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Sticky assessments – the impact of teachers’ grading standard on pupils’ school performance

In: Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 10

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  • Tamás Keller

    (TÁRKI Social Research Institute Inc.)

Abstract

This paper argues that school marks cannot be interpreted only as a reward for a given academic achievement, since they also reflect teachers’ ratings of pupils. Relative within-classroom differences in marks therefore contain valuable information about pupils’ own – usually unknown – ability, and could have an effect on subsequent academic achievement. We seek to answer the question of what happens if pupils receive better school marks for the same academic achievement. Do better marks subsequently motivate students to achieve more, or is the effect actually demotivating? Moreover, is the impact of marks a compositional effect of the class (who are the peers, how good are the teachers, how good is the school) or is it universal – true of every classroom, regardless of its characteristics? In addition, this article seeks to cast light on why school marks are important in later academic achievement. By applying first-difference and fixed effect estimators to various types of Hungarian educational panel datasets, we show that marks do have a positive effect on subsequent academic achievement. This holds true for those who have not switched classes. The estimated impact is independent of classroom composition, showing that the benefit arising from within-classroom differences in marks occurs in every classroom. The established impact is higher among lower-status pupils. The growth of self-confidence is offered as a possible underlying mechanism to explain this impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Tamás Keller, 2015. "Sticky assessments – the impact of teachers’ grading standard on pupils’ school performance," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 10, in: Marta Rahona López & Jennifer Graves (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 10, edition 1, volume 10, chapter 16, pages 311-334, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
  • Handle: RePEc:aec:ieed10:10-16
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Azmat, Ghazala & Iriberri, Nagore, 2010. "The importance of relative performance feedback information: Evidence from a natural experiment using high school students," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(7-8), pages 435-452, August.
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    8. Betts, Julian R. & Grogger, Jeff, 2003. "The impact of grading standards on student achievement, educational attainment, and entry-level earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 343-352, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Keller, Tamás, 2016. "Ha a jegyek nem elég jók... Az önértékelés szerepe a felsőoktatásba való jelentkezésben [Self-assessment and its effects on applications for tertiary education]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 62-78.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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