Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico

This paper studies the impact of PROBEMS, a scholarship program in Mexico aimed at improving graduation rates and test scores among upper secondary school students from poor backgrounds. The identification strategy is the random allocation into the...

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Main Authors:	de Hoyos, Rafael, Attanasio, Orazio, Meghir, Costas
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:	STUDENT PERFORMANCE DROP OUT RATE RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS SCHOLARSHIPS SECONDARY EDUCATION GRADUATION RATE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/976601555936652424/Can-Scholarships-Increase-High-School-Graduation-Rates-Evidence-from-A-Randomized-Control-Trial-in-Mexico http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31581

id	okr-10986-31581
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-315812022-05-21T06:14:57Z Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico de Hoyos, Rafael Attanasio, Orazio Meghir, Costas STUDENT PERFORMANCE DROP OUT RATE RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS SCHOLARSHIPS SECONDARY EDUCATION GRADUATION RATE This paper studies the impact of PROBEMS, a scholarship program in Mexico aimed at improving graduation rates and test scores among upper secondary school students from poor backgrounds. The identification strategy is the random allocation into the program, which took place in 2009. The strategy allows measurement of the effects of PROBEMS on test scores and graduation rates three years later in 2012. The paper finds that, on average, the program has no discernible impact on graduation rates or math or Spanish test scores. The size of the sample allows investigation of the reasons for this disappointing result. The paper finds that the program is substantially mis-targeted, with the majority of the recipients not coming from the most disadvantaged families. However, the most plausible explanation for the absence of positive impacts is that many eligible students do not seem to have the minimum learning level to face successfully the academic requirements of upper secondary school. An important policy implication is that a well-targeted scholarship program should be complemented with a remedial education intervention. 2019-04-25T13:55:33Z 2019-04-25T13:55:33Z 2019-04 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/976601555936652424/Can-Scholarships-Increase-High-School-Graduation-Rates-Evidence-from-A-Randomized-Control-Trial-in-Mexico http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31581 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8826 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Latin America & Caribbean Mexico
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	STUDENT PERFORMANCE DROP OUT RATE RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS SCHOLARSHIPS SECONDARY EDUCATION GRADUATION RATE
spellingShingle	STUDENT PERFORMANCE DROP OUT RATE RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIALS SCHOLARSHIPS SECONDARY EDUCATION GRADUATION RATE de Hoyos, Rafael Attanasio, Orazio Meghir, Costas Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean Mexico
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8826
description	This paper studies the impact of PROBEMS, a scholarship program in Mexico aimed at improving graduation rates and test scores among upper secondary school students from poor backgrounds. The identification strategy is the random allocation into the program, which took place in 2009. The strategy allows measurement of the effects of PROBEMS on test scores and graduation rates three years later in 2012. The paper finds that, on average, the program has no discernible impact on graduation rates or math or Spanish test scores. The size of the sample allows investigation of the reasons for this disappointing result. The paper finds that the program is substantially mis-targeted, with the majority of the recipients not coming from the most disadvantaged families. However, the most plausible explanation for the absence of positive impacts is that many eligible students do not seem to have the minimum learning level to face successfully the academic requirements of upper secondary school. An important policy implication is that a well-targeted scholarship program should be complemented with a remedial education intervention.
format	Working Paper
author	de Hoyos, Rafael Attanasio, Orazio Meghir, Costas
author_facet	de Hoyos, Rafael Attanasio, Orazio Meghir, Costas
author_sort	de Hoyos, Rafael
title	Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
title_short	Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
title_full	Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
title_fullStr	Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
title_full_unstemmed	Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
title_sort	can scholarships increase high school graduation rates? evidence from a randomized control trial in mexico
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2019
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/976601555936652424/Can-Scholarships-Increase-High-School-Graduation-Rates-Evidence-from-A-Randomized-Control-Trial-in-Mexico http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31581
_version_	1764474654885412864

Can Scholarships Increase High School Graduation Rates? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico

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