Dressed for Success? The Effect of School Uniforms on Student Achievement and Behavior

Elisabetta Gentile, Scott A. Imberman

NBER Working Paper No. 17337
Issued in August 2011
NBER Program(s):   CH   ED   LS

Uniform use in public schools is rising, but we know little about how they affect students. Using a unique dataset from a large urban school district in the southwest United States, we assess how uniforms affect behavior, achievement and other outcomes. Each school in the district determines adoption independently, providing variation over schools and time. By including student and school fixed-effects we find evidence that uniform adoption improves attendance in secondary grades, while in elementary schools they generate large increases in teacher retention.

Published: Gentile, Elisabetta & Imberman, Scott A., 2012. "Dressed for success? The effect of school uniforms on student achievement and behavior," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 1-17.

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Acknowledgments

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