The Effect of Different Secondary School Tracks on Cognitive and Non-cognitive Learning Outcomes - the Application of the Propensity Score Matching Method to Longitudinal Data

Available statistics and research show that there are large differences in the content and conditions of education and the socio-economic composition of students between the tracks offered in the Czech secondary school system (the vocational track, technical track, and academic track). The graduates of these different tracks show large differences in educational outcomes, including non-cognitive outcomes such as motivation to study, self-concept, and civic attitudes. There is no consensus on whether differences in outcomes are primarily due to differences in the knowledge and attitudes that young people already have upon entering the different tracks, or whether the school or the school environment is also responsible for these differences. Using the method of propensity score matching, this study seeks to reveal the differences in knowledge and attitudes of eighteen-year-old students in individual secondary school tracks who had the same characteristics when entering high school, i.e. they had similar study prerequisites and family background. Analyses of a sample of 1,231 academic track students and 1,097 vocational track students suggest that differences in cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes are amplified by the track students attend, but that in many characteristics there are also strong similarities between students across different tracks.