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Does Failing a Placement Exam Discourage Underprepared Students from Going to College?

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  • Paco Martorell

    (School of Education, University of California Davis)

  • Isaac McFarlin, Jr.

    (Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan)

  • Yu Xue

    (The University of Texas at Dallas Education Research Center)

Abstract

About one third of college students are required to take remedial courses. Assignment to remediation is generally made on the basis of performance on a placement exam. When students are required to take a placement exam prior to enrolling in college-level courses, assignment to remediation may dissuade students from actually going to college. This is because remediation could increase the time required to complete a degree (because remedial courses do not count toward academic degrees), and also because being identified as needing remediation might have stigma effects or provide students with new information about their unsuitability for college. This paper examines this issue empirically using administrative data from Texas. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find that students whose placement exam scores would require them to be in remediation are no less likely to enroll in college than are students who score just above the remediation placement cutoff.

Suggested Citation

  • Paco Martorell & Isaac McFarlin, Jr. & Yu Xue, 2014. "Does Failing a Placement Exam Discourage Underprepared Students from Going to College?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(1), pages 46-80, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:9:y:2014:i:4:p:46-80
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Clémentine Van Effenterre, 2017. "Post 16 remedial policies: a literature review," CVER Research Papers 005, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    2. Duchini, Emma, 2017. "Is college remedial education a worthy investment? New evidence from a sharp regression discontinuity design," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 36-53.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    placement exams; college remediation;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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