New empirical evidence on the effect of educational tracking on social inequalities in reading achievement

Lavrijsen, Jeroen; Nicaise, Idès

doi:10.1177/1474904115589039

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…The empirical evidence largely confirms that early tracking strengthens the influence of parental background on students' educational achievement, as tracking has a detrimental effect on low-achievers (Hanushek and Woessmann 2006;Schütz, Ursprung, and Woessmann 2008;Bol and van de Werfhorst 2013;Lavrijsen and Nicaise 2015). At the same time, in tracking regimes boys tend to be more often placed in lower tracks than girls (Van Hek, Buchmann, and Kraaykamp 2019).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 60%

“…To test the direct effects of early tracking a difference-in-differences approach was employed (see Ammermüller 2005;Waldinger 2007;Lavrijsen and Nicaise 2015). Combining PISA data with PIRLS or TIMSS datasets measuring achievement in the fourth grade provides an ideal setting, as PISA measures students after tracking has taken place in early tracking countries, while in late tracking countries there is no tracking at the age of 15.…”

Section: Early Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Educational policies and the gender gap in test scores: a cross-country analysis

Hermann

Kopasz

2019

Research Papers in Education

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Girls tend to outperform boys in reading tests, while they usually lag behind boys in mathematics. However, the size of the gender gap varies to a great extent between countries. While the existing figliterature explains these differences as being mainly due to cultural factors, this paper explores whether this cross-country variation is related to educational policies like tracking, grade retention, and individualised teaching practices. The gender test score gap is analysed in mathematics, reading and science using the PISA 2012 dataset. Multilevel models are used in the estimation. The results suggest that the extent of the gender gap is indeed associated with certain characteristics of the various education systems. First, applying a difference-in-differences estimation method, it was found that early tracking has a direct effect on the gender gap in test scores, in favour of girls. Second, suggestive evidence shows that more student-oriented teaching practices also benefit girls relative to boys, both between and within countries, and within schools. Finally, grade retention is correlated with the gender gap, though there is further evidence suggesting that this correlation is very unlikely to represent a causal effect. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Early Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational policies and the gender gap in test scores: a cross-country analysis

Hermann

Kopasz

2019

Research Papers in Education

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“…Sawiński focused only on one dimension of differentiation: earlier or later tracking. As expected from the results of comparative studies, postponing the age of tracking is related to a weaker association between family socio-economic status (SES) and student achievement (see Betts 2011;Horn, 2009;Lavrijsen and Nicaise, 2015;Van de Werfhorst and Mijs, 2010). However, the age at tracking constitutes only one element of organising the educational system.…”

Section: Two Research Traditions On Educational Inequalitiesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Changes in educational inequalities in Poland. Comments on Zbigniew Sawiński’s article “Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”

Sitek¹

2017

Edukacja

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In his text published in Edukacja, 141(2), 2017 ("Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland"), Zbigniew Sawiński analyses data from the 2000 to 2012 editions of the OECD PISA study and argues that lower secondary school reform has not reduced educational inequalities in Poland. The importance of students' social origin remained at the same level as before the reform, the impact of social origin on the choice of type of secondary school remained the same, and an increasing differentiation of lower secondary schools did not lead to an increase in educational inequalities. I present methodological arguments and the results of a re-analysis of PISA data, indicating changes in wider educational inequalities. Between 2000 and 2012: (a) the strength of association in the performance of 15-year-olds with the socio-economic status of students' families did not change, but (b) the variation of results decreased, which was mainly due to the improved performance of the lowest performing students; (c) the differences between students of high and low socio-economic status decreased; (d) the influence of social origin on the choice of the type of upper secondary school decreased. The effects of socio-economic status on upper secondary school choice is largely direct: it is not mediated by the educational achievements of students. The commentary also highlights the complexity of lower secondary school reform, which was not limited to the introduction of such schools. I indicate the role of factors that make it difficult to interpret the results of the reform in causal terms -particularly the role of unobserved variables related to the changes in the learning environments of subsequent cohorts of students.

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“…Usually, tracks are hierarchically organized, which leads to a distinction between higher and lower tracks, and are based on the average academic performance of students. Most studies comparing education systems have shown that education systems with early tracking increase inequality in academic performance between students compared to education systems with late tracking (Ammermüller, ; Bauer & Riphahn, ; Brunello & Checchi, ; Hanushek & Wößmann, ; Horn, ; Lavrijsen & Nicaise, ; Marks, ; Schütz et al ., ; Wößmann, ). However, not all studies had this result (Waldinger, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effortless or less effort? Effects of tracks on students’ engagement

Dockx

Branden

Fraine

2019

Brit J of Edu Psychol

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Background. It is found that assigning students to a lower track during secondary education negatively affects their academic performance. As an explanation, it is often mentioned that an anti-school culture in lower tracks undermines students' effort and involvement.Aims. This study assessed whether going to a lower track affects student engagement. For if an anti-school culture is to blame for limiting lower track students' performance, lower track assignment should reduce engagement.Sample. A sample of a longitudinal cohort study during secondary education in Flanders (northern Belgium) was used to describe development in engagement with n = 5,417 students in 46 schools. Four tracks were investigated across four school years.Method. Two main methodological challenges were present in this study, different student intake in each track and many students changing from a higher to lower track over time. Accordingly, we used inverse probability treatment weights with marginal structural mean models to account for different student intake and track changes. A comparison was made per pair of tracks that are hierarchically consecutive by matching students who were comparable across these tracks. Accordingly, there were three pairwise comparisons.Results. It was never found that being continuously in lower track negatively affects engagement. Only for one pairwise comparison, there was evidence that students who changed from the higher to lower track had lower engagement.Conclusions. We rejected the hypothesis that lower tracks negatively affect student engagement. This makes the anti-school culture as an explanation for lower track assignment negatively affecting academic performance implausible.

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New empirical evidence on the effect of educational tracking on social inequalities in reading achievement

Cited by 28 publications

References 56 publications

Educational policies and the gender gap in test scores: a cross-country analysis

Educational policies and the gender gap in test scores: a cross-country analysis

Changes in educational inequalities in Poland. Comments on Zbigniew Sawiński’s article “Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”

Effortless or less effort? Effects of tracks on students’ engagement

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