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Dressed for success? The effect of school uniforms on student achievement and behavior

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  • Gentile, Elisabetta
  • Imberman, Scott A.

Abstract

Uniform use in public schools is rising, but we know little about how they affect students. Using a unique dataset from a large urban school district in the southwest United States, we assess how uniforms affect behavior, achievement and other outcomes. Each school in the district determines adoption independently, providing variation over schools and time. By including student and school fixed-effects we find evidence that uniform adoption improves attendance in secondary grades, while in elementary schools they generate large increases in teacher retention.

Suggested Citation

  • Gentile, Elisabetta & Imberman, Scott A., 2012. "Dressed for success? The effect of school uniforms on student achievement and behavior," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:71:y:2012:i:1:p:1-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2011.10.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabio Pisani, 2014. "Family Economic Well-Being, and (Class) Relative Wealth: An Empirical Analysis of Life Satisfaction of Secondary School Students in Three Italian Cities," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 503-525, June.
    4. Chakrabarti, Rajashri & Roy, Joydeep, 2016. "Do charter schools crowd out private school enrollment? Evidence from Michigan," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 88-103.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; School uniforms; Achievement; Behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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