Where are Initially Low-performing Students the Most Likely to Succeed? A Multi-state Analysis of Academic Mobility (Preliminary Draft)

We use administrative microdata from six states to study academic mobility in K-12 education, by which we mean the extent to which students’ ranks in the distribution of academic performance change during their schooling careers. We find that there is substantial heterogeneity across districts in the academic mobility of students. The heterogeneity across districts is largest in terms of absolute mobility—i.e., in some districts, students throughout the distribution, including initially low performers, gain on other students in the statewide distribution, and vice-versa—whereas there is less cross-district variation in relative mobility. The most prominent correlates of high-mobility districts include value-added to achievement and the socioeconomic status of the student population.