In Germany and many other countries, students are tracked into various secondary school types. This paper studies … whether parents or teachers assess students potential educational performance more adequately. Educational attainment is … recommendations cause less grade retentions. The effect is mainly driven by students from better situated districts. This finding may …

set out the comparison of similar students undergoing alternative progression rules, and to shed light on whether, and to … across curricular tracks, picturing at best – depending on the data employed – a marginal improvement for students in … academic schools. We instead find sharp negative effects of the reform in technical and vocational schools, where the students …

Students face four decision margins: (a) How many years to spend in school, (b) What to study, (c) How much effort to … schools operate and how they might be made more effective. In this new framework students have a dual role. They are both (a … behavior of students, teachers and administrators depends on the incentives facing them and the actions of the other actors in …

public K-12 students combined with administrative data on all criminal convictions in the state. Our preferred model uses the … students are retained in eighth grade. Our data allow an examination of mechanisms, and we show that the effects are likely …- performing students. Our estimates indicate that eighth grade test-based promotion cutoffs lead to nontrivial private and social …