Taking the easy way out
Subtitle: how the ged testing program induces students to drop out
By: James J. Heckman, Paul A. LaFontaine, Pedro L. Rodriguez.
Contributors: LaFontaine, Paul A.; Rodriguez, Pedro L.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 14044; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 14044.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "We exploit an exogenous increase in General Educational Development (GED) testing requirements to determine whether raising the difficulty of the test causes students to finish high school rather than drop out and GED certify.  We find that a six point decrease in GED pass rates induces a 1.3 point decline in overall dropout rates.  The effect size is also much larger for older students and minorities.  Finally, a natural experiment based on the late introduction of the GED in California reveals, that adopting the program increased the dropout rate by 3 points more relative to other states during the mid-1970s"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 7/10/2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

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