At the age of ten German pupils are given a secondary school track recommendation which largely determines the actual track choice. Track choice has major effects on the life course, mainly through labor market outcomes. Using data from the German PISA extension study, we analyze the effect of...

Sollte das deutsche Schulsystem auf eine zweigliedrige Struktur aus Sekundarschulen und Gymnasien umgestellt und die Hauptschule abgeschafft werden? Annette Schavan, Bundesministerin für Bildung und Forschung, spricht sich für den Erhalt der Hauptschulen aus. Mit der simplen Forderung nach...

By the 2008/09 school year the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) abolished binding school catchment areas (SCAs) in all municipalities. The reform has been controversial and it was feared that school choice would increase ethnic segregation. Using data on all primary schools, we...

This paper makes use of the regional variation in schooling legislation within the German secondary education system to estimate the causal effect of central exit examinations on student performance. We propose a difference-in-differences framework that exploits the quasi-experimental nature of...