Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Mentoring and Schooling Decisions: Causal Evidence
Author-Name: Armin Falk
Author-Email: armin.falk@uni-bonn.de
Author-Name: Fabian Kosse
Author-Email: 
Author-Name: Pia Pinger
Author-Email: 


Classification-JEL: C90, I24, J24, J62
Keywords: mentoring, childhood intervention programs, education, human capital investments, inequality of opportunity, socio-economic status

Abstract: Inequality of opportunity strikes when two children with the same academic
performance are sent to different quality schools because their parents differ in
socio-economic status. Based on a novel dataset for Germany, we demonstrate
that children are significantly less likely to enter the academic track if they
come from low socio-economic status (SES) families, even after conditioning
on prior measures of school performance. We then provide causal evidence
that a low-intensity mentoring program can improve long-run education outcomes
of low SES children and reduce inequality of opportunity. Low SES
children, who were randomly assigned to a mentor for one year are 20 percent
more likely to enter a high track program. The mentoring relationship
affects both parents and children and has positive long-term implications for
children's educational trajectories.

Note: 
Length: 47
Creation-Date: 2020-06
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp186
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2020_186