Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/260172 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2015:35
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
This paper evaluates how sharing a kindergarten classroom with low-achieving repeaters affects the long-term educational performance of regular first-time kindergarten students. Exploiting random assignment of teachers and students to classes in Project STAR, I document three sets of causal impacts: students who are exposed to repeaters (1) score lower on standardized tests at the end of kindergarten, an effect that fades out in later grades; (2) show persistent improvements in non-cognitive skills such as effort and discipline; and (3) are more likely to graduate from high school and to take a college entrance exam around the age of eighteen. I show that the positive spillovers from repeaters on long-term educational attainment are likely driven by the differential accumulation of non-cognitive skills by repeater-exposed students during childhood. The improvements in these skills are in turn a result of behavioral adjustments by teachers, students, or parents to the presence of low-achieving repeaters in the classroom.
Subjects: 
peer effects
non-cognitive skills
early childhood
Project STAR.
JEL: 
I21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.