LOCAL VIOLENCE AND EDUCATIONAL-ATTAINMENT

Violence in and around schools has drawn increasing attention lately f rom both the public and policymakers, Despite the importance of the pr oblem, however, research on this topic has been limited, In this paper I analyze how local violence affects high school graduation and colle ge attendance. Using data from the High School and Beyond survey, I fi nd that local violence has important effects. Moderate levels of viole nce reduce the likelihood of high school graduation by 5.1 percentage points on average, and lower the likelihood that a student will attend college by 6.9 percentage points.