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Do Second Chances Pay Off? Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Low-Achieving Students

Author

Listed:
  • Aspasia Bizopoulou

    (VATT Institute for Economic Research, Arkadiankatu)

  • Rigissa Megalokonomou

    (Monash University, Business School, Department of Economics)

  • Stefania Simion

    (School of Economics, University of Bristol)

Abstract

In several countries, students who fail end-of-high-school high-stakes exams are faced with the choice of retaking or forgoing postsecondary education. We explore exogenous variation generated by a policy that imposed a performance threshold for admission into post secondary education in Greece to estimate the effect of retaking exams on academic performance and various measures of the quality of received offers. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and novel administrative data, we find that low-achieving students who retake national exams improve their performance by around 0.6 of a standard deviation, and obtain higher quality postsecondary offers.

Suggested Citation

  • Aspasia Bizopoulou & Rigissa Megalokonomou & Stefania Simion, 2023. "Do Second Chances Pay Off? Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Low-Achieving Students," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-05, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2023-05
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    postsecondary education; admission; low-achieving students; exogenous policy; fuzzy regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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