Social promotion in primary school: effects on grade progression

Margaret Leighton, Priscila Souza and Stéphane Straub
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Priscila Souza: PUC-Rio - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro [Brasil] = Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro [Brazil] = Université catholique pontificale de Rio de Janeiro [Brésil]
Stéphane Straub: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: This paper evaluates the effect of relaxing promotion criteria in early primary school on grade delay in later years. Exploiting variation in primary school repetition policies across Brazilian municipalities, we find that social promotion in junior primary years reduces grade delay, and that some of this reduction persists through the transition to senior primary school. Cohorts of twelve-year-old students who have been exposed to the social promotion policy since they were seven have almost 5 percentage points fewer members who are delayed a year or more in their studies than do similar cohorts who faced the threat of retention every year. We also find that, when the option is available, students sort across schools in response to the policy in a way consistent with negative selection into social promotion.

Keywords: Grade repetition; Primary education; Remedial education; Social promotion; Grading thresholds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-06
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04948374v1
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Published in Brazilian Review of Econometrics, 2019, 39 (1), pp.1-33. ⟨10.12660/bre.v39n12019.78513⟩

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Journal Article: Social Promotion in Primary School: Effects on Grade Progression (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04948374

DOI: 10.12660/bre.v39n12019.78513

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