Why Young Boys Stumble: Early Tracking, Age and Gender Bias in the German School System

Abstract

After primary school, German pupils are given a secondary school track recommendation. This recommendation and the actual track choice are strongly associated with later life outcomes. Using data from the German PISA 2000 extension study, we analyze the effect of relative age on track recommendations and actual choice. Younger pupils and boys are less likely to be recommended to and enrolled in the academic track (Gymnasium), the most attractive track in terms of later life outcomes. Flexible enrollment and grade retention partly offset these effects. We find no convincing evidence that postponing the recommendation by lengthening primary school by 2 years reduces the age or gender bias.JEL classification: I21, I28.

Left behind by birth month

“…There are several studies investigating how age differences in class affects school performance, and there is convincing empirical evidence for the oldest students to outperform their younger peers. For instance, see Strøm (2004) on Norwegian data; Crawford, Dearden, and Greaves (2011) on British data; Jürges andSchneider (2011), Puhani andWeber (2007), and Mühlenweg and Puhani (2010) on German data. For differential probabilities across relative age of entering academic or high ability tracks, see, for example, Jürges and Schneider (2011).…”

“…For instance, see Strøm (2004) on Norwegian data; Crawford, Dearden, and Greaves (2011) on British data; Jürges andSchneider (2011), Puhani andWeber (2007), and Mühlenweg and Puhani (2010) on German data. For differential probabilities across relative age of entering academic or high ability tracks, see, for example, Jürges and Schneider (2011). In particular, Bedard and Duhey (2006) find that the oldest pupils in class outperform their younger peers across a large number of countries and different cut-off dates.…”

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

“…14 While such findings are indicative of inefficiencies associated with tracking, both Jürges and Schneider (2011) and Dustmann et al (2014) find no evidence for a persistent effect of relative age on educational outcomes. Moreover, Jürges and Schneider (2011) find no evidence that the age at which states track affects the strength of the relative age effect based on variation across states. On the other hand, initial misallocation may be inconsequential in a system such as Germany's in which upgrading upon completion is common (see section 2.1).…”

“…Bedard and Cho (2010) report that tracking is pro-female in Germany in that females are placed in classes with higher average ability. Both Lehmann and Peek (1997) and Jürges and Schneider (2011) report that boys are less likely to be recommended to the academic track in Germany conditional on academic achievement, suggesting that girls outperform boys in other relevant dimensions. Outcome variables in our analysis are total years of education and two binary variables indicating whether an individual has attained the highest school-leaving certificate (i.e.…”

“…A large literature, for instance, documents relative age-effects in education: Puhani and Weber (2007), Mühlenweg and Puhani (2010), Jürges and Schneider (2011), 13 Epple and Romano (2011) provide a comprehensive review of the literature on peer effects in education.…”