A new study examines the effects of disruptive elementary school peers on other students’ high school test scores, college attendance, degree attainment, and early adult earnings.
Analysts link administrative and public records data for children enrolled in grades 3–5 in one large Florida county (Alachua) between the years of 1995–1996 and 2002–2003. The demographic and test score data are linked to domestic violence, which is the part of the study that strikes me as odd.
They define “disruptive peer” not by how many times a child is disciplined in school or the severity of the offense, but rather by a proxy—whether a member of the child’s family petitioned the court for a temporary restraining order against another member of the family. Apparently, the literature shows that children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to display a number of behavioral problems, among them aggression, bullying, and animal cruelty. Another study showed these students negatively affected their peers’ behavior. Nevertheless, calling these students “disruptive peers” is a misleading characterization given the lack of documented school infractions. They are kids exposed to domestic violence, and the findings should be understood within this light.
That said, here are the results: Estimates show that exposure to one additional disruptive student in an elementary school class of twenty-five reduces math and reading test scores in grades nine and ten by .02 standard deviations. Moreover, exposure to male disruptive peers—or those subject to as-yet unreported domestic violence—results in larger negative effects on high school test scores and significant declines in college degree attainment. (They observed some students before a restraining order was filed; yet after one is filed, abuse tends to stop or decrease, so it makes sense that exposure to a peer with as-yet unreported violence would be “worse.”) Exposure to an additional disruptive peer throughout elementary school also leads to a 3–4 percent reduction in earnings from the ages of twenty-four and twenty-eight and reduces the likelihood of receiving any type of college degree by anywhere between 0.7 and 2.6 percentage points. Disruptive peers have the largest effects on the test scores of high-achievers. White students are estimated to experience a reduction of earnings of roughly 5 percent if exposed to one disruptive student, which is twice the estimated effect for black students.
