This study estimates the causal impact of 8th grade English learner (EL) reclassification on high school English language arts (ELA) standardized test scores, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) reading, and on-track to graduate status. I apply a regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California. The…

Only half of SAT-takers retake the exam, with even lower retake rates among low income and underrepresented minority (URM) students. We exploit discontinuous jumps in retake probabilities at multiples of 100, driven by left-digit bias, to estimate retaking's causal effects. Retaking substantially improves SAT scores and increases four-year college…

The decade of the 1970's saw an alarming decline in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of entering college freshmen, and it was theorized that this might be attributed to a corresponding decline in study attitudes. To test this hypothesis, math and verbal SAT scores, study habits, and attitudes of college freshmen in the classes of 1973 and…