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Stuck in the middle: Impacts of grade configuration in public schools

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  • Rockoff, Jonah E.
  • Lockwood, Benjamin B.

Abstract

We examine the implications of separating students of different grade levels across schools for the purposes of educational production. Specifically, we find that moving students from elementary to middle school in 6th or 7th grade causes significant drops in academic achievement. These effects are large (about 0.15 standard deviations), present for both math and English, and persist through grade 8, the last year for which we have achievement data. The effects are similar for boys and girls, but stronger for students with low levels of initial achievement. We instrument for middle school attendance using the grade range of the school students attended in grade 3, and employ specifications that control for student fixed effects. This leaves only one potential source of bias-correlation between grade range of a student's grade 3 school and unobservable characteristics that cause decreases in achievement precisely when students are due to switch schools-which we view as highly unlikely. We find little evidence that placing public school students into middle schools during adolescence is cost-effective.

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  • Rockoff, Jonah E. & Lockwood, Benjamin B., 2010. "Stuck in the middle: Impacts of grade configuration in public schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 1051-1061, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:94:y:2010:i:11-12:p:1051-1061
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    7. Dunn, Richard A. & Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr. & Thomsen, Michael & Heather L. Rouse, 2014. "A Longitudinal Analysis of Fast-Food Exposure On Child Weight Outcomes: Identifying Causality Through School Transitions," Working Papers 34, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    8. Brummet, Quentin, 2014. "The effect of school closings on student achievement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 108-124.
    9. Elizabeth Dhuey, 2013. "Middle school or junior high? How grade‐level configurations affect academic achievement," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(2), pages 469-496, May.
    10. Schwerdt, Guido & West, Martin R., 2013. "The impact of alternative grade configurations on student outcomes through middle and high school," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 308-326.
    11. Zeng, Di & Thomsen, Michael R. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Rouse, Heather L., 2016. "Middle school transition and body weight outcomes: Evidence from Arkansas Public Schoolchildren," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 64-74.
    12. Hill, Darryl V. & Hughes, Rodney P. & Lenard, Matthew A. & Liebowitz, David D. & Page, Lindsay C., 2023. "New schools and new classmates: The disruption and peer group effects of school reassignment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Engberg, John & Gill, Brian & Zamarro, Gema & Zimmer, Ron, 2012. "Closing schools in a shrinking district: Do student outcomes depend on which schools are closed?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 189-203.
    14. Wink Junior, Marcos Vinicio Vinicio & Paese, Luis & Griebeler, Marcelo, 2021. "Impacts of Grade Configuration on Brazilian Student Outcomes," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 75(1), July.
    15. David R. Johnson, 2012. "Are Middle Schools Good for Student Academic Achievement? Evidence from Ontario," e-briefs 141, C.D. Howe Institute.
    16. Hong, Kai & Zimmer, Ron & Engberg, John, 2018. "How does grade configuration impact student achievement in elementary and middle school grades?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 1-19.
    17. Amy Ellen Schwartz & Leanna Stiefel & Sarah A. Cordes, 2017. "Moving Matters: The Causal Effect of Moving Schools on Student Performance," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(4), pages 419-446, Fall.
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    19. De Simone, Gianfranco, 2013. "Render unto primary the things which are primary's: Inherited and fresh learning divides in Italian lower secondary education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 12-23.

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