1 Introduction
2 Literature review: how does tracking affect educational inequalities?
2.1 Different concepts of achievement inequalities
2.2 Tracking as transition and the effects on inequality
2.3 Empirical evidence of early tracking effects
3 Research questions
4 Methodology
4.1 Data sources: combining primary and secondary school information
4.2 Variables
Overall sample | Late tracking | Early tracking | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | |
Dispersion inequality | ||||||
Primary school level | 79.988 | 14.427 | 81.243 | 14.996 | 75.791 | 11.394 |
Secondary school level | 89.016 | 11.509 | 87.754 | 11.694 | 93.238 | 9.764 |
Social achievement gap | ||||||
Primary school level | 30.259 | 14.787 | 27.530 | 14.434 | 39.323 | 12.107 |
Secondary school level | 51.999 | 15.826 | 48.491 | 14.716 | 63.701 | 13.642 |
Educational inadequacy | ||||||
Primary school level | 13.537 | 17.829 | 15.947 | 19.437 | 5.479 | 5.785 |
Secondary school level | 12.178 | 13.172 | 13.693 | 14.271 | 7.116 | 6.301 |
Performance level | ||||||
Primary school level | 507.454 | 60.696 | 498.070 | 63.939 | 538.826 | 32.549 |
Secondary school level | 491.128 | 48.851 | 486.765 | 50.213 | 505.716 | 40.810 |
Primary school level data | Secondary school level data | Overall sample | Early tracking | Late tracking | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | N | N | ||||||
Reading | ||||||||
1 | PIRLS | 2001 | ↔ | PISA | 2000 | 21 | 7 | 14 |
2 | PIRLS | 2001 | ↔ | PISA | 2003 | 18 | 7 | 11 |
3 | PIRLS | 2001 | ↔ | PISA | 2006 | 23 | 8 | 15 |
4 | PIRLS | 2006 | ↔ | PISA | 2006 | 24 | 8 | 16 |
5 | PIRLS | 2006 | ↔ | PISA | 2009 | 29 | 10 | 19 |
6 | PIRLS | 2006 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 26 | 9 | 17 |
7 | PIRLS | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 32 | 10 | 22 |
8 | PIRLS | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 35 | 11 | 24 |
9 | PIRLS | 2016 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 33 | 11 | 22 |
Mathematics | ||||||||
10 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | PISA | 2000 | 19 | 6 | 13 |
11 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2003 | 12 | 3 | 9 |
12 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2006 | 14 | 3 | 11 |
13 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2009 | 16 | 4 | 12 |
14 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | PISA | 2009 | 25 | 8 | 17 |
15 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 24 | 8 | 16 |
16 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 34 | 11 | 23 |
17 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 34 | 11 | 23 |
18 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2015 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 33 | 11 | 22 |
19 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 1995 | 26 | 6 | 20 |
20 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 1999 | 18 | 4 | 14 |
21 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2003 | 27 | 4 | 23 |
22 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2007 | 21 | 2 | 19 |
23 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2007 | 32 | 3 | 29 |
24 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2011 | 27 | 2 | 25 |
25 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2011 | 37 | 2 | 35 |
26 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2015 | 34 | 3 | 31 |
27 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2015 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2015 | 35 | 4 | 31 |
Science | ||||||||
28 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | PISA | 2000 | 19 | 6 | 13 |
29 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2003 | 12 | 3 | 9 |
30 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2006 | 14 | 3 | 11 |
31 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | PISA | 2009 | 16 | 4 | 12 |
32 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | PISA | 2009 | 25 | 8 | 17 |
33 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 24 | 8 | 16 |
34 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2012 | 34 | 11 | 23 |
35 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 34 | 11 | 23 |
36 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2015 | ↔ | PISA | 2015 | 33 | 11 | 22 |
37 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 1995 | 26 | 6 | 20 |
38 | TIMSS Pop. A | 1995 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 1999 | 18 | 4 | 14 |
39 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2003 | 27 | 4 | 23 |
40 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2003 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2007 | 21 | 2 | 19 |
41 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2007 | 32 | 3 | 29 |
42 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2007 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2011 | 27 | 2 | 25 |
43 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2011 | 37 | 2 | 35 |
44 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2011 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2015 | 34 | 3 | 31 |
45 | TIMSS Pop. A | 2015 | ↔ | TIMSS Pop. B | 2015 | 35 | 4 | 31 |
4.3 Analyses
5 Results
5.1 Mean effects of early tracking on inequalities
(1) All domains | (2) Reading | (3) Mathematics | (4) Science | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\( \overline{\gamma} \) | SE | \( \overline{\gamma} \) | SE | \( \overline{\gamma} \) | SE | \( \overline{\gamma} \) | SE | |
Dispersion inequality | 2.908*** | 0.534 | 4.551*** | 1.086 | 2.328** | 0.787 | 2.473* | 0.978 |
Social achievement gap | 6.904*** | 0.796 | 6.399*** | 1.466 | 6.982*** | 1.293 | 7.271*** | 1.393 |
Educational inadequacy | 0.881** | 0.298 | 2.559*** | 0.606 | 0.084 | 0.575 | 0.490 | 0.425 |
Performance level | − 1.002 | 1.714 | − 14.147*** | 3.500 | 2.948 | 2.822 | 3.330 | 2.739 |
N countries | 75 | 45 | 71 | 71 | ||||
N early tracking countries | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 | ||||
N study pairs | 45 | 9 | 18 | 18 |
5.2 Further analyses
\( \overline{\gamma} \) | SE | |
---|---|---|
Alternative inequality measures | ||
Dispersion inequality | ||
1 Range between 95th and 5th percentile | 8.943*** | 1.734 |
2 Range between 75th and 25th percentile | 5.435*** | 0.810 |
Social achievement gap | ||
3 Relative gap depending on the number of books | 0.054*** | 0.008 |
4 Absolute gap depending on parental education | 5.099*** | 1.086 |
Educational inadequacy | ||
5 Intermediate benchmark resp. level 2 thresholds | 1.475** | 0.563 |
Tracking as nondichotomous | ||
6 Dispersion inequality | 0.765*** | 0.149 |
7 Social achievement gap | 2.372*** | 0.213 |
8 Educational inadequacy | 0.112 | 0.081 |
9 Performance level | 0.230 | 0.482 |