IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v103y2023ics0738059323002031.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Association between ability tracking and student’s academic and non-academic outcomes: Empirical evidence from junior high schools in rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Gupta, Shriyam
  • Liu, Chengfang
  • Li, Shaoping
  • Chang, Fang
  • Shi, Yaojiang

Abstract

Ability tracking, a practice of grouping students into different classrooms based on their test scores, is prevalent in schools around the world. However, evidence on the effects of ability tracking on students’ learning outcomes remains mixed. Drawing on a longitudinal dataset of 9170 students across 119 rural junior high schools from 23 counties in two provinces of China, this paper examines how ability tracking affects students' math score, math academic self-concept, and math anxiety. We find that ability tracking had no statistically significant effect on either students’ academic or non-academic outcomes. Sub-group analyses by high and low-ability classrooms revealed similar results for math scores and math self-concept. However, ability tracking helped reduce the math anxiety of high-ability classroom students as they experienced a lower value added in their anxiety score by 0.103 SD (p < 0.05) relative to students in schools that do not practice ability tracking. Furthermore, heterogeneous analyses revealed that ability tracking is associated with a lower value added in math score of low-ability boarding students by 0.168 SD (p < 0.05) relative to non-boarding students in comparison schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Gupta, Shriyam & Liu, Chengfang & Li, Shaoping & Chang, Fang & Shi, Yaojiang, 2023. "Association between ability tracking and student’s academic and non-academic outcomes: Empirical evidence from junior high schools in rural China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:103:y:2023:i:c:s0738059323002031
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102927
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059323002031
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102927?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sacerdote, Bruce, 2011. "Peer Effects in Education: How Might They Work, How Big Are They and How Much Do We Know Thus Far?," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 4, pages 249-277, Elsevier.
    2. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Shawn Cole & Esther Duflo & Leigh Linden, 2007. "Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1235-1264.
    3. Weili Ding & Steven F. Lehrer, 2007. "Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 300-312, May.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wössmann, 2006. "Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences- in-Differences Evidence Across Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 63-76, March.
    5. Courtney A. Collins & Li Gan, 2013. "Does Sorting Students Improve Scores? An Analysis of Class Composition," NBER Working Papers 18848, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Lei, Wang & Li, Mengjie & Zhang, Siqi & Sun, Yonglei & Sylvia, Sean & Yang, Enyan & Ma, Guangrong & Zhang, Linxiu & Mo, Di & Rozelle, Scott, 2018. "Contract teachers and student achievement in rural China: evidence from class fixed effects," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 62(2), April.
    7. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2011. "Peer Effects, Teacher Incentives, and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 1739-1774, August.
    8. Mo, Di & Huang, Weiming & Shi, Yaojiang & Zhang, Linxiu & Boswell, Matthew & Rozelle, Scott, 2015. "Computer technology in education: Evidence from a pooled study of computer assisted learning programs among rural students in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 131-145.
    9. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2633-2679, September.
    10. Li, Tao & Han, Li & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2014. "Encouraging classroom peer interactions: Evidence from Chinese migrant schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 29-45.
    11. Carman, Katherine Grace & Zhang, Lei, 2012. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Evidence from a Chinese middle school," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 223-237.
    12. Angrist, Joshua D., 2014. "The perils of peer effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    13. Antonovics, Kate & Black, Sandra E. & Cullen, Julie Berry & Meiselman, Akiva Yonah, 2022. "Patterns, Determinants, and Consequences of Ability Tracking: Evidence from Texas Public Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 15528, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Laura M. Argys & Daniel I. Rees & Dominic J. Brewer, 1996. "Detracking America's schools: Equity at zero cost?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(4), pages 623-645.
    15. Prashant Loyalka & Sean Sylvia & Chengfang Liu & James Chu & Yaojiang Shi, 2019. "Pay by Design: Teacher Performance Pay Design and the Distribution of Student Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 621-662.
    16. Aiqin Wang & Alexis Medina & Renfu Luo & Yaojiang Shi & Ai Yue, 2016. "To Board or Not to Board: Evidence from Nutrition, Health and Education Outcomes of Students in Rural China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 24(3), pages 52-66, May.
    17. Wang, Huan & Yang, Chu & He, Fei & Shi, Yaojiang & Qu, Qinghe & Rozelle, Scott & Chu, James, 2015. "Mental health and dropout behavior: A cross-sectional study of junior high students in northwest rural China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-12.
    18. Figlio, David N. & Page, Marianne E., 2002. "School Choice and the Distributional Effects of Ability Tracking: Does Separation Increase Inequality?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 497-514, May.
    19. Eric A. Hanushek & Steven G. Rivkin, 2010. "Generalizations about Using Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 267-271, May.
    20. Chao Fu & Nirav Mehta, 2018. "Ability Tracking, School and Parental Effort, and Student Achievement: A Structural Model and Estimation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 923-979.
    21. Feng, Han & Li, Jiayao, 2016. "Head teachers, peer effects, and student achievement," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 268-283.
    22. Koedel, Cory & Mihaly, Kata & Rockoff, Jonah E., 2015. "Value-added modeling: A review," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 180-195.
    23. Di Mo & Linxiu Zhang & Hongmei Yi & Renfu Luo & Scott Rozelle & Carl Brinton, 2013. "School Dropouts and Conditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Rural China's Junior High Schools," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 190-207, February.
    24. Betts, Julian R., 2011. "The Economics of Tracking in Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 7, pages 341-381, Elsevier.
    25. McEwan, Patrick J., 2003. "Peer effects on student achievement: evidence from Chile," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 131-141, April.
    26. Guo, Yuhe & Li, Shaoping & Chen, Siwei & Tang, Yalin & Liu, Chengfang, 2022. "Health benefits of having more female classmates: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    27. Chu, Jessica Hsiaochieh & Loyalka, Prashant & Chu, James & Qu, Qinghe & Shi, Yaojiang & Li, Guirong, 2015. "The impact of teacher credentials on student achievement in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 14-24.
    28. Wang, Liang Choon, 2015. "All work and no play? The effects of ability sorting on students’ non-school inputs, time use, and grade anxiety," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 29-41.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feng, Han & Li, Jiayao, 2016. "Head teachers, peer effects, and student achievement," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 268-283.
    2. Min, Shi & Yuan, Zhouhang & Wang, Xiaobing & Hou, Lingling, 2019. "Do peer effects influence the academic performance of rural students at private migrant schools in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 418-433.
    3. Alexandra de Gendre & Nicolás Salamanca, 2020. "On the Mechanisms of Ability Peer Effects," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2020n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. Park, Albert & Shi, Xinzheng & Hsieh, Chang-tai & An, Xuehui, 2015. "Magnet high schools and academic performance in China: A regression discontinuity design," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 825-843.
    5. Bin Huang & Rong Zhu, 2020. "Peer effects of low-ability students in the classroom: evidence from China’s middle schools," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1343-1380, October.
    6. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "Do migrant students affect local students’ academic achievements in urban China?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 64-77.
    7. Hikaru Kawarazaki & Minhaj Mahmud & Yasuyuki Sawada & Mai Seki, 2023. "Haste Makes No Waste: Positive Peer Effects of Classroom Speed Competition on Learning," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(4), pages 755-772, August.
    8. Ahn, Taehyun & Goh, Young-Geun, 2021. "The long-term influences of ability mixing on soft skills," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 367-386.
    9. Diemer, Andreas, 2022. "Endogenous peer effects in diverse friendship networks: Evidence from Swedish classrooms," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Zhang, Hongliang, 2016. "The role of testing noise in the estimation of achievement-based peer effects," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 113-123.
    11. Canaan, Serena, 2020. "The long-run effects of reducing early school tracking," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Canaan, Serena & Mouganie, Pierre & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The Long-Run Educational Benefits of High-Achieving Classrooms," IZA Discussion Papers 15039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Ingo E. Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "The value of a peer," ECON - Working Papers 342, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    14. Roller, Marcus & Steinberg, Daniel, 2020. "The distributional effects of early school stratification - non-parametric evidence from Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Zhang, Yu & Qin, Fei & Liu, Juanjuan, 2019. "Improving education equality and quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Silvia Mendolia & Alfredo R Paloyo & Ian Walker, 2018. "Heterogeneous effects of high school peers on educational outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 613-634.
    17. Mary A. Burke & Tim R. Sass, 2013. "Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 51-82.
    18. repec:lic:licosd:37916 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Sebastian Galiani & Ricardo Perez-Truglia, 2013. "School Management in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0147, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    20. Pierre Lefebvre & Philip Merrigan, 2020. "Les inégalités provinciales aux tests internationaux-nationaux de littéracie : Québec, Ontario et autres provinces canadiennes 1993-2018 (Version révisée et augmentée octobre 2020)," CIRANO Working Papers 2020s-29, CIRANO.
    21. Zhengqing Zhou & Xinchen Li & Zhanjia Zhang, 2023. "The Peer Effect in Promoting Physical Activity among Adolescents: Evidence from the China Education Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:103:y:2023:i:c:s0738059323002031. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-development .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.