Student Selection and Incentives
24 Pages Posted: 27 Feb 2006
Date Written: February 21, 2007
Abstract
The paper discusses the impact of ability grouping in secondary education on student incentives. Education provides a signal on unobservable ability for employers and improves productivity after education. Selection sets better incentives in primary education and allows for improved peer group effects in secondary education. In comprehensive schools qualification has a greater impact on the employers' beliefs. Hence, students have a higher incentive to invest in qualification. The paper provides an explanation why selective systems do not outperform comprehensive systems in comparative studies, even if standard peer effect assumptions hold. It also undermines the assumption that better scores with given financial inputs mean a higher a efficiency level. Finally it shows why the measurement of value added in secondary education underestimates the impact of selection on performance.
Keywords: Education, signalling, selection, ability grouping, incentives
JEL Classification: I20, I28
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation