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The Cost of Grade Retention

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  • Manacorda, Marco

Abstract

This paper uses administrative longitudinal micro data on Junior High school students in Uruguay to measure the effect of grade failure on students? subsequent school outcomes. Exploiting the discontinuity induced by a rule establishing automatic grade failure for pupils with more than three failed subjects, I show that grade failure leads to substantial drop-out and lower educational attainment even four to five years after grade failure first occurred.

Suggested Citation

  • Manacorda, Marco, 2010. "The Cost of Grade Retention," CEPR Discussion Papers 7889, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7889
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grade retention; School drop-out; Regression discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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