Taking the Easy Way Out: How the GED Testing Program Induces Students to Drop Out

James J. Heckman, Paul Anthony LaFontaine () and Pedro L. Rodriguez

No 14044, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We exploit an exogenous increase in General Educational Development (GED) testing requirements to determine whether raising the difficulty of the test causes students to finish high school rather than drop out and GED certify. We find that a six point decrease in GED pass rates induces a 1.3 point decline in overall dropout rates. The effect size is also much larger for older students and minorities. Finally, a natural experiment based on the late introduction of the GED in California reveals, that adopting the program increased the dropout rate by 3 points more relative to other states during the mid-1970s.

JEL-codes: C61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Date: 2008-05
Note: ED
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Working Paper: Taking the Easy Way Out: How the GED Testing Program Induces Students to Drop Out (2008)
Working Paper: Taking the Easy Way Out: How the GED Testing Program Induces Students to Drop Out (2008)
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