How Different Types of Tracking Shape Students’ Academic Self-Concept in Developed Countries

• In Event: Inclusion, Tracking, and Social Justice in Global Contexts

Abstract

We use PISA data to examine the relationship between curricular tracking structures and math self-concept in 20 developed countries. A key feature of tracking systems is whether they track within schools or between schools, and we investigate whether this difference has implications for the relationship between student track position and self-concept. Results indicate that generally for students tracked within schools, high track students have higher self-concepts and low track students have lower self-concepts, while for students tracked between schools, high track students have lower self-concepts and low track students have higher self-concepts. This suggests that whether tracking occurs within or between schools has implications for the size and heterogeneity of the reference groups to which students compare themselves.

Authors

• Anna K. Chmielewski, Michigan State University

• Hanna Dumont, University of Potsdam

• Ulrich Trautwein, Universitat Tubingen