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Does Attending a Low-Achieving School Affect High-Performing Student Outcomes?

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Abstract

This paper follows a cohort of initially high-performing Missouri students from grade-3 through grade-9 and examines whether attending a low-achieving school impacts their subsequent standardized exam scores, as well as the grade in which they first take Algebra I. Two key findings emerge. First, attending a low-achieving school does not affect the standardized exam performance of initially high-performing students once school quality (as measured by value-added) is accounted for. Second, high-performing students who attend low-achieving schools are more likely to take Algebra I later relative to their counterparts who attend higher-achieving schools.

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  • Eric Parsons, 2014. "Does Attending a Low-Achieving School Affect High-Performing Student Outcomes?," Working Papers 1407, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised 18 Feb 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:umc:wpaper:1407
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    high-performing students; school quality; student achievement; tracking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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