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.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.