Does intensive coaching reduce school dropout? Evidence from a randomized experiment

This paper investigates the effect of coaching in vocational education on school dropout using data from a randomized experiment. We find that one year of coaching reduces school dropout by more than 40 percent from 17 to 10 percentage points. The reduction in school dropout results from two equally important channels: a reduction of dropout from the study and a reduction of dropout from the education system once students dropped out of their studies. This suggests that coaching interventions before as well as after study dropout have contributed to less school dropout. The effectiveness of coaching is largest for students with a high ex ante probability of dropout, such as older students, males and students with an adverse socioeconomic background. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that one year of coaching is likely to yield a net social gain.