German secondary education is known for its early, strict selection of students into different schooling tracks based on prior academic performance, based on the assumption that students learn more efficiently when the learning environment is tailored to their individual abilities and needs. While much previous research has shown that entry into tracks is socially selective, less is known whether there are effects of being exposed to a particular school track on educational success and which mechanisms are contributing to these effects. We investigate this question by comparing the learning progress in reading and mathematics of students in the upper and intermediate schooling track over five years of secondary schooling, based on large-scale German-wide longitudinal data (NEPS-SC3). Even when restricting our sample to a group of students with similar preconditions and controlling for skills at the beginning of secondary schooling, we find that the learning progress in the upper track is higher for both domains, suggesting scissor effects of track exposure. It is mainly the average performance level of the class, and to a lesser degree its social background composition, which mediates these effects. In contrast, migration background composition of the class and instructional quality perceived by students hardly contribute to explaining increasing learning gains in the upper track.

德国中学教育以其早期的、根据先前的学业成绩严格选择学生进入不同的学校教育轨道而闻名，其假设是当学习环境适合学生的个人能力和需求时，他们会更有效地学习。虽然之前的许多研究表明，进入轨道是具有社会选择性的，但人们对进入特定学校轨道是否会对教育成功产生影响以及哪些机制导致这些影响知之甚少。我们基于大规模的全德国纵向数据 (NEPS-SC3)，通过比较高中和中等教育轨道中学生在五年中学教育中的阅读和数学学习进度来研究这个问题。即使将我们的样本限制在具有相似先决条件的一组学生并在中学开始时控制技能时，我们发现两个领域的上轨道的学习进度都更高，这表明轨道暴露的剪刀效应。主要是班级的平均表现水平，以及在较小程度上调节这些影响的社会背景构成。相比之下，班级的迁移背景构成和学生感知的教学质量几乎无法解释在上轨道中增加的学习收益。主要是班级的平均表现水平，以及在较小程度上调节这些影响的社会背景构成。相比之下，班级的迁移背景构成和学生感知的教学质量几乎无法解释在上轨道中增加的学习收益。主要是班级的平均表现水平，以及在较小程度上调节这些影响的社会背景构成。相比之下，班级的迁移背景构成和学生感知的教学质量几乎无法解释在上轨道中增加的学习收益。