Evaluating Kindergarten Retention Policy
- 1 September 2006
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of the American Statistical Association
- Vol. 101 (475) , 901-910
- https://doi.org/10.1198/016214506000000447
Abstract
This article considers the policy of retaining low-achieving children in kindergarten rather than promoting them to first grade. Under the stable unit treatment value assumption (SUTVA) as articulated by Rubin, each child at risk of retention has two potential outcomes: Y(1) if retained and Y(0) if promoted. But SUTVA is questionable, because a child's potential outcomes will plausibly depend on which school that child attends and also on treatment assignments of other children. We develop a causal model that allows school assignment and peer treatments to affect potential outcomes. We impose an identifying assumption that peer effects can be summarized through a scalar function of the vector of treatment assignments in a school. Using a large, nationally representative sample, we then estimate (1) the effect of being retained in kindergarten rather than being promoted to the first grade in schools having a low retention rate, (2) the retention effect in schools having a high retention rate, and (3) the e...Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Nature–nurture in the classroom: Entrance age, school readiness, and learning in children.Developmental Psychology, 1997