Inside the Black of Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom

Victor Lavy, M. Daniele Paserman and Analia Schlosser

No 14415, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the extent of ability peer effects in the classroom and explore the underlying mechanisms through which these peer effects operate. We identify as low ability students those who are enrolled at least one year behind their birth cohort ("repeaters"). We show that there are marked differences between the academic performance and behavior of repeaters and regular students. The status of repeaters is mostly determined by first grade; therefore, it is unlikely to have been affected by their classroom peers, and our estimates will not suffer from the reflection problem. Using within school variation in the proportion of these low ability students across cohorts of middle and high school students in Israel, we find that the proportion of low achieving peers has a negative effect on the performance of regular students, especially those located at the lower end of the ability distribution. An exploration of the underlying mechanisms of these peer effects shows that, relative to regular students, repeaters report that teachers are better in the individual treatment of students and in the instilment of capacity for individual study. However, a higher proportion of these low achieving students results in a deterioration of teachers' pedagogical practices, has detrimental effects on the quality of inter-student relationships and the relationships between teachers and students, and increases the level of violence and classroom disruptions.

JEL-codes: I2 I21 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-ure
Note: CH ED LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

Published as Inside the Black Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom* Victor Lavy1, M. Daniele Paserman2, Analia Schlosser3 Article first published online: 23 AUG 2011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2011.02463.x © 2011 The Author(s). The Economic Journal © 2011 Royal Economic Society Issue The Economic Journal The Economic Journal Volume 122, Issue 559, pages 208–237, March 2012

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w14415.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Inside the Black Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom (2012)
Working Paper: Inside the Black Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14415

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w14415

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().