Does Schooling Affect Socioeconomic Inequalities in Educational Attainment? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Germany

Abstract

Critical theories of education but also the dynamics of skill formation model predict that the education system reproduces educational inequalities. Contrary to this hypothesis, empirical studies comparing the change in inequalities in academic performance over the summer to the change in these inequalities during the school year, have argued that schooling reduces inequalities in educational performance. The present study sheds new light on the question whether schooling affects educational inequalities by analyzing a natural experiment, which induces exogenous variation in the length of schooling, and allows us to investigate the causal, long-term effects of the length of schooling on educational inequalities. Some German states moved the school start from spring to summer in 1966/1967. These states introduced two short school years, which were each three months shorter than regular school years. We use variation in the short school years across cohorts and states to estimate the causal effects of the length of schooling on inequalities in educational attainment using two German panel surveys. Less schooling due to the short school years did not affect inequalities in educational attainment. This finding runs counter to the results from the summer learning literature but also to the predictions of the dynamics of skill formation model and critical theories of education. We conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for our understanding of inequality of educational opportunity.