DOES AN EXTRA YEAR OF SCHOOLING IMPROVE SKILLS IN READING, MATH AND SCIENCE? : A REGRESSION DISCONTINUITY APPROACH USING VARIATION IN BIRTHDATES AROUND THE SCHOOL ENTRY CUT-OFF DATE

Abstract

I estimate the effect of an additional year of schooling on Reading, Math and Science skill using a regression discontinuity design. My identification comes from exogenous variation in student birthdates around the school entry cut-off date. I find gains of 0.08 standard deviations for Reading, 0.11 standard deviations for Math and 0.18 standard deviations for Science. Only gains for Science are statistically significant. Stratifying students by parents' educational qualifications, I find that gains are not evenly distributed; students with more educated parents gain more from schooling.