TRACK PLACEMENT - HOW THE SORTING MACHINE WORKS IN ISRAEL

The differentiation of students into high school tracks is a critical point of transition in their educational careers. In Israel this trans itional point is accentuated by the rigid structure of tracks and thei r different academic credentials at the end of high school. This artic le investigates the determinants of track placement in Israel and is b ased on data for approximately 4,500 ninth-grade graduates in a nation al sample of junior high schools. In specific, it investigates whether the process of sorting students and assigning them to tracks is merit ocratic, that is, based on their ability and academic performance or w hether ascriptive factors, namely family social background and gender, also affect the decision. The findings suggest that, though ability a nd academic performance are strong predictors of track placement, it i s also significantly affected by the student's socioeconomic status (S ES), ethnic origin, and gender: students of higher SES, students of We stern origin, and females have a better chance of being placed in acad emic tracks. These effects and especially their differential power in determining placement in various tracks are discussed in relation to s tructural features of the Israeli educational system.