New Data on Educational Tracking

The first version of the Comparative Educational Stratification Dataset ‘EduTrack’ provides new cross-national data for comparative and longitudinal research on educational tracking, also referred to as educational streaming or ability grouping. The EduTrack dataset was collected within the framework of the PERGAP project.

EduTrack covers 88 countries at seven time points between 2003 and 2022. It provides three indicators capturing the timing, extent, and duration of educational tracking compiled from secondary sources: the age at which students are first selected into different educational programmes, the number of different tracks available to 15-year-olds, and the share of primary and secondary education spent in tracked programmes. These indicators are combined into composite educational tracking scores using principal component factor analysis.

Building on earlier data by Thijs Bol and Herman van de Werfhorst, EduTrack substantially expands the geographical and temporal coverage of existing data on educational tracking. By providing both the underlying indicators and composite scores, the dataset offers a systematic resource for studying how educational institutions structure inequality and shape educational opportunities.

Learn more about EduTrack here: