Tracking pupils into adulthood: selective schools and long-term human capital

TY - CHAP

T1 - Tracking pupils into adulthood: selective schools and long-term human capital

AU - Pastore, Chiara

AU - Rice, Nigel

AU - Jones, Andrew Michael

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Chiara Pastore, Nigel Rice and Andrew M. Jones Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

PY - 2024/8/27

Y1 - 2024/8/27

N2 - We explore the effect of selective schooling, where students are assigned to different schools by ability, on adult health, well-being and labour market outcomes. We exploit the 1960s transition from a selective to a non-selective secondary schooling system in England and Wales. The introductio3n of mixed-ability schools decreased average school quality and peer ability for high-ability pupils, while it increased them for low-ability pupils. We therefore distinguish between two treatment effects: that of high-quality school attendance for high-ability pupils and that of lower-quality school attendance for low-ability pupils, with mixed-ability schools as the alternative. We address selection bias by balancing individual pre-treatment characteristics via entropy balancing, followed by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Selective schooling does not affect long-term health and well-being, while it marginally raises hourly wages, compared to a mixed-ability system, and school aspirations for high-ability pupils. Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities measured prior to secondary school are significantly and positively associated with all adult outcomes.

AB - We explore the effect of selective schooling, where students are assigned to different schools by ability, on adult health, well-being and labour market outcomes. We exploit the 1960s transition from a selective to a non-selective secondary schooling system in England and Wales. The introductio3n of mixed-ability schools decreased average school quality and peer ability for high-ability pupils, while it increased them for low-ability pupils. We therefore distinguish between two treatment effects: that of high-quality school attendance for high-ability pupils and that of lower-quality school attendance for low-ability pupils, with mixed-ability schools as the alternative. We address selection bias by balancing individual pre-treatment characteristics via entropy balancing, followed by ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Selective schooling does not affect long-term health and well-being, while it marginally raises hourly wages, compared to a mixed-ability system, and school aspirations for high-ability pupils. Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities measured prior to secondary school are significantly and positively associated with all adult outcomes.

KW - Ability tracking

KW - educational reform

KW - entropy balancing

KW - health

KW - instrumental variables

KW - well-being

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85202980214&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/S0573-855520240000297002

DO - 10.1108/S0573-855520240000297002

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85202980214

SN - 9781837532605

SN - 9781837532599

T3 - Contributions to Economic Analysis

SP - 7

EP - 36

BT - Recent developments on health econometrics: a volume in honour of Andrew Jones

A2 - Baltagi, Badi

A2 - Moscone, Francesco

PB - Emerald

ER -