Tracking and the intergenerational transmission of education: Evidence from a natural experiment

Simon Lange and Marten von Werder

Economics of Education Review, 2017, vol. 61, issue C, 59-78

Abstract: Proponents of tracking argue that the creation of more homogeneous classes increases efficiency while opponents point out that tracking aggravates initial differences between students. We estimate the effects on the intergenerational transmission of education of a reform that delayed tracking by two years in one of Germany’s federal states. We argue that while the reform had no effect on educational outcomes on average, it increased educational attainment among men with uneducated parents and decreased attainment among men with educated parents. We also present some suggestive evidence that the reform improved the selection of boys into secondary tracks.

Keywords: Tracking; Educational institutions; Educational inequality; Equality of opportunity; Intergenerational mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 I28 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Tracking and the Intergenerational Transmission of Education: Evidence from a Natural Experiment (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:59-78

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.10.002

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