PRIMS survey of 1,232 sixth graders in 66 Dutch schools fielded January/February 2020. The PRIMS data include student survey data and sociometric student and parental contact network measures. A replication package is available at https://osf.io/zf25j/.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Register and survey data must be linkable at the student level; PRIMS was entropy-balanced to the LVS/NCO register data on prior scores, income, education, gender, and migration status

Constraints

• Analyses use non-public microdata from Statistics Netherlands; only statistical code, not data, is published
• Only the Cito student monitoring system was available for research in the register environment

Target Learners

• Dutch sixth-grade students transitioning to tracked secondary education

Learning Goals

• Track placement and enrollment outcomes at the primary-to-secondary transition

Claims

• The COVID-19 pandemic had small but statistically significant negative average effects on Dutch students' track recommendation (-0.068 levels) and seventh-grade track enrollment (-0.039 levels) [+W]
• The pandemic had a slight positive average effect (+0.011 levels) on ninth-grade track level, unlike the negative effects on earlier outcomes [+W]
• The COVID-affected cohort caught up to the control cohort in reading fluency one year after the pandemic [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• van de Werfhorst, H. G., Zwier, D., Geven, S., Bol, T. & Haelermans, C. (2024). Inequality in pandemic effects on school track placement and the role of social and academic embeddedness. npj Science of Learning 9:71. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00283-1

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	dutch-counterfactual-cohort-tracking-datasets
title	Dutch counterfactual cohort design combining NCO register data, Cito LVS test scores, and the PRIMS survey
description	The study merges three individual-level datasets: the Netherlands Cohort Study on Education (NCO) register data, the longitudinal standardized student monitoring system (LVS) tests in grades 4-5 from Cito, and the PRI...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-26
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — van-de-werfhorst-2024

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