Peer Effects in Education in South Africa

A great paper presented at the NEUDC conference by compatriot Rob Garlick on peer effects in education.

Children’s success in school depends, partly, on the actions of their peers. An important policy question is therefore the assignment of children in schools. Should we, for example, track students by separating the “weak” and “strong” students into different classes? Garlick finds that, at least when it comes to dormitories at the University of Cape Town, tracking leads to a reduction in average grades.

Garlick stumbled into a natural experiment at his old University when residential admissions changed from tracking to random assignment. So, he could take the change in average marks in the dormitories, before and after the policy, and compare this to the whole university. He also looked at how particular students (based on their high school grades) are affected by the policy. Turns out that the weaker students benefit massively from being in a dormitory with stronger students; however, the stronger students don’t seem to be badly affected by the reverse. Combing weak and strong students in a dormitory therefore leads to improved grades.  

What explains this peer effect? It seems like it has more to do with the friends you make, rather than the people you work or live with. The peer effects don’t operate across races. Since South African students still tend to socialise across racial lines, this suggests it only helps to live in a dorm with a strong student that you actually socialise with. Another paper at the same conference on peer effects found similar evidence. In a leading business school in India, students are randomly allocated to a dorm and a classroom. The paper finds no peer effects in the classroom, but strong peer effects in the dormitory.

So, what conclusions can be reached from this paper? This is strong evidence that tracking within a school is seriously detrimental to the weaker students. The more interesting question in South Africa, however, is the distribution of education outcomes between schools. Certainly, township schools suffer when their smartest students get scholarships and leave for good schools. But what about the flip side: will students in under-performing schools benefit if they are placed in well-performing schools? This paper suggests that positive peer effects might not operate if students don’t socialise across racial groups.