Replication data for: Academic Peer Effects with Different Group Assignment Policies: Residential Tracking versus Random Assignment

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Project Citation:

Garlick, Robert. Replication data for: Academic Peer Effects with Different Group Assignment Policies: Residential Tracking versus Random Assignment. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2018. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113711V1

Project Description

Summary: I study the relative academic performance of students tracked or randomly assigned to South African university dormitories. Tracking reduces low-scoring students' GPAs and has little effect on high-scoring students, leading to lower and more dispersed GPAs. I also directly estimate peer effects using random variation in peer groups across dormitories. Living with higher-scoring peers raises students' GPAs, particularly for low-scoring students, and peer effects are stronger between socially proximate students. This shows that much of the treatment effect of tracking is attributable to peer effects. These results present a cautionary note about sorting students into academically homogeneous classrooms or neighborhoods.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: economics; education; peer effects; tracking

JEL Classification:
      I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
      I24 Education and Inequality
      I28 Education: Government Policy
      O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
      Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

Geographic Coverage: South Africa

Time Period(s): 1/1/2004 – 12/31/2008

Universe: Students at the University of Cape Town in South Africa

Data Type(s): administrative records data

Methodology

Data Source: University of Cape Town Office of Student Housing and Residence Life, University of Cape Town Institutional Planning Department

Unit(s) of Observation: students,

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-12]

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