Multigrading and Child Achievement

Gian Paolo Barbetta, Giuseppe Sorrenti and Gilberto Turati ()

Journal of Human Resources, 2021, vol. 56, issue 3, 940-968

Abstract: We study how multigrading, which is mixing students of different grades into a single class, affects children’s cognitive achievement in primary school. We build instruments to identify the causal effect of multigrading by exploiting an Italian law that controls class size and grade composition. Results suggest that attendance in multigrade versus single-grade classes increases students’ performance on standardized tests by 19 percent of a standard deviation for second-graders, and it has zero effect for fifth-graders. The positive impact of multigrading for second-graders appears to be driven by children sharing their class with peers from higher grades. This last finding rationalizes the absence of a multigrade effect for fifth-graders.

JEL-codes: I26 I28 R53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
Note: DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.3.0118-9310R4
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Multigrading and child achievement (2019)
Working Paper: Multigrading and Child Achievement (2018)
Working Paper: Multigrading and Child Achievement (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:56:y:2021:i:3:p:940-968

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