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The Long-term Consequences of More Informative Grading

Collins, Matthew LU and Lundstedt, Jonas LU (2021) In Lund Papers in Economic Demography
Abstract
We study the effect of more informative feedback on student performance. Using data on the population of Swedish school children, we exploit a reform to the grading system in compulsory school which in 2011 introduced a more granular grading scale and thus provided students with more informative feedback on their academic performance. Exploiting a difference-in-discontinuity research design, we find that students exposed to more informative grading were less likely to graduate from high school and from an academic high school track. The likelihood of a student graduating from a STEM high school track or enrolling in a STEM track in university also decreased as a result of more informative grading. We estimate that this caused average... (More)
We study the effect of more informative feedback on student performance. Using data on the population of Swedish school children, we exploit a reform to the grading system in compulsory school which in 2011 introduced a more granular grading scale and thus provided students with more informative feedback on their academic performance. Exploiting a difference-in-discontinuity research design, we find that students exposed to more informative grading were less likely to graduate from high school and from an academic high school track. The likelihood of a student graduating from a STEM high school track or enrolling in a STEM track in university also decreased as a result of more informative grading. We estimate that this caused average yearly income to decrease between the ages of 28 and 30. These results appear to be driven by a negative shock to students’ self-belief and increased stress levels. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
in
Lund Papers in Economic Demography
issue
2021:1
pages
58 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4ae13ae2-d566-4c1a-b2d8-19b9e403bea4
alternative location
https://www.lusem.lu.se/sites/lusem.lu.se/files/2024-07/LPED_2021_1.pdf
date added to LUP
2026-04-30 10:59:06
date last changed
2026-04-30 10:59:06
@misc{4ae13ae2-d566-4c1a-b2d8-19b9e403bea4,
  abstract     = {{We study the effect of more informative feedback on student performance. Using data on the population of Swedish school children, we exploit a reform to the grading system in compulsory school which in 2011 introduced a more granular grading scale and thus provided students with more informative feedback on their academic performance. Exploiting a difference-in-discontinuity research design, we find that students exposed to more informative grading were less likely to graduate from high school and from an academic high school track. The likelihood of a student graduating from a STEM high school track or enrolling in a STEM track in university also decreased as a result of more informative grading. We estimate that this caused average yearly income to decrease between the ages of 28 and 30. These results appear to be driven by a negative shock to students’ self-belief and increased stress levels.}},
  author       = {{Collins, Matthew and Lundstedt, Jonas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2021:1}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in Economic Demography}},
  title        = {{The Long-term Consequences of More Informative Grading}},
  url          = {{https://www.lusem.lu.se/sites/lusem.lu.se/files/2024-07/LPED_2021_1.pdf}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}