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Are separate classrooms inherently unequal? The effect of within-school sorting on the socioeconomic test score gap in Hungary

Hermann, Zoltán ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9805-9905, Horváth, Hedvig and Kisfalusi, Dorottya (2024) Are separate classrooms inherently unequal? The effect of within-school sorting on the socioeconomic test score gap in Hungary. Economics of Education Review, 103 . DOI 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102582

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102582


Abstract

This study investigates whether within-school sorting increases socioeconomic test score inequalities. Using universal test score data on 6-th, and 8th grade students in Hungary, we document the extent of within-school sorting in an institutional context where sorting based on ability or prior achievement is rare. We identify sorting schools as schools that systematically assign students with low and high socioeconomic status into different classrooms within the school. Then, exploiting school fixed effects and quasi-exogenous variation in sorting induced by enrollment and class size rules, we show that sorting has a significant and economically meaningful effect on test score inequalities between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Sorting harms low-status students, while high-status students gain much less, if anything, from attending sorting schools. We attribute our findings to the within-school reallocation of educational resources and differences in educational practices.

Item Type:Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:Achievement gap ; Inequalities ; Non-merit-based sorting ; Segregation ; Within-school sorting
JEL classification:I21 - Analysis of Education
I24 - Education and Inequality
Divisions:Institute of Economics
Subjects:Education
Funders:National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme
Projects:K124989, 949995
DOI:10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102582
ID Code:10993
Deposited By: MTMT SWORD
Deposited On:10 Mar 2025 10:08
Last Modified:10 Mar 2025 10:08

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