TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jackson,C. Kirabo
TI  - Ability-grouping and Academic Inequality: Evidence From Rule-based Student Assignments
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14911
PY  - 2009
Y2  - April 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14911
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14911.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
C. Kirabo Jackson
Northwestern University
School of Education and Social Policy
2040 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 847/467-1803
E-Mail: kirabo-jackson@northwestern.edu
AB  - In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on achievement tests, leading to large differences in the school environments to which students of differing initial levels of achievement are exposed. Using both a regression discontinuity design and rule-based instrumental variables to address self-selection bias, I find that being assigned to a school with higher-achieving peers has large positive effects on examination performance. These effects are about twice as large for girls than for boys. This suggests that ability-grouping reinforces achievement differences by assigning the weakest students to schools that provide the least value-added.
ER  -