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Fuzzy regression discontinuity estimates show positive yet imprecise effects on test scores and improved longer-term outcomes, including higher high school graduation and college enrollment. 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COHODES􀀃  \nI evaluate long-run academic impacts of specialized programming for high-achieving students by analyzing Advanced Work Class (AWC), an accelerated curriculum delivered in dedicated classrooms for fourth through sixth graders in Boston Public Schools. Fuzzy regression discontinuity estimates show that AWC has positive yet imprecise impacts on test scores and improves longer-term outcomes, increasing high school graduation and college enrollment. These gains are driven by Black and Latino students. An analysis of mechanisms highlights the importance of staying “on track” throughout high school, with little evidence that AWC gains result from peer effects.  \nJEL: I21, I28, H75  \nTargeted programs for high-achieving students are a common but controversial educational intervention in the United States. Advocates claim they help teachers target instruction and ensure higher-ability children opportunities to reach their maximum potential (Petrilli, 2011; Hess, 2014) . Opponents see gifted education contributing to segregation and exacerbating inequality (Roda, 2015) . Current evidence on the effectiveness of gifted and talented programs is, however, mixed in its conclusions and restricted to short-term outcomes.  \nA long-established specialized program for high-achieving students in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) provides the first opportunity to study the long-term effects of gifted and talented education for elementary and middle school students in the United States. Advanced Work Class (AWC) is BPS's accelerated program for fourth through sixth graders who score well on a third grade standardized test. Students in the AWC program receive a dedicated classroom with high-achieving peers, advanced literacy curricula, and accelerated math in later grades. While the students who participate in AWC tend to be more advantaged than BPS students as a whole, about half of AWC students are Black or Latino, and two-thirds of them receive subsidized school lunch. Since admission to the program is based on the third grade test score, I estimate the  \n􀀃 Teachers College Columbia University, 525 West 125th Street, New York, NY 10027 and NBER (email: [cohodes@tc.columbia.edu](cohodes@tc.columbia.edu)). For making the data available for this project, I thank Kamal Chavda and Nicole Wagner of the Boston Public Schools and Carrie Conaway of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and their staffs. Special thanks go to Josh Angrist, Chris Avery, Josh Goodman, and Larry Katz for their guidance and feedback. I am grateful to Natalie Bau, Alex Eble, Peter Hull, Lszl Sndor, Judy Scott-Clayton and seminar participants at NBER, CESifo, Harvard, Teachers College, and NYU for helpful comments and discussions. This paper was previously circulated as,“The Long-Run Impacts of Tracking High-Achieving Students: Evidence from Boston's Advanced Work Class.” Financial support from the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and the Multidisciplinary Program on Inequality and Social Policy, all at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Lab for Economic Applications and Policy at Harvard University, and institutional support from the School Effectiveness and Inequality Institute at MIT and NBER and Teachers College Columbia University are gratefully acknowledged.  \n2 AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL MONTH YEAR  \neffect of the program using a fuzzy regression discontinuity comparing those who scored just above and just below the admissions threshold. The timing of available data makes it possible to estimate both short-run impacts on test scores and longer-run impacts on Advanced Placement (AP) course-taking and test scores, SAT-taking and scores, highschool graduation, and college enrollment.  \nAWC enrollment has positive but imprecise impacts on test scores in the short-run. AWC does, however, alter st","cbCaiqvKeYMqz1ac","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqvKeYMqz1ac","pdf",3440393,48,"English","# Introduction\n## Targeted programs and mixed evidence\n# Program context and identification\n## Boston Public Schools Advanced Work Class (AWC)\n## Fuzzy regression discontinuity design\n# Results: short-run and long-run impacts\n## Test scores\n## AP/SAT-taking and academic trajectories\n## Graduation and college enrollment\n# Mechanisms\n## On-track persistence vs. peer effects\n# Contribution to the literature","[{\"question\":\"What is the Advanced Work Class (AWC) program studied in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"AWC is Boston Public Schools’ accelerated program for fourth through sixth graders who score well on a third-grade standardized test, offering dedicated classrooms, advanced literacy curricula, and accelerated math.\"},{\"question\":\"How are the long-run impacts of AWC estimated?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis uses a fuzzy regression discontinuity comparing students who score just above versus just below the admissions threshold.\"},{\"question\":\"What mechanisms explain AWC’s positive long-term effects?\",\"answer\":\"The evidence highlights the importance of staying “on track” throughout high school, with little support that gains come from peer effects.\"}]","The Long-Run Impacts of Specialized Programming for High-Achieving Students | PDF",121]