[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-274477-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-274477-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-impact-of-attending-a-school-with-high-achieving-peers-evidence-from-the-new-york-city-exam-schools","The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers - Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools","","American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (2014) examines how attending New York City exam high schools with high-achieving peers affects students’ later outcomes. Using admissions-test score cutoffs, the study estimates causal impacts on college enrollment, graduation, and college quality. Applicants just eligible for exam schools encounter peers scoring 0.17–0.36 standard deviations higher on eighth-grade state tests, with less racial/ethnic composition. Despite measurable peer differences, exposure yields little or no positive effect on longer-term academic results.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-impact-of-attending-a-school-with-high-achieving-peers-evidence-from-the-new-york-city-exam-schools/274477/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-impact-of-attending-a-school-with-high-achieving-peers-evidence-from-the-new-york-city-exam-schools/274477.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Violet","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-10","2026-09-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How does the paper identify the causal effect of high-achieving peers?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It exploits sharp discontinuities in New York City exam school admissions based on applicants’ test scores, comparing near-cutoff students who attend different schools with different peer groups.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What peer differences do eligible applicants experience?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Applicants just eligible for exam schools attend peer groups scoring 0.17–0.36 standard deviations higher on eighth-grade state tests and with lower likelihood of being black or Hispanic.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What are the main findings on college enrollment and graduation?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The results show little causal impact from exam school eligibility; college enrollment and graduation effects are small, and the impact on four-year college graduation is negative for Brooklyn Tech and not significant for Bronx Science and Stuyvesant.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},274477,1789477876,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":112,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},4398048950312,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/400002538284de19e3c?_k=1778320343897328908","American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2014, 6(3): 58–75  \n[http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.6.3.58](http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.6.3.58)  \nThe Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools†  \nBy Will Dobbie and Roland G. Fryer, Jr. *  \nThis paper uses data from three prominent exam high schools in New York City to estimate the impact of attending a school with highachieving peers on college enrollment and graduation. Our identification strategy exploits sharp discontinuities in the admissions process. Applicants just eligible for an exam school have peers that score 0.17 to 0.36 standard deviations higher on eighth grade state tests and that are 6.4 to 9.5 percentage points less likely to be black or Hispanic. However, exposure to these higher-achieving and more homogeneous peers has little impact on college enrollment, college graduation, or college quality. (JEL H75, I21, J15)  \nPublic exam  \nopportunity  \nschools are prominent around the world—offering students the to attend schools with exceptionally high-achieving peers. This  \nprovides a rich laboratory to investigate peer effects among the elite. Stuyvesant, the most selective exam school in New York City, has the highest average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of any high school in New York state. Bronx Science, another New York City exam school, is attended by students with average SAT scores at around the 99.9th percentile of the New York state distribution, and has produced more Intel Science Talent Search finalists than any other high school in the nation. Even the least selective of New York City’s traditional exam schools, Brooklyn Tech, has average SAT scores at around the 99th percentile of the New York state distribution (Abdulkadiroglu, Angrist, and Pathak 2011) .  \nTo the extent that students benefit from social interactions with high-achieving peers, exam schools are likely to increase achievement for the typical applicant. Indeed, many argue that the success of exam school alumni is prima facie evidence of the importance of attending a school with high-achieving peers. Conversely, exam school alumni maybe successful simply because they were highly gifted and motivated teenagers who would have prospered in any school, independent of their set of peers. In fact, social interactions in exam schools could be negative, especially for students who are lower in  \n* Dobbie: Princeton University and EdLabs, 44 Brattle Street, Fifth Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138 (e-mail: [wdobbie@princeton.edu](wdobbie@princeton.edu)); Fryer: Harvard University, EdLabs, and National Bureau of Economic Research, 44 Brattle Street, Fifth Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138 (e-mail: [rfryer@fas.harvard.edu](rfryer@fas.harvard.edu)). We are grateful to Joel Klein, Ryan Fagan, Aparna Prasad, and Gavin Samms for their assistance in collecting the data necessary for this project. We also thank JoshAngrist, Lawrence Katz, Parag Pathak, and seminar participants in the Harvard Labor Lunch for helpful comments and suggestions. Pamela Ban provided outstanding research assistance. Financial support from the Education Innovation Lab at Harvard University [Fryer], and the Multidisciplinary Program on Inequality and Social Policy [Dobbie] is gratefully acknowledged. The usual caveat applies.  \n† Go to [http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.6.3.58](http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.6.3.58) to visit the article page for additional materials and author disclosure statement(s) or to comment in the online discussion forum.  \nVOL. 6 NO. 3 dOBBiE ANd frYEr, Jr.: pEEr EffECTs 59  \nthe ability distribution with a comparative advantage in nonacademic activities (Cicala, Fryer, and Spenkuch 2011) . Lower relative ability may also make students less competitive in college admissions, even if their absolute level of achievement is unchanged (Attewell 2001). In these cases, exam school students might be better served by a less competitive environment or greater heterogen","cbCaihuYKAzxaO5U","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihuYKAzxaO5U","pdf",263114,18,"English","# Background on exam schools and peer effects\n## Research motivation: achievement vs. selection\n## Identification strategy using admissions-score cutoffs\n## Empirical results on longer-term outcomes","[{\"question\":\"How does the paper identify the causal effect of high-achieving peers?\",\"answer\":\"It exploits sharp discontinuities in New York City exam school admissions based on applicants’ test scores, comparing near-cutoff students who attend different schools with different peer groups.\"},{\"question\":\"What peer differences do eligible applicants experience?\",\"answer\":\"Applicants just eligible for exam schools attend peer groups scoring 0.17–0.36 standard deviations higher on eighth-grade state tests and with lower likelihood of being black or Hispanic.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the main findings on college enrollment and graduation?\",\"answer\":\"The results show little causal impact from exam school eligibility; college enrollment and graduation effects are small, and the impact on four-year college graduation is negative for Brooklyn Tech and not significant for Bronx Science and Stuyvesant.\"}]","The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers - Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools | PDF",45]