Can You Leave High School Behind?

Sandra Black, Jane Arnold Lincove, Jenna Cullinane and Rachel Veron

No 19842, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In recent years, many states, including California, Texas, and Oregon, have changed admissions policies to increase access to public universities for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A key concern, however, is how these students will perform. This paper examines the relationship between high school quality and student success at college. Using newly available administrative data from the University of Texas at Austin, we take advantage of the unique policy environment provided by Texas's Top Ten Percent automatic admissions law, which has not only increased the diversity of high schools in the state that send students to the university, but also provides an admission criteria based on a sole observable characteristic: high school class rank. We find that high school characteristics do affect student performance, and these effects seem more pronounced for women and low-income students. In addition, there is little evidence that the effects of high school characteristics decay over time.

JEL-codes: I2 I20 I21 I23 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01
Note: ED LS
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Published as Black, Sandra E. & Lincove, Jane & Cullinane, Jennifer & Veron, Rachel, 2015. "Can you leave high school behind?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 52-63.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Can you leave high school behind? (2015)
Working Paper: Can you Leave High School Behind? (2014)
Working Paper: Can You Leave High School Behind? (2014)
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