Increasing the share of vocational secondary schooling has been a mainstay of development policy for decades, perhaps nowhere more so than in formerly socialist countries. The transition, however, led to significant restructuring of school systems, including a declining share of vocational students. Exposing more students to a general curriculum could improve academic abilities. This paper analyzes Poland's significant improvement in international achievement tests and the restructuring of the education system that expanded general schooling to test the hypothesis that delayed vocational streaming improves outcomes. Using propensity score matching and differences-indifferences estimates, the authors show that delayed vocationalization had a positive and significant impact on student performance on the order of one standard deviation.
Delaying tracking, extending students' exposure to a general academic education and increasing their time on task on basic competences (reading, mathematics) could improve academic outcomes. To test the hypothesis that delayed vocational streaming improves academic outcomes, this paper analyzes Poland's significant improvements in international achievement tests and the restructuring of the system which expanded general schooling. Estimates using propensity-score matching and difference-in-differences estimates show that delaying vocational education and increasing time on task has a positive and significant impact on student performance on the order of a standard deviation.Abstract: Delaying tracking, extending students' exposure to a general academic education and increasing their time on task on basic competences (reading, mathematics) could improve academic outcomes. To test the hypothesis that delayed vocational streaming improves academic outcomes, this paper analyzes Poland's significant improvements in international achievement tests and the restructuring of the system which expanded general schooling. Estimates using propensity-score matching and difference-in-differences estimates show that delaying vocational education and increasing time on task has a positive and significant impact on student performance on the order of a standard deviation.JEL Code: I20, I21, I24
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