TY  - JOUR
AU  - Currie,Janet
AU  - Thomas,Duncan
TI  - Early Test Scores, Socioeconomic Status and Future Outcomes
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6943
PY  - 1999
Y2  - February 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6943
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6943.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Janet Currie
Princeton University
316 Wallace Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: 609-258-7393
Fax: 609-258-5974
E-Mail: jcurrie@princeton.edu

Duncan Thomas
Department of Economics
Duke University
Box 90097
Durham, NC 27708
Tel: 919/660-1803
Fax: 919/684-8974
E-Mail: d.thomas@duke.edu
AB  - This paper examines the long-term effects of early test scores using data from the British National Child Development Survey. We show that test scores measured as early as age 7 have significant effects on future educational and labor market outcomes.  For example, men and women in the lowest quartile of the reading test score distribution have wages 20% lower at age 33 than those who scored in the highest quartile.  We test several hypotheses about the interactions between socioeconomic status and high or low test scores at age 7.  In terms of test scores, educational attainments, and employment at age 33, low-SES children reap both larger gains from having high age 7 test scores and smaller losses from having low age 7 test scores. The opposite is true among high-SES children who suffer larger losses from low scores and smaller gains from high scores.  However we find little evidence of comparable interactive effects for wages.
ER  -