Too young to quit school? Increasing the compulsory schooling leaving age and students’ educational paths

Afonso Câmara Leme ()

No 2436, AMSE Working Papers from Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France

Abstract: I study how a significant increase in the compulsory schooling leaving age, from 15 to 18 years old, can contribute to reducing early school leaving and changing students’ educational paths. I analyse the Portuguese reform of 2009, exploiting the fact that grade retention in the 7th grade in this year provides quasi-experimental variation in exposure to the new policy. While effects for the overall student population are small or null, lower-achieving students significantly increase their schooling duration. Additionally, some sub-groups of lower-achieving students, particularly boys and those enrolling in upper-secondary school, increased their graduation probabilities. At the same time, I do not find that school quality decreased. These findings carry implications for research using compulsory schooling reforms as instruments for education, and inform policies aimed at supporting at-risk students.

Keywords: Compulsory schooling age; school dropout; early school leaving; differencein- differences; grade retention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I22 I26 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2024-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2436

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