Is grade repetition one of the causes of early school dropout? Evidence from Senegalese primary schools

This chapter investigates the connection between grade repetition and school dropout. Household data is matched against a panel of academic test scores and the school career of each child inferred from the combined dataset. This chapter uses two original identification strategies to identify the effect of grade repetition on school dropout. The first instrumental strategy uses the differences among teacher attitude to repetition as an instrument for grade repetition. The second strategy uses the discontinuity in the probability of grade repetition between pupils whose test score is just lower and just higher than the target achievement. Both results show a negative effect of the grade repetition decision on the probability of being enrolled at school the next year.