The dark side of detracking: Mixed-ability classrooms negatively affect the academic self-concept of students with low academic achievement

The labeling hypothesis argues that mixed-ability classrooms foster the academic self-concept of students with low academic achievement because they lose their negative track branding. The contrast hypothesis presents the opposing view that mixed-ability classrooms expose students with low academic achievement to higher achieving peers, thus harming their self-concept due to social comparisons. The present study used data from two detracking school reforms (NStudy1 = 78,330 students, NStudy2 = 2,202 students) and employed a cohort-control design to compare cohorts before detracking with cohorts after detracking. In both studies, students with low academic achievement had a lower self-concept in untracked cohorts than in the tracked ones. However, the self-concept of students with high academic achievement did not differ between the cohorts. Our study highlights potential side effects of detracking school reforms that might result from students with low academic achievement being exposed to unfavorable social comparison processes.