Working Paper: NBER ID: w10575
Authors: Victor Lavy; Analia Schlosser
Abstract: There is renewed interest in ways to enhance secondary education, especially among disadvantaged students. This study evaluates the short-term effects of a remedial-education program that provided additional instruction to under-performing high-school students in Israel. The program targeted 10th twelfth graders who needed additional help to pass the matriculation exams. Using a comparison group of schools that enrolled in the program later and implementing a differences-in-differences estimation strategy, we found that the program raised the school mean matriculation rate by 3.3 percentage points. This gain reflects mainly an effect on targeted participants and the absence of externalities on their untreated peers. The program was found to be less cost-effective than two alternative interventions based on incentives for teachers and students.
Keywords: Remedial Education; Matriculation Rates; Underperforming Students
JEL Codes: I20; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Remedial education program (I24) | School mean matriculation rate (I23) |
| Remedial education program (I24) | Probability of earning a matriculation certificate (C29) |