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Academic achievement across the day: Evidence from randomized class schedules

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  • Williams, Kevin M.
  • Shapiro, Teny Maghakian

Abstract

This study expands our understanding of how school day schedules affect achievement. We focus on three aspects related to scheduling: student fatigue, time of instruction, and instructor schedules. Data cover five academic years at the United States Air Force Academy, where schedules are randomized, grading is standardized, and there is substantial variance in schedule structure. Analyzing over 180,000 student-course outcomes, we find causal evidence of cognitive fatigue brought on by scheduling multiple courses in a row. The expected performance of two students in the same class may differ by as much as 0.15 standard deviations simply owing to their prior schedules. All else equal, students perform better in the afternoon than in the early morning. We also note that instruction improves with repetition. Heterogeneous effects by ability suggest that overall gains are possible. Prioritizing certain schedules would be equivalent to improving teacher quality by one-third of a standard deviation. A reorganization of students’ daily school schedules is a promising and potentially low-cost educational intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Williams, Kevin M. & Shapiro, Teny Maghakian, 2018. "Academic achievement across the day: Evidence from randomized class schedules," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 158-170.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:67:y:2018:i:c:p:158-170
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.10.007
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    Cited by:

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    2. Anthony LokTing Yim, 2023. "How Early Morning Classes Change Academic Trajectories: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1334, Purdue University, Department of Economics.
    3. Harold E. Cuffe & Jan Feld & Trevor O'Grady, 2021. "Returns to Teaching Repetition: The Effect of Short-term Teaching Experience on Student Outcomes," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 516-532, Summer.
    4. Haggag, Kareem & Patterson, Richard W. & Pope, Nolan G. & Feudo, Aaron, 2021. "Attribution bias in major decisions: Evidence from the United States Military Academy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Lenard, Matthew & Morrill, Melinda Sandler & Westall, John, 2020. "High school start times and student achievement: Looking beyond test scores," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & Nandi, Arindam, 2024. "Food Coma Is Real: The Effect of Digestive Fatigue on Adolescents' Cognitive Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 16909, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Hayes, Michael S. & Liu, Jing & Gershenson, Seth, 2023. "Who refers whom? The effects of teacher characteristics on disciplinary office referrals," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; Educational economics; School schedules; Fatigue; Learning; Start time; Higher education; Adolescents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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