Access, achievements, and aspirations: The impacts of school tracking on student outcomes

Maximilian Bach, Thilo Klein and Sarah McNamara

No 24-076, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Though the use of tracking policies to stratify students is commonplace, evi- dence concerning the effects of ability-based tracking on student performance is mixed. Using rich data from the Hungarian secondary school centralized assignment mechanism and a quasi-experimental framework, we find that at- tending the highest track noticeably improves standardized test scores and university aspirations two years post-match. Heterogeneity analysis finds this effect is independent of socioeconomic status, prior achievement, and parents' educational attainment, and we find only limited evidence of peer spillover effects in terms of academic ability. Given socioeconomic disparities in track placement, tracking may reinforce educational inequality.

Keywords: education; school choice; tracking; centralized school admissions; student achievement; inequality of opportunity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 E47 I21 I24 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-tra
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