Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences-in-Differences Evidence across Countries

Author/s
Eric A. Hanushek
Ludger Woessmann
Published Date
Mar-06
Publication
The Economic Journal
Details
116(150)
Pages
pp. C63-C76
Even though some countries track students into differing-ability schools by age 10, others keep their entire secondary-school system comprehensive. To estimate the effects of such institutional differences in the face of country heterogeneity, we employ an international differences-in-differences approach. We identify tracking effects by comparing differences in outcome between primary and secondary school across tracked and non-tracked systems. Six international student assessments provide eight pairs of achievement contrasts for between 18 and 26 cross-country comparisons. The results suggest that early tracking increases educational inequality. While less clear, there is also a tendency for early tracking to reduce mean performance. Copyright 2006 Royal Economic Society.