School tracking and intergenerational income mobility: Evidence from the Finnish comprehensive school reform

Pekkarinen, Tuomas; Uusitalo, Roope; Kerr, Sari Pekkala

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2009.04.006

“…At the same time, the reform had no negative impact on the performance of students with high SES parents. In line with these findings, Pekkarinen, Uusitalo, and Pekkala (2009) have shown that the Finnish reform also increased the intergenerational income mobility. Galindo-Rueda and Vignoles (2007) investigate a reform in the United Kingdom which replaced early tracking with comprehensive schools, finding some evidence of positive effects on student performance in the selective system.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

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

Piopiunik

¹

2014

Economics of Education Review

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This paper evaluates a school reform in Bavaria that moved the timing of tracking in low-and middle-track schools from grade 6 to grade 4; students in high-track schools were not affected. To eliminate state-specific and school-type-specific shocks, I estimate a triple-differences model using three PISA waves. The results indicate that the reform reduced the performance of 15-year-old students both in low-and middle-track schools. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayFurther evidence suggests that the share of very low-performing students increased in low-track schools.JEL Code: I20, I21, I24.

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“…Also, further work on the differential effects of state investments at various child ages on intergenerational transmission would be useful. Pekkarinen et al (2009) test the influence of the education system by examining the effects on the IGE of shifting from an early-tracking schooling system to a comprehensive system. They use the fact that, during the 1970s, a Finnish educational reform was implemented in different regions at different times over a 6-year period.…”

Section: Why the Ige May Differ Across Countries And Over Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility

Black

¹

,

Devereux

²

2011

Handbook of Labor Economics

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“…They find that the Swedish reform increased the earnings and completed schooling of the children of working-class families. In our previous research (Pekkarinen, Uusitalo and Pekkala, 2006) we examine the effects of the Finnish comprehensive school reform on intergenerational income elasticity and find that income mobility increased after the reform. Holmlund (2008) reports similar results based on the Swedish comprehensive school reform.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Tracking and Development of Cognitive Skills

Kerr

¹

,

Pekkarinen

²

,

Uusitalo³

2013

Journal of Labor Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in School Tracking and Development of Cognitive SkillsTuomas Pekkarinen Roope Uusitalo Sari Kerr The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. ABSTRACT School Tracking and Development of Cognitive SkillsThe Finnish comprehensive school reform replaced the old two-track school system with a uniform nine-year comprehensive school and significantly reduced the degree of heterogeneity in the Finnish primary and secondary education. We estimate the effect of this reform on the test scores in the Finnish Army Basic Skills test. The identification strategy relies on a differences-in-differences strategy and exploits the fact that the reform was implemented gradually across the country during a six-year period between 1972 and 1977. We find that the reform had a small positive effect on the verbal test scores but no effect on the mean performance in the arithmetic or logical reasoning tests. Still in all tests the reform improved the scores of students from families where parents had only basic education.JEL Classification: H52, I21

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School tracking and intergenerational income mobility: Evidence from the Finnish comprehensive school reform

Cited by 242 publications

References 16 publications

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

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

Recent Developments in Intergenerational Mobility

School Tracking and Development of Cognitive Skills

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