Data for: Giving kids a head start: The impact and mechanisms of early commitment of financial aid on poor students in rural China

Abstract of associated article: We estimate the impact of two early commitment of financial aid (ECFA) programs—one at the start and one near the end of junior high school (seventh and ninth grades, respectively)—on the outcomes of poor, rural junior high students in China. Our results demonstrate that neither of the ECFA programs has a substantive effect. We find that the ninth-grade program had at most only a small (and likely negligible) effect on matriculation to high school. The seventh-grade program had no effect on either dropout rates during junior high school or on educational performance as measured by a standardized math test. The seventh-grade program did increase the plans of students to attend high school by 15%. In examining why ECFA was not able to motivate significant behavioral changes for ninth graders, we argue that the competitiveness of the education system successfully screened out poorer performing students and promoted better performing students. Thus by the ninth grade, the remaining students were already committed to going to high school regardless of ECFA support. In regards to the results of the seventh grade program, we show how seventh graders appear to be engaged in wishful thinking (they appear to change plans without reference to whether their plans are realistic).

关联文章摘要：我们评估了两项早期助学金承诺（Early Commitment of Financial Aid，ECFA）计划——分别在初中七年级开学初、九年级学期末实施——对中国农村贫困初中生学业结果的影响。研究结果表明，两项ECFA计划均未产生实质性影响。我们发现，九年级ECFA计划对高中入学率至多仅存在微小（且大概率可忽略）的影响；七年级ECFA计划既未降低初中阶段的辍学率，也未对标准化数学测试所衡量的学业成绩产生任何作用。不过，七年级ECFA计划使学生的高中就读意愿提升了15%。在探究九年级ECFA计划未能推动学生产生显著行为改变的原因时，我们认为，当地教育体系的竞争性筛选机制已将学业表现较差的学生淘汰，同时选拔出表现更优异的学生。因此到九年级时，剩余学生无论是否获得ECFA资助，均已明确高中就读的目标。针对七年级ECFA计划的研究结果，我们分析发现，七年级学生似乎存在一厢情愿的想法：他们仅调整了自身的就读计划，却未考量该计划是否符合自身实际情况。