TY - UNPB
T1 - The effect of grade retention on secondary school performance: Evidence from a natural experiment
AU - Ferreira Sequeda, Maria
AU - Golsteyn, Bart
AU - Parra Cely, Sergio
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - We study the effects of grade retention on secondary school performance by considering a change in Colombia’s educative legislation. In 2010, the rule that forced schools to retain up to a 5% of students was abolished. Exploiting variation in schools’ retention rates in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that retained (marginally non-retained) students improve (decline) their performance on language but not on math test scores. We suggest the school’s position in the retention distribution, and the proportion of inexperienced teachers in the classroom, can be the mechanisms by which the marginally decreasing returns of grade retention are determined.
AB - We study the effects of grade retention on secondary school performance by considering a change in Colombia’s educative legislation. In 2010, the rule that forced schools to retain up to a 5% of students was abolished. Exploiting variation in schools’ retention rates in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that retained (marginally non-retained) students improve (decline) their performance on language but not on math test scores. We suggest the school’s position in the retention distribution, and the proportion of inexperienced teachers in the classroom, can be the mechanisms by which the marginally decreasing returns of grade retention are determined.
KW - retention
KW - Colombia
KW - difference-in-differences
U2 - 10.26481/umaror.2018003
DO - 10.26481/umaror.2018003
M3 - Working paper
T3 - ROA Research Memoranda
BT - The effect of grade retention on secondary school performance: Evidence from a natural experiment
PB - ROA
CY - Maastricht
ER -