Would you follow the advice? The effect of school guidance on students’ academic success

ABSTRACT

This research explores the effect of orientation advice (OA), which is an instrument aimed at supporting pupils during their first transition from middle to high school. We investigate whether being ‘ambitious’ (i.e. rejecting OA and choosing a more challenging track) influences grade 9 retention probability. Data from 28 schools from Piacenza (Italy) are combined with those of the Italian National Evaluation Committee for Education (INVALSI). Employing the propensity score matching method, we find that being ‘ambitious’ increases the probability of grade 9 retention by 10–15%. Moreover, making an ambitious choice is riskier for males, non-Italian and socioeconomically advantaged students.

KEYWORDS:

• School tracking
• school factors
• grade retention
• propensity score matching

JEL Codes:

• I21

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by European Social Fund (2018-10711/RER).