Delayed tracking and inequality of opportunity: Gene-environment interactions in educational attainment

This study investigates whether delaying ability tracking in education reduces inequality of opportunity for children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Using twin data from the Netherlands Twin Register (N = 8847), the researchers found that delaying tracking is associated with a lower shared environmental influence and a larger genetic influence on track level in adolescence. This suggests that delaying tracking improves equality of opportunity by reducing the indirect influence of family background on track level via test performance and improving the realization of genetic potential, especially among students with low test scores.

Antonie Knigge, Ineke Maas, Kim Stienstra, Eveline L. de Zeeuw, Dorret I. Boomsma