New Schools and New Classmates: The Disruption and Peer Group Effects of School Reassignment

Working Paper: NBER ID: w30085

Authors: Darryl V. Hill; Rodney P. Hughes; Matthew A. Lenard; David D. Liebowitz; Lindsay C. Page

Abstract: Policy makers periodically consider using student assignment policies to improve educational outcomes by altering the socio-economic and academic skill composition of schools. We exploit the quasi-random reassignment of students across schools in the Wake County Public School System to estimate the academic and behavioral effects of being reassigned to a different school and, separately, of shifts in peer characteristics. We rule out all but substantively small effects of transitioning to a different school as a result of reassignment on test scores, course grades and chronic absenteeism. In contrast, increasing the achievement levels of students' peers improves students' math and ELA test scores but harms their ELA course grades. Test score benefits accrue primarily to students from higher-income families, though students with lower family income or lower prior performance still benefit. Our results suggest that student assignment policies that relocate students to avoid the over-concentration of lower-achieving students or those from lower-income families can accomplish equity goals (despite important caveats), although these reassignments may reduce achievement for students from higher- income backgrounds.

Keywords: school reassignment; peer effects; educational outcomes; socioeconomic integration

JEL Codes: H75; I21; I24; I28; J24

Causal Claims

Cause	Effect
school reassignment (I23)	test scores (C52)
school reassignment (I23)	course grades (A23)
school reassignment (I23)	chronic absenteeism (J22)
peer achievement (C92)	math test scores (C12)
peer achievement (C92)	ELA test scores (Y10)
peer achievement (C92)	ELA course grades (A21)
peer achievement (C92)	higher-income students' outcomes (I24)
peer achievement (C92)	lower-income students' outcomes (I24)