Do Peers Affect Student Achievement In China's Secondary Schools?

Steven Lehrer
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Weili Ding

No 1047, Working Paper from Economics Department, Queen's University

Abstract: Peer effects have figured prominently in debates on school vouchers, desegregation, ability tracking and anti-poverty programs. Compelling evidence of their existence remains scarce for plaguing endogeneity issues such as selection bias and the reflection problem. This paper is among the first to firmly establish the link between peer performance and student achievement, using a unique dataset from China. We find strong evidence that peer effects exist and operate in a positive and nonlinear manner; reducing the variation of peer performance increases achievement; and our semi-parametric estimates clarify the tradeoffs facing policymakers in exploiting positive peers effects to increase future achievement.

Keywords: Peer Effects; Ability Grouping; Selection on observables; China; Academic performance; Teacher quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 P36 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2005-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-sea, nep-soc, nep-tra and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (46)

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https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1047.pdf First version 2005 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools? (2007)
Working Paper: Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools? (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:qed:wpaper:1047

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