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Promotion with and without Learning: Effects on Student Enrollment and Dropout Behavior

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  • King, Elizabeth M.
  • Orazem, Peter F.
  • Paterno, Elizabeth M.

Abstract

Automatic promotion policy presumes that grade retention discourages continuation in school and that the lenient promotion of students with poor performance does not hamper their ability to do well in the next grade. However, promoting students into grades for which they are not prepared may backfire, leading to early dropouts. An econometric decomposition of promotion decisions into a component that is based on merit (attendance and achievement in tests) and another component that is uncorrelated with those indicators allows a test of whether parental decisions to keep their child in school is influenced by merit-based or nonmerit-based promotions. Results suggest that the enrollment decision is significantly influenced by whether learning has taken place. The effect of grade promotions uncorrelated with merit on persistence in school is only 20 to 33 percent as large as the effect attributed to merit-based promotion.

Suggested Citation

  • King, Elizabeth M. & Orazem, Peter F. & Paterno, Elizabeth M., 2015. "Promotion with and without Learning: Effects on Student Enrollment and Dropout Behavior," ISU General Staff Papers 201501010800001174, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201501010800001174
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    Cited by:

    1. Orazem, Peter F. & King, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 55, pages 3475-3559, Elsevier.
    2. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah, Nazmul Chaudhury, 2013. "Primary Schooling, Student Learning, and School Quality in Rural Bangladesh-Working Paper 349," Working Papers 349, Center for Global Development.
    3. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2009. "Why Should We Care About Child Labor?: The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    4. Nadeem Ilahi & Peter F. Orazem & Guilherme Sedlacek, 2009. "How Does Working as a Child Affect Wages, Income, and Poverty as an Adult?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter F. Orazem & Guilherme Sedlacek & Zafiris Tzannatos (ed.), Child Labor and Education in Latin America, chapter 5, pages 87-101, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Orazem, Peter F. & Gunnarsson, Louise Victoria, 2004. "Child Labour, School Attendance And Performance: A Review," Working Papers 18213, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. André, Pierre, 2009. "Is grade repetition one of the causes of early school dropout? :Evidence from Senegalese primary schools," MPRA Paper 25665, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Nazmul Chaudhury & Jeffrey Hammer & Michael Kremer & Karthik Muralidharan & F. Halsey Rogers, 2006. "Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
    8. Evans, David K. & Mendez Acosta, Amina, 2023. "How to measure student absenteeism in low- and middle-income countries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

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    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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