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Relative Age, Class Assignment and Academic Performance: Evidence from Brazilian Primary Schools

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  • Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner
Abstract
Students in Brazil are typically assigned to classes based on the age ranking in their cohort. I exploit this rule to estimate the effects on maths achievement of being in class with older peers for students in fifth grade. I find that being assigned to the older class leads to a drop in Math scores of about 0.4 of a standard deviation for students at the cut-off. I provide evidence that heterogeneity in age is an important factor behind this effect. Information on teaching practices and student behaviour sheds light on how class heterogeneity harms learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner, 2016. "Relative Age, Class Assignment and Academic Performance: Evidence from Brazilian Primary Schools," Discussion Papers in Economics 16/10, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
  • Handle: RePEc:lec:leecon:16/10
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bellés-Obrero, Cristina & Cabrales, Antonio & Jiménez-Martín, Sergi & Vall-Castelló, Judit, 2023. "Women’s education, fertility and children’ health during a gender equalization process: Evidence from a child labor reform in Spain," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Primary education; group effects; group heterogeneity; regression discontinuity; Brazil.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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