http://papers.nber.org/papers/W17264
The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York
Exam Schools
by Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua D. Angrist, Parag A. Pathak - #17264 (ED LS)

Abstract:
Talented students compete fiercely for seats at Boston and New York
exam schools. These schools are characterized by high levels of peer
achievement and a demanding curriculum tailored to each district's
highest achievers. While exam school students clearly do very well
in school, the question of whether an exam school education adds
value relative to a regular public education remains open. We
estimate the causal effect of exam school attendance using a
regression-discontinuity design, reporting both parametric and
non-parametric estimates. We also develop a procedure that addresses
the potential for confounding in regression-discontinuity designs
with multiple, closely-spaced admissions cutoffs. The outcomes
studied here include scores on state standardized achievement tests,
PSAT and SAT participation and scores, and AP scores. Our estimates
show little effect of exam school offers on most students'
achievement in most grades. We use two-stage least squares to
convert reduced form estimates of the effects of exam school offers
into estimates of peer and tracking effects, arguing that these
appear to be unimportant in this context. On the other hand, a
Boston exam school education seems to have a modest effect on high
school English scores for minority applicants. A small group of 9th
grade applicants also appears to do better on SAT Reasoning. These
localized gains notwithstanding, the intense competition for exam
school seats does not appear to be justified by improved learning for
a broad set of students.

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The paper is at http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/6856 . This will be a paper that advocates of gifted education may not welcome but will need to respond to, as was the paper discussed in the thread "Are gifted education programs a waste of money?" http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....2430/Are_gifted_education_programs_.html

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell