Promotion with and without Learning : Effects on Student Enrollment and Dropout Behavior

King, Elizabeth M.Orazem, Peter F.Paterno, Elizabeth M.2012-06-042012-06-042008-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6974Many educators and policymakers have argued for lenient grade promotion policy - even automatic promotion - in developing country settings where grade retention rates are high. The argument assumes that grade retention discourages persistence or continuation in school and that the promotion of children with lower achievement does not hamper their ability or their peers' ability to perform at the next level. Alternatively, promoting students into grades for which they are not prepared may lead to early dropout behavior. This study shows that in a sample of schools from the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, students are promoted primarily on the basis of merit. An econometric decomposition of promotion decisions into a component that is based on merit indicators (attendance and achievement in mathematics and language) and another that is uncorrelated with those indicators allows a test of whether parental decisions to keep their child in school is influenced by merit-based or non-merit-based promotions. Results suggest that the enrollment decision is significantly influenced by whether learning has taken place, and that grade promotion that is uncorrelated with merit has a negligible impact on school continuation.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSENTEEISM RATESACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTSACADEMIC PERFORMANCEACADEMIC PROGRESSACADEMIC YEARACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICSACHIEVEMENT TESTSAGE-GRADE DISTORTIONAPTITUDEASSESSMENT SYSTEMATTENDANCE RATEAVERAGE SCOREAVERAGE TEST SCORESBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC EDUCATION SYSTEMBASIC LITERACYBOOK DEVELOPMENTBOOK PROVISIONCENTRAL AMERICANCHILD EDUCATIONCLASS SIZECLASSROOMCLASSROOMSCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONCOMPETENCIESCOMPULSORY EDUCATIONCURRICULUMDAY SCHOOLDECENTRALIZATIONDECISION MAKINGDEGREESDISTANCE TO SCHOOLDROPOUT RATESEARLY DROPOUTEARLY GRADESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMICS OF EDUCATIONEDUCATED PARENTSEDUCATION LAWEDUCATION MANAGEMENTEDUCATION POLICIESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTSEDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTEDUCATIONAL EVALUATIONEDUCATIONAL OUTCOMESEDUCATIONAL RESEARCHEDUCATORSEFFECTIVE SCHOOLSEIGHTH-GRADERSELEMENTSENTRANCE EXAMINATIONEXAMEXAMSGENDER DIFFERENCESGIRLSGRADE REPETITIONGRADE RETENTIONHIGH SCHOOLHIGH SCHOOL STUDENTSHIGHER GRADESHIGHER TEST SCORESHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN CAPITAL EARNINGSHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RESOURCESILLITERATE PARENTSIMPROVING PRIMARY EDUCATIONINSTRUCTIONKINDERGARTENLABOR FORCELANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTIONLEARNINGLITERACYLITERATURELOCAL SCHOOLSLOWER ACHIEVEMENTMALE STUDENTMATH ACHIEVEMENTNUMBER OF STUDENTSNUMERACYOFFICIAL CURRICULUMOLDER CHILDRENPAPERSPARENTAL INVOLVEMENTPEER GROUPPOOR PEOPLEPRIMARY CYCLEPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY LEVELPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESSPRIMARY SCHOOLINGPRIMARY SCHOOLSPRIVATE SCHOOLPRIVATE SCHOOLSPUBLIC SCHOOLQUALITY EDUCATIONQUALITY SCHOOLSRATES OF RETURNREMEDIAL EDUCATIONREPEATERSREPETITION RATEREPETITION RATESRESEARCHERSRETENTION RATERETENTION RATESSCHOOL ADJUSTMENTSCHOOL ATTENDANCESCHOOL AUTONOMYSCHOOL COSTSCHOOL DAYSCHOOL DAYSSCHOOL ENROLLMENTSCHOOL FACILITIESSCHOOL LEVELSCHOOL PERFORMANCESCHOOL QUALITYSCHOOL RECORDSSCHOOL SUPPORTSCHOOL SYSTEMSCHOOL SYSTEMSSCHOOL YEARSCHOOL YEARSSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSECONDARY SCHOOLSOUTH AMERICANSTANDARDIZED TESTSSTUDENT ABSENTEEISMSTUDENT ACHIEVEMENTSTUDENT ASSESSMENTSTUDENT ASSESSMENTSSTUDENT ATTAINMENTSTUDENT ATTENDANCESTUDENT DROPOUTSTUDENT ENROLLMENTSTUDENT LEARNINGSTUDENT OUTCOMESSTUDENT PERFORMANCESTUDENT SKILLSTEACHERTEACHER ABSENTEEISMTEACHER ATTITUDESTEACHER INCENTIVESTEACHER PROMOTIONTEACHERSTEST SCORESTESTS OF MATHEMATICSTEXTBOOKPromotion with and without Learning : Effects on Student Enrollment and Dropout BehaviorWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4722