The Long-Run Effects of Reducing Early School Tracking

Arbeitspapier

Grouping students by ability is a controversial issue, and its impacts are likely to depend on the type of tracking students are exposed to. This paper studies a reform that moved French schools from a rigorous tracking system, which assigned students to tracks with significantly different learning environments and career options, to a milder form of ability-tracking that only grouped students into different classrooms. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that the reform raised individuals’ level of education and increased their wages by 4.7 percent at ages 40 to 45, with the strongest effects occurring among individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12419

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Education ; Education: Government Policy ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: tracking ; returns to education ; school quality

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Canaan, Serena
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/202765
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET