To leave or not to leave?: a regression discontinuity analysis of the impact of failing high school exit exam

Dongshu Ou ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The high school exit exam (HSEE) is rapidly becoming a standardized assessment procedure for educational accountability in the United States. I use a unique state-specific dataset to identify the effect of failing the HSEE on the likelihood that a student drops out early based on a Regression Discontinuity design. It shows that students who barely fail the exam are more likely to exit than those who barely pass despite being offered retest opportunities. The discontinuity amounts to a large proportion of the dropout probability of barely-failers, particularly for minority and low-income students, suggesting that the potential benefit of raising educational standards might come at the cost of increasing inequalities in the educational system.

JEL-codes: N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2009-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28278/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: To leave or not to leave? A regression discontinuity analysis of the impact of failing the high school exit exam (2010)
Working Paper: To Leave or Not to Leave? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Impact of Failing High School Exit Exam (2009)
Working Paper: To Leave or Not to Leave? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Impact of Failing the High School Exit Exam (2009)
Working Paper: To leave or not to leave? A regression discontinuity analysis of the impact of failing the High School exit exam (2009)
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