Does peer ability affect student achievement?

Eric A. Hanushek; John F. Kain; Jacob M. Markman; Steven G. Rivkin

doi:10.1002/jae.741

journal article Sep 01, 2003

Does peer ability affect student achievement?

Eric A. Hanushek John F. Kain Jacob M. Markman Steven G. Rivkin

Journal of Applied Econometrics Vol. 18 No. 5 pp. 527-544 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1002/jae.741

Abstract

AbstractEmpirical analysis of peer effects on student achievement has been open to question because of the difficulties of separating peer effects from other confounding influences. While most econometric attention has been directed at issues of simultaneous determination of peer interactions, we argue that issues of omitted and mismeasured variables are likely to be more important. We control for the most important determinants of achievement that will confound peer estimates by removing student and school‐by‐grade fixed effects in addition to observable family and school characteristics. The analysis also addresses the reciprocal nature of peer interactions and the interpretation of estimates based upon models using past achievement as the measure of peer group quality. The results indicate that peer achievement has a positive effect on achievement growth. Moreover, students throughout the school test score distribution appear to benefit from higher achieving schoolmates. On the other hand, the variance in achievement appears to have no systematic effect. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Sep 01, 2003
Vol/Issue: 18(5)
Pages: 527-544
License: View

Authors

Cite This Article

Eric A. Hanushek, John F. Kain, Jacob M. Markman, et al. (2003). Does peer ability affect student achievement?. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 18(5), 527-544. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.741

Does peer ability affect student achievement?

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