Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries

Eric Hanushek () and Ludger Wößmann ()
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ludger Woessmann ()

No Ifo Working Paper No. 1, Ifo Working Paper Series from Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich

Abstract: Even though some countries track students into differing-ability schools by age 10, others keep their entire secondary-school system comprehensive. To estimate the effects of such institutional differences in the face of country heterogeneity, we employ an international differences-in-differences approach. We identify tracking effects by comparing differences in outcome between primary and secondary school across tracked and non-tracked systems. Six international student assessments provide eight pairs of achievement contrasts for between 18 and 26 cross-country comparisons. The results suggest that early tracking increases educational inequality. While less clear, there is also a tendency for early tracking to reduce mean performance. Therefore, there does not appear to be any equity-efficiency trade-off.

Keywords: Tracking; streaming; ability grouping; selectivity; comprehensive school system; educational performance; inequality; international student achievement test; TIMSS; PISA; PIRLS. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
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Related works:
Working Paper: Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries (2005)
Working Paper: Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries (2005)
Working Paper: Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries (2005)
Journal Article: Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences- in-Differences Evidence Across Countries (2006)
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