Does School Tracking Affect Equality of Opportunity? New International Evidence

By Giorgio Brunello, Daniele Checchi. Social Science Research Network, 2007

701 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper investigates whether at the interaction between family background and school tracking affects human capital accumulation. Our a priori view is that more tracking should reinforce the role of parental privilege, and thereby reduce equality of opportunity. Compared to the current literature, which focuses on early outcomes, such as test scores at 13 and 15, we look at later outcomes, including literacy, dropout rates, college enrolment, employability and earnings. While we do not confirm previous results that tracking reinforces family background effects on literacy, we do confirm our view when looking at educational attainment and labour market outcomes. When looking at early wages, we find that parental background effects are stronger when tracking starts earlier. We reconcile the apparently contrasting results on literacy, educational attainment and earnings by arguing that the signalling role of formal education – captured by attainment – matters more than actual skills – measured by literacy – in the early stages of labour market experience.

Subfields: Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0ab0b4c055ea2a528c9116a7d40080717dc1d329

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Citations in the corpus

Intergenerational Mobility and Schooling Decisions in Germany and Italy: The Impact of Secondary School Tracks (2007, neutral): “Using di¤erent datasets, Brunello and Checchi (2007) show that the size of the tracking system (as measured by the age of the …rst selection into tracks and by the share of population attending vocational schools) reinforces the impact of family background on both educational choices (dropping out,…”
Gendered study choice: a literature review. A review of theory and research into the unequal representation of male and female students in mathematics, science, and technology (2013, background): “…of the length of the school day, late ability tracking, higher educational spending, and the existence of bursary systems (Ammermüller, 2005; Brunello & Checchi, 2007; Ceci & Williams, 2011; Hanushek & Wöβmann, 2006; Schütz, Ursprung, & Wöβmann, 2008; Schütz & Wöβmann, 2005; Wöβmann, 2009;…”
The Economics of International Differences in Educational Achievement (2010, positive): “Hanushek and Woessmann (2006) PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS 45 Country Early tracking and inequality Age of first tracking Math, science, þ reading Standard deviation in test scores Pooled data, DiD Significant effect of early tracking on inequality; no clear effect on mean performance Schuetz, Ursprung, and W”
Skill and education effects on earnings in 18 Countries: The role of national educational institutions (2011, positive): “A number of studies have indeed shown that external differentiation is related to higher levels of social inequality in educational achievement and attainment (Brunello and Checchi, 2007; Marks, 2005; Van de Werfhorst and Mijs, 2010).”
Study Involvement of Academic and Vocational Students: Does Between-School Tracking Sharpen the Difference? (2009, background): “In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium), where the present research was carried out, as in other European countries (Brunello & Checchi, 2007), there are not only tracks within schools, but schools themselves can be distinguished according to the curricula they offer (see…”
Education Policy and Equality of Opportunity (2008, positive): “Brunello and Checchi (2007) explicitly adopt the approach developed in this paper, extending the analysis to outcomes later in life.”
Education and mobility (2008, neutral): “(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12)”
Maximizing Gender Equality by Minimizing Course Choice Options? Effects of Obligatory Coursework in Math on Gender Differences in STEM (2017, background): “…on achievement, which can be attributed to more demanding curricula, more teaching time, and larger weights from grades in advanced courses with respect to their contribution to final GPA (e.g., Brunello & Checchi, 2007; Gamoran & Mare, 1989; Hanushek & Wössmann, 2006; Kelly, 2004; Lucas, 2001).”
Tracking Effects Depend on Tracking Type (2013, background): “…to learn because of less demanding curricula, lower instructional quality, lower expectations, and lower levels of other educational resources (Brunello & Checchi, 2007; Kelly, 2004; Lucas, 1999; Oakes, 1985) and that these differences in opportunities can affect achievement (Gamoran & Mare,…”