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dc.titleHelping Struggling Students and Benefiting All: Peer Effects in Primary Education
dc.contributor.authorBerlinski, Samuel
dc.contributor.authorBusso, Matías
dc.contributor.authorGiannola, Michele
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageColombia
dc.date.available2022-05-25T09:48:36
dc.date.issue2022-05-26T00:05:00
dc.description.abstractWe exploit the randomized evaluation of a remedying education intervention that improved the reading skills of low-performing third grade students in Colombia, to study whether providing educational support to low-achieving students affects the academic performance of their higher-achieving classmates. We find that the test scores of non-treated children in treatment schools increased by 0.108 of a standard deviation compared to similar children in control schools. We interpret the reduced-form effect on higher-achieving students as a spillover effect within treated schools. We then estimate a linear-in-means model of peer effects, finding that a one-standard-deviation increase in peers' contemporaneous achievement increases individual test scores by 0.679 of a standard deviation. We rule out alternative explanations coming from a reduction in class size. We explore several mechanisms, including teachers' effort, students' misbehavior, and peer-to-peer interactions. Our findings show that policies aimed at improving the bottom of the achievement distribution have the potential to generate social-multiplier effects that benefit all.
dc.format.extent1
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004268
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Helping-Struggling-Students-and-Benefiting-All-Peer-Effects-in-Primary-Education.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectAcademic Performance
dc.subjectCreativity
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subjectPrimary Education
dc.subject.jelcodeD62 - Externalities
dc.subject.jelcodeI21 - Analysis of Education
dc.subject.jelcodeI25 - Education and Economic Development
dc.subject.jelcodeJ01 - Labor Economics: General
dc.subject.keywordsPeer effects;Remedying education
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01338
idb.operationRG-K1416
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