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What is essential is visible to the eye: Saliency in primary school ranking and its effect on academic achievements

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  • Francois-Xavier Ladant
  • Julien Hedou
  • Paolo Sestito
  • Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi

Abstract

We propose a new strategy to identify the impact of class rank, exploiting a "visible" primary school rank from teachers' exam grades, and an "invisible" rank from unreported standardized test scores. Leveraging a unique panel dataset on Italian students, we show that the visible rank has a substantial impact on students' perceptions, which affects subsequent academic performance. However, the effect of being surrounded by higher-SES or higher-achieving peers remains positive even accounting for the decrease in rank. Higher-ranked students self-select into high schools with higher average student achievements. Finally, exploiting an extensive survey, we identify psychological mechanisms channeling the rank effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Francois-Xavier Ladant & Julien Hedou & Paolo Sestito & Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi, 2023. "What is essential is visible to the eye: Saliency in primary school ranking and its effect on academic achievements," Papers 2302.10026, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2302.10026
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