Abstract
This study examines teacher discretion effects in Dutch secondary education for the period 2007–2012. Stark discontinuities are observed in the exam grade distribution for high-stakes retaking students and are located at important graduation thresholds. This phenomenon is systematically related to the level of discretion when grading the exam, with results suggesting that approximately 11% of all graduating retakers did so because of teacher discretion. This yields unequal graduation opportunities that are the result of school- and subject choice patterns, since teacher discretion is structurally and selectively exerted at the school-level with the objective to let students on the margin graduate.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101908 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Economics of Education Review |
| Volume | 73 |
| Early online date | 12 Jul 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2019 |
Funding
This authors gratefully acknowledge funding by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OC&W). We would like to thank Hedvig Horvath, Hessel Oosterbeek for helpful comments. Also, we would like to thank Lianne de Vries for excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are our own.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Hedvig Horvath | |
| Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap |
Keywords
- Equity
- Grading
- Teacher discretion
