Chen Qihui, Pei Chunchen, Guo Yuhe, Zhai Shengying
Beijing Food Safety Policy & Strategy Research Base & College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Research Center for Future Education, School of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Jun 1;9(6):e16840. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16840. eCollection 2023 Jun.
This quasi-experimental study estimates academic peer effects in China's middle school (7th-9th grade) classrooms, using data from a large-scale nationally representative survey of middle schoolers in China. Our study design circumvents endogenous sorting by focusing on 52 schools that randomly assigned incoming 7th graders to different 7th-grade classes. Further, reverse causality is addressed by regressing students' 8th-grade test scores on their (randomly assigned) classmates' average 7th-grade test scores. Our analysis reals that all else equal, a one-standard-deviation increase in (8th-grade) classmates' average 7th-grade test scores raises an individual student's 8th-grade mathematics and English test scores, respectively, by 0.13-0.18 and 0.11-0.17 standard deviations. These estimates remain stable when peer characteristics examined in related peer-effect studies are included in the model. Further analysis reveals that peer effects work through raising individual students' time spent studying per week and their confidence in learning. Finally, classroom peer effects are found to be heterogeneous across subgroups: larger for boys, academically stronger students, students attending better schools (i.e., schools with smaller classes and urban schools), and students with relatively disadvantaged family backgrounds (e.g., lower levels of parental education and family wealth).
这项准实验研究利用来自中国大规模全国代表性中学生调查的数据，估计了中国初中（七年级至九年级）课堂上的学业同伴效应。我们的研究设计通过聚焦于52所学校来规避内生性分选，这些学校将入学的七年级学生随机分配到不同的七年级班级。此外，通过将学生八年级的考试成绩对其（随机分配的）同班同学七年级的平均考试成绩进行回归，解决了反向因果关系问题。我们的分析表明，在其他条件相同的情况下，（八年级）同班同学七年级平均考试成绩每增加一个标准差，会使单个学生八年级的数学和英语考试成绩分别提高0.13 - 0.18和0.11 - 0.17个标准差。当在相关同伴效应研究中考察的同伴特征纳入模型时，这些估计值保持稳定。进一步分析表明，同伴效应通过增加单个学生每周的学习时间和他们的学习信心来发挥作用。最后，发现课堂同伴效应在不同亚组中存在异质性：对男生、学业较强的学生、就读于更好学校（即班级规模较小的学校和城市学校）的学生以及家庭背景相对弱势的学生（例如父母教育水平和家庭财富较低的学生）影响更大。
