Working Paper: NBER ID: w12471
Authors: Philip J. Cook; Robert Maccoun; Clara Muschkin; Jacob Vigdor
Abstract: Using administrative data on public school students in North Carolina, we find that sixth grade students attending middle schools are much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remains after adjusting for the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the students and their schools. Furthermore, the higher infraction rates recorded by sixth graders who are placed in middle school persist at least through ninth grade. A plausible explanation is that sixth graders are at an especially impressionable age; in middle school, the exposure to older peers and the relative freedom from supervision have deleterious consequences.
Keywords: grade configuration; student behavior; middle school; elementary school; disciplinary infractions
JEL Codes: H52
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| grade configuration (A23) | disciplinary infractions (K40) |
| middle schools (A21) | disciplinary infractions (K40) |
| sixth graders in middle schools (A21) | disciplinary infractions (K40) |
| older peers (C92) | sixth graders' behavior (C92) |
| social dynamics (Z13) | sixth graders' behavior (C92) |
| transition effects (J62) | behavioral deterioration (D91) |
| behavioral problems (D91) | disciplinary infractions (K40) |
| sixth graders' behavior (C92) | infraction rates in later grades (K40) |