Schools as Sorting Machines: The Case of Vocational Tracking in Chile

Pablo Geraldo Bastias , University of California, Los Angeles

I study the consequences of attending vocational schools on students’ outcomes in the Chilean educational system. The selection of the Chilean case is important both for theoretical and methodological reasons. In Chile, the vocational curriculum does not map perfectly onto high school institutions. While the curricular differentiation include the 11th and 12th grades (ages 16 to 18), the majority of vocational schools starts at grade 9th, so most students have to choose between the academic and vocational track at age 13. This allows testing if there is an effect of vocational schools independent of curricular tracking. Second, the availability of administrative and survey data measuring students’, families’, and schools’ characteristics during grades 4th, 8th, and 10th, permits to attempt the identification of the effect of vocational schools on students' test scores based on ignorability and parallel trends assumptions. Preliminary results suggest a detrimental effect on students’ academic performance and expectations.

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 Presented in Session 67. The Short- and Long Terms Consequences of K–12 Educational Attainment