Impacts of grade configuration on Brazilian student outcomes

Abstract In this paper we evaluate the impact of grade span configuration on student outcomes. We build a model which shows that the more homogeneous the cohort of students the higher the share of them which achieves the minimum level of academic performance required in an exam. We then test this theoretical finding by comparing performances of 5th-grade students of elementary schools (1st to 5th grade) and those of elementary-middle schools (1st to 9th grade) in Brazil. PSM and PSM with Diff-in-Diff methodologies are used to control possible biases. We find that elementary schools present bet...