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Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good

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  • Calsamiglia, Caterina
  • Loviglio, Annalisa

Abstract

Student access to education levels, tracks or majors is usually determined by their previous performance, measured either by internal exams, designed and graded by teachers in school, or external exams, designed and graded by central authorities. We say teachers grade on a curve whenever having better peers harms the evaluation obtained by a given student. We use rich administrative records from public schools in Catalonia to provide evidence that teachers indeed grade on a curve, leading to negative peer effects. This puts forth a source of distortion that may arise in any system that uses internal grades to compare students across schools and classes. We find suggestive evidence that school choice is impacted only the year when internal grades matter for future prospects.

Suggested Citation

  • Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2019. "Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:73:y:2019:i:c:s0272775718306174
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101916
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    Cited by:

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    2. Arenas, Andreu & Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2021. "What is at stake without high-stakes exams? Students’ evaluation and admission to college at the time of COVID-19," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Caterina Calsamiglia & Annalisa Loviglio, 2020. "Maturity and school outcomes in an inflexible system: evidence from Catalonia," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-49, March.
    4. Lucas Gortazar, 2019. "¿Favorece el sistema educativo español la igualdad de oportunidades?," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2019-17, FEDEA.
    5. Waddell, Glen R. & Putz, Jenni, 2022. "What Can We Learn from Student Performance Measures? Identifying Treatment in the Presence of Curves and Letter Grades," IZA Discussion Papers 15321, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Ursula Mello, 2021. "Affirmative Action and the Choice of Schools," Working Papers 1285, Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Motte Henrique & Oliveira Rodrigo, 2020. "The effect of class assignment on academic performance and the labour market: Evidence from a public federal university in Brazil," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-8, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Mello, Ursula, 2023. "Affirmative action and the choice of schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    9. Rey Hernández-Julián & Christina Peters, 2022. "Why Try? The Superstar Effect in Academic Performance," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 147-165, January.
    10. Battaglia, Marianna & Lebedinski, Lara, 2022. "With a little help from my friends: Medium-Term effects of a remedial education program targeting Roma minority," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Henrique Z. Motte & Rodrigo Oliveira, 2020. "The effect of class assignment on academic performance and the labour market: Evidence from a public federal university in Brazil," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-8, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa, 2021. "The best in the class," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2022. "Assessing knowledge or classroom behavior? Evidence of teachers’ grading bias," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grading on a curve; Negative peer effects; School choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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