Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences‐ in‐Differences Evidence Across Countries

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 differencesin-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.JEL Code: I2.

Social Inequalities of Post-Secondary Educational Aspirations: Influence of Social Background, School Composition and Institutional Context

“…The results of these studies are congruent (see Gorard & Smith, 2004;Hanushek & Woessmann, 2006;Mons, 2007;Dupriez et al, 2008;Monseur & Crahay, 2008), and there is a broad consensus among researchers. School systems with early tracking (characterised by significant differences of composition between schools, as in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland and the Czech Republic) increase differences in performances between students and are, moreover, less equitable.…”

“…In the section titled 'Impact of the Institutional Context', we mentioned (e.g. Hanushek & Woessmann, 2006) a well-known finding: early tracking is nearly always linked with increased social inequality in academic performance. Young people from underprivileged backgrounds more often attend less prestigious tracks.…”

The effects of early tracking on student performance: Evidence from a school reform in Bavaria

“…Hanushek and Woessmann (2006) compare the performance of fourth graders, i.e. prior to tracking, with the performance of eighth or ninth graders, i.e.…”

Genes and Gini: What Inequality Means for Heritability

“…However, the existing crude system of streaming does not benefit struggling students. In fact, research has shown that early tracking/streaming may decrease achievement of all students and also increase educational inequality, by leading to a greater reduction in achievement for low-achieving students than high-achieving students (Hanushek & Wobmann, 2006). To the extent that the early achievement gap is associated with differences in family background, track placements may reflect these differences and lead to further disparities in education.…”