Expectations on Track? High School Tracking and Adolescent Educational Expectations

This paper examines the role of adaptation in expectation formation processes by analyzing how educational tracking in high schools affects adolescents' educational expectations. I argue that adolescents view track placement as a signal about their academic abilities and respond to it in terms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 2015-09, Vol.94 (1), p.115-141
Main Author: Karlson, Kristian Bernt
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ability
Ability grouping
Academic Aptitude
Adolescents
EDUCATION
Expectations
High Schools
Honor
Junior High Schools
Longitudinal Studies
Placement
Schools
Secondary schools
Social Class
Teenagers
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Summary:This paper examines the role of adaptation in expectation formation processes by analyzing how educational tracking in high schools affects adolescents' educational expectations. I argue that adolescents view track placement as a signal about their academic abilities and respond to it in terms of modifying their educational expectations. Applying a difference-in-differences approach to the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988,1 find that being placed in an advanced or honors class in high school positively affects adolescents' expectations, particularly if placement is consistent across subjects and if placement contradicts tracking experiences in middle school. My findings support the hypothesis that adolescents adapt their educational expectations to ability signals sent by schools.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1093/sf/sov006