scholarly journals Educational Trajectories Through Secondary Education in Luxembourg: How Does Permeability Affect Educational Inequalities?

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-460
Author(s):  
Susanne Backes ◽  
Andreas Hadjar
Keyword(s):  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Educational Decisions ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Educational Trajectories ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
Track Placement ◽  
Logistic Regressions

The link between stratification and educational inequality in empirical research is well documented. Some countries – particularly those that do not follow the model of comprehensive schools – discuss the possibility of increasing permeability between school tracks to reduce inequalities. This paper focuses on the occurrence of permeability in the stratified school system of Luxembourg and examines what this permeability entails for certain risk groups, specifically students from lower social background, male students and migrants. Educational pathways were classified (cluster analysis) on the basis of an administrative panel data set (n=5301); mechanisms behind educational decisions were analysed as a second step by estimating logistic regressions (Boudon, 1974). The findings show that reorientations in Luxembourg are often determined by the students’ social group, and that permeability – as blurred educational boundaries – mainly reproduces disparities in track placement.

Tracking in Israeli high schools: social inequality after 50 years of educational reforms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Bar-Haim ◽  
Yariv Feniger
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Secondary Education ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
Academic Tracks ◽  
Track Placement ◽  
Parental Class

This paper provides an overview of tracking in Israeli upper secondary education and assesses its effect on the attainment of higher education degrees and earnings. Since the early 1970’s, the Israeli education system has gone through three major reforms that profoundly transformed tracking and sorting mechanisms in secondary education. All three aimed at reducing social inequality in educational attainment through structural changes that expanded learning opportunities and replaced rigid top-down sorting mechanisms with concepts of differentiation and choice. Utilising a data set that includes a large representative sample of Israelis born between 1978 and 1981 who were fully affected by the reforms, the analysis shows that there is a clear link between social background and track placement. Track placement, in turn, is associated with attainment of higher education degrees and income. Moreover, tracking mediates a large proportion of the association between parental class and these two adult outcomes. We also show that the low-status academic tracks that replaced the vocational tracks did not improve the life chances of low-achieving students from disadvantaged social groups.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>We analyze the relation between social background, secondary education tracking and later life achievements using registry data.</li><br /><li>The results show that tracking mediates a large proportion of the association between background and outcomes High-tier vocational tracks improved the chances of students.</li><br /><li>Low-status academic tracks did not improve the life chances of low background students.</li></ul>

Childhood Intelligence Predicts Adult Trait Openness

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Helen Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Data Set ◽  
National Child Development Study ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Uk

Abstract. This study used a longitudinal data set of 5,672 adults followed for 50 years to determine the factors that influence adult trait Openness-to-Experience. In a large, nationally representative sample in the UK (the National Child Development Study), data were collected at birth, in childhood (age 11), adolescence (age 16), and adulthood (ages 33, 42, and 50) to examine the effects of family social background, childhood intelligence, school motivation during adolescence, education, and occupation on the personality trait Openness assessed at age 50 years. Structural equation modeling showed that parental social status, childhood intelligence, school motivation, education, and occupation all had modest, but direct, effects on trait Openness, among which childhood intelligence was the strongest predictor. Gender was not significantly associated with trait Openness. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.

scholarly journals Relative risk aversion models: How plausible are their assumptions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 104346312199408
Author(s):  
Carlo Barone ◽  
Katherin Barg ◽  
Mathieu Ichou
Keyword(s):  
Relative Risk ◽  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Relative Risk Aversion ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Educational Decisions ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Occupational Risks

This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model that families aim only at avoiding downward mobility and are insensitive to the prospects of upward mobility. We argue that the loss-aversion assumption proposed by BY is a more realistic formulation of status-maintenance motives. Second, we propose and implement a novel empirical approach to assess the validity of the loss-aversion assumption. Third, we present empirical results based on a sample of families of lower secondary school leavers indicating that families are sensitive to the prospects of both upward and downward mobility, and that the loss-aversion hypothesis of BY is empirically supported. As regards the risky choice assumption, we argue that families may not believe that more ambitious educational options entail occupational risks relative to less ambitious ones. We present empirical evidence indicating that, in France, the academic path is not perceived as a risky option. We conclude that, if the restrictive assumptions of the BG model are removed, relative-risk aversion needs not drive educational inequalities.

God, Grades, and Graduation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana M. Horwitz
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
Selective College ◽  
Academic Trajectories ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
High School To College ◽  
Deep Relationship ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Middle Class Families

It’s widely acknowledged that American parents from different class backgrounds take different approaches to raising their children. But missing from the discussion is the fact that millions of parents on both sides of the class divide are raising their children to listen to God. What impact does a religious upbringing have on their academic trajectories? Drawing on 10 years of survey data with over 3,000 teenagers and over 200 interviews, God, Grades, and Graduation offers a revealing and at times surprising account of how teenagers’ religious upbringing influences their educational pathways from high school to college. God, Grades, and Graduation introduces readers to a childrearing logic that cuts across social class groups and accounts for Americans’ deep relationship with God: religious restraint. This book takes us inside the lives of these teenagers to discover why they achieve higher grades than their peers, why they are more likely to graduate from college, and why boys from lower-middle-class families particularly benefit from religious restraint. But readers also learn how for middle-upper-class kids—and for girls especially—religious restraint recalibrates their academic ambitions after graduation, leading them to question the value of attending a selective college despite their stellar grades in high school. By illuminating the far-reaching effects of the childrearing logic of religious restraint, God, Grades, and Graduation offers a compelling new narrative about the role of religion in academic outcomes and educational inequality.

The Concept of Academic Mobility: Normative and Methodological Considerations

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1625-1664
Author(s):  
Rafael Quintana ◽  
Richard Correnti
Keyword(s):  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Academic Mobility ◽  
Representative Data ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Methodological Considerations

Most of the literature on the development of educational inequality has operated under the achievement gaps paradigm, often assuming that the underlying normative and methodological foundations related to equality and justice in education are a settled matter. In this article, we argue that important normative dimensions are overlooked with traditional mean-based measures, and that metrics that capture students’ academic mobility as they progress through school can provide the informational base needed to describe and evaluate these policy and socially relevant aspects. We discuss some key normative principles and methodological dimensions related to academic mobility and provide an empirical example of the mobility metrics presented using a nationally representative data set.

scholarly journals Predicting Postsecondary Pathways: The Effect of Social Background and Academic Factors on Routes through School

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802311989517
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Boylan
Keyword(s):  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Academic Factors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Educational Careers

Access to institutions of higher education has increased in recent decades; however, increased access has not led to parallel increases in degree completion among all types of students. In this article, I examine the associations between individual-level factors and the particular paths through educational institutions that students follow as they navigate their educational careers. Research on educational pathways has typically examined individual educational “transitions” but failed to examine the full “trajectories” that students experience. Applying optimal matching sequence analysis techniques to the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, I capture the long-term postsecondary educational experiences of respondents across 107 months in early adulthood. Examining how social background factors affect the extent and ordering of postsecondary experiences over this extended period of the life course contributes to our understanding of the ways these factors may influence whole educational careers and provides a holistic counterpart to the more traditional transitions-focused literature.

scholarly journals Navigating Institutions: Parents’ Knowledge of the Educational System and Students’ Success in Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea G Forster ◽  
Herman G van de Werfhorst
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Educational System ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Track Placement ◽  
Role Of Parents

Abstract This study investigates whether families navigate educational institutions more successfully if they have a higher knowledge of the pathways in the educational system that are available to their children. We also study whether this kind of knowledge mediates secondary effects of social origin, i.e. differences in educational pathways once achievement differences between children are accounted for. The role of parents’ knowledge is consistent with various sociological theories concerning educational inequality. Knowledge can affect families’ ability to make rational choices for education but it can also be understood as a form of cultural capital. We use longitudinal student cohort data from the Netherlands combined with individual-level register data on educational attainment to study the importance of knowledge for short-term outcomes (up- and downward transitions in secondary education as well as track placement) and final educational attainment. Our results show that parents’ knowledge is a significant predictor of educational success net of parents’ education, socio-demographic characteristics, and demonstrated ability. If we apply a stricter test to the measure, however, we can see that knowledge matters for downward transitions and obtaining a tertiary degree but that the effect is negligible for upward transitions and track placement if other mechanisms such as cultural capital and aspirations are considered. Further, we conclude that knowledge matters especially for transitions in the educational system that require a move to a new and unknown school environment such as post-secondary or tertiary education. The study shows that knowledge is one useful avenue to investigate when we are confronted with the question why social disparities in educational decision-making arise.

Signals, Educational Decision-Making, and Inequality

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Holm ◽  
Anders Hjorth-Trolle ◽  
Mads Meier Jæger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Monozygotic Twins ◽  
Academic Ability ◽  
Low Ses ◽  
Educational Decisions ◽  
Educational Decision ◽  
Educational Decision Making ◽  
Low Ses Students

Abstract We propose a model of educational decision-making based on rational choice theory in which students use signals about academic ability to make inference about the costs and benefits of different educational options. Our model is simple, extends ideas from previous models, and has testable implications. We test our model using data on Danish monozygotic twins and find that (i) students who receive a positive signal about their academic ability have a higher likelihood of enrolling in and completing a college-bound track compared with those who do not; (ii) the effect of the signal is stronger for students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds than for those from high-SES ones; and (iii) for low-SES students the effect is stronger on enrolment than on completion. Our results suggest that signals about academic ability affect educational decisions in general; they are more important for students who do not have a family ‘push’ to avoid downward social mobility; and they affect educational inequality by making low-SES students too optimistic about their likelihood of completing the college-bound track.

Lessons from the Cold War: Military Service and College Education

2005 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alair MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
College Education ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Educational Trajectories ◽  
The Cold War

Since World War II, the federal government has provided funds to pay for the education of veterans through the GI bill. Yet, these funds were unavailable from 1955 to 1965. This article considers four potentially overlapping hypotheses to describe the effect of military service on veterans' educational attainment in the absence of government funding. Military service may have (1) reproduced civilian status defined by social background, (2) reflected the process of selection on the basis of individual characteristics, (3) changed men's educational trajectories by providing a positive turning point, or (4) disrupted the educational portion of the transition to adulthood. The results indicate that veterans who were drafted were less likely than were nonveterans and veterans who were not drafted to go on to college, which is consistent with the disruption hypothesis, and that military service diverted academically ambitious men from their plans for higher education. Thus, military service disrupted some men's educational trajectories, but may also be described as a turning point with negative, rather than positive, consequences for the pursuit of higher education.

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