The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 107 No. 2 2025
Focused Interventions and Test Score Fade-Out
Abstract
An administrative rule in North Carolina allowed students who failed an exam to retake it approximately two weeks later, triggering a brief yet intense test preparation period. We develop a structural model that accounts for selection and find that these students score much higher on the retest. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find substantial fade-out of the test score gains after one year but some persistence thereafter. Unlike other interventions that produce similar initial increases in performance, we do not observe benefits to long-term outcomes. Our findings highlight that persistence should be accounted for when comparing educational interventions.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest_a_01299
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 570-579
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref