RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The High Stakes of Bad Exams
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0621-11739R1
DO 10.3368/jhr.0621-11739R1
A1 Rossiter, Jack
A1 Abreh, Might Kojo
A1 Ali, Aisha
A1 Sandefur, Justin
YR 2023
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/10/11/jhr.0621-11739R1.abstract
AB Each year two million secondary-school students across West Africa sit coordinated exams. Pass rates fluctuate enormously, fueling speculation about cheating and short-term policy changes. To investigate these hypotheses, we construct hybrid exams containing items spanning 2011-2019 and administer these to 4,380 students. Exam difficulty alone explains 80 percent of pass rate fluctuations in Ghana, while additional factors remain influential in Nigeria and elsewhere. Half of the candidates who failed mathematics in 2015 would have passed in 2019. Model based estimates imply that improving exam comparability would increase the Mincerian return to skills among secondary school graduates by 6 percentage points.