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Gender Differences in High-Stakes Performance and College Admission Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Arenas, Andreu

    (University of Barcelona)

  • Calsamiglia, Caterina

    (IPEG)

Abstract

We investigate the effect of increasing the weight of standardized high-stakes exams at the expense of high school grades for college admissions. Studying a policy change in Spain, we find a negative effect of the reform on female college admission scores, driven by students expected to be at the top. The effect on admission scores does not affect enrolment, but the percentage of female students in the most selective degrees declines, along with their career prospects. Using data on college performance of pre-reform cohorts, we find that female students most likely to lose from the reform tend to do better in college than male students expected to benefit from the reform. The results show that rewarding high-stakes performance in selection processes may come along with gender differences unrelated to the determinants of subsequent performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Arenas, Andreu & Calsamiglia, Caterina, 2022. "Gender Differences in High-Stakes Performance and College Admission Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15550, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15550
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    Cited by:

    1. Rustamdjan Hakimov & Renke Schmacker & Camille Terrier, 2023. "Confidence and College Applications: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention," Working Papers 962, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    2. Estelle Cantillon & Li Chen & Juan Sebastian Pereyra Barreiro, 2022. "Respecting priorities versus respecting preferences in school choice: When is there a trade-off ?," Working Papers ECARES 2022-39, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Schmacker, Renke & Terrier, Camille, 2022. "Confidence and college applications: Evidence from a randomized intervention," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2022-209, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    college admissions; high-stakes exams; gender gaps;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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