Under the Weather? Seasonal Effects of Temperature on Student Test Performance

As students are exposed to extreme temperatures with ever-increasing frequency, it is important to understand how such exposure affects student performance. Drawing on detailed Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) achievement data combined with high-resolution weather records, we estimate the effect of temperature on student test performance across a 6-year period for students in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Test-day heat reduces student MAP scores in the fall and spring, particularly in math. Relative to a day with temperatures in the 70s (Fahrenheit), a test day reaching the 90s reduces math scores by more than 1.5 percentiles, or roughly 0.06 standard deviations, with smaller declines in reading. Heat effects emerge at lower temperatures in the spring than in the fall, and effects are larger for male students.