Track recommendation procedures and the cancellation of the school leavers’ test during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
Dutch students are allocated to different tracks in secondary school on the basis of teacher track recommendations in primary school. Usually, teachers form an initial track recommendation, and can upwardly adjust this recommendation on the basis of a final standardized test. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this test was cancelled. During the outbreak, I collected data among Dutch teachers involved in the track recommendation procedure. Teachers varied in how they dealt with the cancellation of the final test: 50% did not consider adjustments in their track recommendations, while 40% did. Moreover, respondents mentioned different reasons for considering possible adjustments, including parental wishes and students’ school development during the school shutdown. School SES was unrelated to teachers’ considerations for making adjustments. However - given the criteria that teachers mentioned for making adjustments - within schools, students from advantaged backgrounds were potentially more likely to receive an upward adjustment in their recommendation.