The long-term effects of grade retention: Empirical analysis on French data

Leonard Moulin and Florent Sari

No 301, Working Papers from French Institute for Demographic Studies

Abstract: In order to estimate the causal impact of grade retention in French lower secondary school on various long-term outcomes, we conducted a longitudinal study on the trajectories of French students who entered grade 6 in the 1995-1996 academic year over a period of 17 years. The results indicate that grade retention has a significant negative impact on both obtaining a secondary school diploma and a higher education qualification. This affected students across all socioeconomic groups, both boys and girls. However, the negative effect on wages is observed only for boys and for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. A series of robustness checks confirm the reliability of the results.

Keywords: grade retention; educational outcomes; labor market outcomes; propensity score matching; medium-term effects; secondary education; France; REUSSITE SCOLAIRE / EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT; SCOLARITE / SCHOOLING; FRANCE / FRANCE; ENSEIGNEMENT SECONDAIRE / SECONDARY EDUCATION; MARCHE DU TRAVAIL / LABOUR MARKET; ANALYSE LONGITUDINALE / LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idg:wpaper:kj4n0jqb_l7qij6swt7i

DOI: 10.48756/ined-dt-301.0225

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