Two of the most important reforms to American public schooling this century have been an increase in the minimum school-leaving age and a dramatic increase in expenditures per pupil. The first reform is generally acknowledged to have increased students' earnings later in life, while the second...

Despite recent theoretical work and proposals from educational reformers, there is little empirical work on the effects of higher grading standards. In this paper we use data from the High School and Beyond survey to estimate the effects of grading standards on student achievement, educational...