School Track Decisions and Teacher Recommendations: Evidence from German State Reforms

This paper explores the effects of selective admission policies in the context of school tracking. Depending on the federal state in Germany, either teachers or parents have the discretion to decide which secondary school track a child may attend after primary school. Applying a differences-in-differences approach, I exploit variation in the implementation and abolition of binding teacher recommendations across states and over time. Using data from large-scale assessments, I find that binding teacher recom mendations significantly improve student achievement in fourth grade, right before track assignment. Effects persist into ninth grade. Further analyses show that effects are driven by increased time investments in students’ skill development.