Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools?

Weili Ding and Steven Lehrer ()

No 12305, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Peer effects have figured prominently in debates on school vouchers, desegregation, ability tracking and anti-poverty programs. Compelling evidence of their existence remains scarce for plaguing endogeneity issues such as selection bias and the reflection problem. This paper firmly establishes a link between peer performance and student achievement, using a unique dataset from China. We find strong evidence that peer effects exist and operate in a positive and nonlinear manner; reducing the variation of peer performance increases achievement; and our semi-parametric estimates clarify the tradeoffs facing policymakers in exploiting positive peers effects to increase future achievement.

JEL-codes: I2 Z13 P36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-sea, nep-soc, nep-tra and nep-ure
Date: 2006-06
Note: ED
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Related works:
Working Paper: Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools? (2005)
Journal Article: Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools? (2007)
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