How Does Grade Configuration Impact Student Achievement? Evaluating the Effectiveness of K-8 Schools

Recently, there has been a move towards K-8 schools as opposed to stand-alone middle schools. We examine the effect of enrollment in a stand-alone middle school relative to a K-8 school using a longitudinal data from an anonymous district, by the school closure and reassignment that provide us an opportunity to address the endogeneity that arises not only from moving between schools, but also from the original choice of type of school. We then compare these results to the results we obtain from the same IV approach used by the previous research, which only controls for the endogeneity of middle school choice in grade 5. The results from the geographic boundary approach are less supportive of a K-8 policy than the results we obtain from the IV approach.