In this article, we analyze how the existence of alternative pathways to higher education, which implies different selection mechanisms, shapes social inequality in educational attainment. We focus on the Russian educational system, in which higher education can be accessed from academic and vocational tracks, but the rules of admission to higher education from these tracks are different. Access through the academic track is highly selective due to obligatory high-stakes testing, which determines secondary-school graduates’ eligibility to pursue higher education. The vocational track is generally less selective with regard to student intake and provides less restrictive access to higher education. We argue that this system has nuanced implications for social inequality. On one hand, transitions from vocational education to higher education can promote greater social mobility by offering an affordable and low-risk gateway to higher education for children from less-advantaged families. On the other hand, more-advantaged families might use the vocational track to higher education if their children face a high risk of failure in the more selective academic track. We test this conjecture and provide supporting evidence using data from the longitudinal survey Trajectories in Education and Careers.

中文翻译：

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跳过测试：高等教育选择机制不一致的背景下社会背景的异质性

在本文中，我们分析了高等教育的替代途径的存在，这意味着不同的选择机制，如何塑造教育水平方面的社会不平等。我们关注的是俄罗斯的教育体系，在该体系中，可以从学术和职业道路上接受高等教育，但是从这些道路上接受高等教育的规则是不同的。由于必须进行高水平的考试，因此对学术途径的访问具有高度的选择性，它决定了中学毕业生是否有资格接受高等教育。通常，职业道路对学生的录取不那么严格，对高等教育的限制也较少。我们认为，这种制度对社会不平等产生了细微的影响。一方面，从职业教育到高等教育的过渡可以为弱势家庭的孩子提供负担得起的低风险门户，以促进更大的社会流动性。另一方面，如果他们的孩子在选择性更高的学习途径中面临失败的高风险，则较优势的家庭可以使用职业途径接受高等教育。我们使用来自教育和职业生涯的纵向调查轨迹中的数据来测试该猜想并提供支持证据。