Working Paper: NBER ID: w14911
Authors: C. Kirabo Jackson
Abstract: In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on achievement tests, leading to large differences in the school environments to which students of differing initial levels of achievement are exposed. Using both a regression discontinuity design and rule-based instrumental variables to address self-selection bias, I find that being assigned to a school with higher-achieving peers has large positive effects on examination performance. These effects are about twice as large for girls than for boys. This suggests that ability-grouping reinforces achievement differences by assigning the weakest students to schools that provide the least value-added.
Keywords: Ability Grouping; Academic Inequality; Education; Peer Effects
JEL Codes: I20
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ability grouping (C92) | Educational inequality (I24) |
| School assignment rules (C90) | School assignment cutoff (I21) |
| Higher-achieving peers (C92) | Academic outcomes (I21) |
| School assignment cutoff (I21) | Higher-achieving peers (C92) |
| Peer quality (L15) | Examination performance (D29) |