KIs grade repetition one of the causes of early school dropout? Evidence from Senegalese primary schools.

This paper investigates the connection between grade repetition and school outcomes. It uses the fact that pupils need to meet class-specific standards to pass to the next grade. It measures the differences in the link between learning achievement and grade repetition between classes with different requirements to pass to the next grade. This double difference identifies the effect of grade repetition. The results show a negative effect of the grade repetition decision on the probability to be enrolled at school the next year, and on the probability to start secondary school. Despite this mechanism, pupils from schools with tough grade repetition policies are on average more likely to be enrolled during the follow-up survey and to start secondary school. These schools do not seem to be located in particularly favorable places for this. This emphasizes that grade repetition policies might have other consequences than affecting repeating pupils.