Beyond test scores: the impact of test persistence value-added on student achievement

We estimate a school-level value-added (VA) measure of student perseverance using item-level persistence on reading tests controlling for ability and question difficulty ('residual duration'). Comparing this to traditional achievement VA, we find a correlation of nearly 0.5, with some schools excelling in one VA but not the other. Residual duration VA is a significant predictor of student achievement, about one-third the impact of achievement VA. Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be in high duration VA schools but less likely in high achievement VA schools. Lower-achieving students particularly benefit from high duration VA schools.