Efficiency and Equality of Education: The Effectiveness of Education Policy in the German Federal States

In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift: PVS : German political science quarterly, Band 53, Heft 2, S. 265-290

Abstract

The central goal of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of education policy in the German federal states with regard to two central educational outcomes: educational efficiency and equality. Applying a two-stage multi-level analysis, the degrees of efficiency and equality in the German Lander are estimated before the effects of sub-national education policy on these two outcomes are evaluated. A primary finding of the paper is that there is no "efficiency-versus-equality trade-off" in Germany's school education. By contrast, both outcomes are interdependent. Furthermore, education policy has very different impacts on efficiency and equality: Equality of education is mainly determined by early childhood education. Efficiency, however, is affected by the strict tripartite tracking system. Adapted from the source document.