Ricardo Estrada

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Learning About Opportunity: Spillovers of Elite School Admissions in Peru’ by Ricardo Estrada, Jérémie Gignoux, Agustina Hatrick doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaf034 @ricardoestradam.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social

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Are elite schools for me? How role models can narrow the aspirations gap Can one student’s experience influence the educational decisions of those that follow? Evidence from admissions to elite schools in Peru shows how policies that make success stories visible can have m...

🆕 Are elite schools for me? How role models can narrow the aspirations gap

Today on VoxDev, @ricardoestradam.bsky.social (CAF) & Jérémie Gignoux (@pse.bsky.social) discuss the role of peers in influencing elite school admissions in Peru: voxdev.org/topic/educat...

Big school attainment and learning gains from expanding the length of the school day in Fortaleza, Brazil! www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dgsye... by @ricardoestradam.bsky.social et al.

Learning About Opportunity: Spillovers of Elite School Admissions in Peru Abstract. We study how the admission of an older schoolmate to an elite secondary school influences the application decisions and admission outcomes of you

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See full paper in:

📄 Learning About Opportunity: Spillovers of Elite School Admissions in Peru

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

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🎯 Policy takeaway:

Educational inequality is also about visibility and expectations.

Supporting access means more than opening doors—it means making sure students can see someone like them walk through.

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But barriers remain.

More low-SES students apply—but they’re still less likely to be admitted.

→ Academic gaps and indirect costs (e.g. distance, transportation) continue to constrain access.

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Effects are strongest when:

• Older student had strong academic results
• COAR school is geographically close
• School of origin is small

→ All consistent with social learning

Design and context make it unlikely learning specific details about admissions process is driving results.

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The effects on demand are large:

✅ +17% more applications the following year
🧑‍🎓 Driven by low-SES students

We find evidence that older schoolmates serve as a source of information and role models—especially for disadvantaged students.

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Can the experience of an older schoolmate change that?
We use a regression discontinuity design:

Compare schools where the top student just made it into COAR vs. just missed.

→ Isolated variation in exposure to a successful peer
→ Measure effects on the next cohort

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We study COAR, a network of highly selective public boarding schools in Peru:

🏫 Free, full-time, residential
🎯 Targeted at top students from public schools

Yet: low-SES students apply less, even when eligible.

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Elite schools aim to level the playing field for high-achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But information gaps and low perceived fit still limit applications—even when these schools are free.

How can we reduce the SES gap in demand for elite schools?

For low-SES students, learning from the experience of a schoolmate can make a big difference.

We explore this question in a joint paper with Jérémie Gignoux and Agus Hatrick, now published in Economic Journal!

🚨 No te pierdas la entrada de hoy en @nadaesgratis.bsky.social donde @ricardoestradam.bsky.social nos cuenta cómo la admisión a las escuelas de alto rendimiento en Perú influye en las trayectorias educativas de sus excompañeros!