Can higher-achieving peers explain the benefits to attending selective schools? Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago

C. Kirabo Jackson

Journal of Public Economics, 2013, vol. 108, issue C, 63-77

Abstract: Using exogenous secondary school assignments to remove self-selection bias to schools and peers within schools, I credibly estimate both (1) the effect of attending schools with higher-achieving peers, and (2) the direct effect of short-run peer quality improvements within schools, on the same population. While students at schools with higher-achieving peers have better academic achievement, within-school short-run increases in peer achievement improve outcomes only at high-achievement schools. Short-run (direct) peer quality accounts for only one tenth of school value-added on average, but at least one-third among the most selective schools. There are large and important differences by gender.

Keywords: School quality; Peer effects; School selectivity; Decomposition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Working Paper: Can Higher-Achieving Peers Explain the Benefits to Attending Selective Schools?: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:108:y:2013:i:c:p:63-77

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.09.007

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