Using high-stakes grades to incentivize learning

Andreas Fidjeland

Economics of Education Review, 2023, vol. 94, issue C

Abstract: I use a natural experiment in Norwegian high school to investigate how high-stakes grades affect students’ investment in schooling. By exploiting variation across space and time I compare the performance of students taking the same exit exam in compulsory school, but where the test is high-stakes for only a subset of students. Using a staggered triple-difference framework, I find that exam grades increase in the high-stakes setting if students have a sufficient number of prospective high schools within traveling distance. Results from low-stakes ability assessments suggest actual learning — and not test-taking strategy — could largely explain the effect.

Keywords: Incentives; High-stakes testing; School choice; Learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D02 D04 I20 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:94:y:2023:i:c:s0272775723000249

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102377

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