Attending a school with heterogeneous peers: The effects of school detracking and its attenuation

Do Won Kwak, Jin Young Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of high school detracking on Korean Scholastic Aptitude Test (KSAT) scores in the subjects of Korean (reading), mathematics, and English. We found that a transition to detracking reduces test scores by 0.16–0.18 of one standard deviation. Additionally, the administrative autonomy of private schools and the use of private tutoring services at home attenuate the negative effects of detracking. Our findings are in line with those in the previous literature showing a modest effect of tracking (i.e., ability sorting) in advanced countries where the autonomous school system is well organized and commercial educational services are easily accessible and a strong positive effect of tracking in developing countries where access to well-resourced private schools and private education is generally limited.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102401
JournalEconomics of Education Review
Volume94
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023 Jun

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by 2019 Research Grant from Kangwon National University. We are grateful to the South Korean Ministry of Education for providing data. We also thank Steven Haider, Gary Solon, Haishan Yuan, Booyuel Kim, Joseph Han, Jongkwan Lee, Hee-Seung Yang and Carl Sherwood for helpful comments and suggestions. Young-wook Ku, Yongjin Jeon, and Seulki Ryu did excellent data collection work.

Funding Information:
☆ This study was supported by 2019 Research Grant from Kangwon National University. We are grateful to the South Korean Ministry of Education for providing data. We also thank Steven Haider, Gary Solon, Haishan Yuan, Booyuel Kim, Joseph Han, Jongkwan Lee, Hee-Seung Yang and Carl Sherwood for helpful comments and suggestions. Young-wook Ku, Yongjin Jeon, and Seulki Ryu did excellent data collection work.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Between-school detracking
  • Peer quality
  • Private school
  • Private tutoring
  • Student performance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Economics and Econometrics

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