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  4. July 2014
  5. The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools

The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools

  • Will Dobbie
  • Roland G. Fryer Jr.
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 6, no. 3, July 2014
(pp. 58-75)
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Abstract

This paper uses data from three prominent exam high schools in New York City to estimate the impact of attending a school with high-achieving peers on college enrollment and graduation. Our identification strategy exploits sharp discontinuities in the admissions process. Applicants just eligible for an exam school have peers that score 0.17 to 0.36 standard deviations higher on eighth grade state tests and that are 6.4 to 9.5 percentage points less likely to be black or Hispanic. However, exposure to these higher-achieving and more homogeneous peers has little impact on college enrollment, college graduation, or college quality.

Citation

Dobbie, Will, and Roland G. Fryer Jr. 2014. "The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6 (3): 58-75. DOI: 10.1257/app.6.3.58

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
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