School Track Decisions and Teacher Recommendations: Evidence from German State Reforms

Elisabeth Grewenig

No 353, ifo Working Paper Series from ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich

Abstract: This paper explores the effects of selective admission policies in the context of school tracking. Depending on the federal state in Germany, either teachers or parents have the discretion to decide which secondary school track a child may attend after primary school. Applying a differences-in-differences approach, I exploit variation in the implementation and abolition of binding teacher recommendations across states and over time. Using data from large-scale assessments, I find that binding teacher recom mendations significantly improve student achievement in fourth grade, right before track assignment. Effects persist into ninth grade. Further analyses show that effects are driven by increased time investments in students’ skill development.

Keywords: school tracking; admission policies; student performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I28 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-ure
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