“Compulsory Class Attendance versus Autonomy”, 2023-08 ():
We estimate the effect of an increased autonomy policy for higher-performing students on short & longer-term school outcomes. We exploit an institutional setting with high demand for autonomy.
Identification comes from a nationwide natural experiment that allowed higher-achieving students to miss 44% more classes with parental approval. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach, we find that:
allowing higher-achieving students to skip more classes increases their performance in subjects that matter for university admission and improves the quality of their enrolled college degree.
Top-performing students and students in more academically diverse classrooms demand more autonomy when it is offered.
[Keywords: learning autonomy, school attendance, returns to education, natural experiment]