Multigrade and Child Achievement

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Gian Paolo Barbetta, Catholic University of Milano

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
data2gr_finalJHR.dta application/x-stata 67.8 MB 08/29/2019 12:04:AM
data5gr_finalJHR.dta application/x-stata 109.9 MB 08/29/2019 12:07:AM

Project Citation: 

Barbetta, Gian Paolo. Multigrade and Child Achievement. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-08-29. https://doi.org/10.3886/E111600V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
Barbetta, G.P:, Sorrenti, G., Turati, G. (2019), Multigrading and Child Achievement, Journal of Human Resources

We study how multigrading, which is mixing students of different grades into a single class, affects children’s cognitive achievement in primary school. We build instruments to identify the causal effect of multigrading by exploiting an Italian law that controls class size and grade composition. Results suggest that attendance in multigrade versus single-grade classes increases students’ performance on standardized tests by 19 percent of a standard deviation for second graders, and it has zero effect for fifth graders. The positive impact of multigrading for second graders appears to be driven by children sharing their class with peers from higher grades. This last finding rationalizes the absence of a multigrade effect for fifth graders.



Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Multigrading; Child achievement; Italy
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Italy
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 2012 – 2013 (school year 2012/2013)
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 2016 – 2018
Universe:  View help for Universe
Second and fifth-grade students attending schools in areas with only one primary school.

Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source
Data comes from three main administrative sources:
1) the national standardized test run by INVALSI (National Institute for the Evaluation of the Instruction and Training System);
2) School Register data provided by the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR);
3) Municipality Register data produced by ISTAT.



Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Individuals

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-08-29]

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