One track mind: Secondary effects in school choice and social capital in a stratified system

At similar performance levels, socioeconomically advantaged students typically choose more demanding and prestigious educational paths than their less advantaged peers. Such secondary effects are often studied in school continuation decisions or track choice but may also manifest in school choice, offering an alternative avenue for parental influence in education. This study examines secondary effects in school choice and the role of social capital—resources embedded in peer and parental networks in primary school—in these patterns within the context of the Netherlands. I rely on linked sociometric and full-population register data for Dutch students who have recently transitioned to secondary school. Hypotheses are tested using fixed effects regression models to account for (self-)selection into primary school. Results indicate that secondary school choice is socially stratified: Students from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to avoid pre-vocational schools, prefer pre-university schools, and opt for heterogeneous classes at intermediate performance levels. There is limited evidence for the relation between social capital and the type of school chosen. A notable exception is that lower-SES students are less likely to enroll in pre-vocational schools if their parents are integrated into resource-rich networks in primary school, suggesting that such networks may play a compensatory role by discouraging decisions that hinder upward-track mobility.