In Hungary, the elementary phase of compulsory schooling consists of an 8-year long elementary school. Then, secondary school level offers three, highly different educational tracks, from vocational schools to the academic grammar schools. But, in fact, secondary school selection starts at a much earlier age, because of a system of early selective academic tracking, that intersects the  8-year long elementary phase. Grammar schools that operate these tracks offer 8 and 6 year long grammar schooling for a limited number of 5^th  and 7^th  graders, who can leave elementary school after the 4^th or the 6^th grades. This educational structure is quite particular, although several similar examples exist, mostly  in the former communist countries in Eastern Europe. In Hungary, these so called early selective grammar schools (ESGS) were introduced at the end of the 1980’s.

 These schools are the most prestigious school tracks among middle class families, and they produce the best results on the yearly National Assessment of Basic Competences. The admission process is complex: it includes a centrally organized written exam and, in most cases, oral exams organized by the grammar schools also. In terms of service providers, the distribution of maintainers of these schools is similar to that of the educational sector in general, but the share of the state as a maintainer is less than it is at the elementary level; however, the (otherwise lower) prestige of state schools within this particular school type is just as high as that of other maintainers’. 

The vast literature on school choice point to the fact that choosers are always socially more advantageous than non-choosers (Bifulco, Ladd, and Ross,2009; Yongmei (2012);  moreover, the earlier student tracking  is, more students’ social origins are predictive of the types of schools they attend (Buchmann and Park (2009). Educational tracking has a long history in most European societies, whereas the importance of school choice has increased over the past decades.  The Hungarian early selective grammar schools provide an example of what happens when pupils are selected through a special mixture of school choice and between-school tracking: these schools cream skim to an extreme extent the most advantageous students of the elementary schools and their social composition is highly advantageous.

The research presented here  investigates the main mechanisms and the most important steps  that contribute to this extreme stratification.  It also wishes to shed light upon how and under what circomstances students from disadvantaged background can still get admitted to these schools.  The first part of the presentation briefly analyses  the everyday practices during the months of the preparation process, the intensive use of the social and cultural capital of the families will be demonstrated. The most important findings also include that the whole preparation process is entrusted to the family, and elementary schools do not help potential applicants nor by spreading information nor by actual preparation for the exams.  

The second part of the presentation deals with students from severely disadvantaged social background who, against all odds, tried and successfully applied to these grammar schools. Their stories tell us how their individual choices and practices helped them in attaining their goals. However, their stories also reveal that all of them could rely on special help from engaged actors – civil volunteers; a caring teacher; etc – who played a crucial role in their school choice and success.

The research presented in this paper uses a mixed methodology. Data about the preparation for the exams, the different steps of the preparation process were obtained by a quantitative survey of targeted sampling. Respondents were parents of 4th and 6th graders who considered at the moment of the first wave of the survey – which took place between October and early December – that their child would apply to an ESGS. The first wave of the survey was followed by a second one the coming spring, where the exam results were already known. This way, 468 school chooser parents responded to both waves of the panel. The case of the disadvantaged students in these exclusive schools was researched through semi structured interviews. 10 interviews were made with teachers about their perceptions of disadvantaged students in their schools. Interviews were made with disadvantaged students and a further 1 to 2 interviews with important persons around these students (family members; teachers, mentors and tutors, etc). Altogether, interviews were made with 9 students so far and a further 10 interviews were made with important others around them.

The case of the early selective grammar school can be classified as a typical example of uncontrolled school choice (Cobb & Glass, 2009), where the distribution of students in terms of their family background is not monitored. In most school choice programs around the world, where school choice happens when the whole cohort starts a new school level, active choosers come on average from a more favorable social background than non-choosers. The ESGS intersects the elementary school grades which further widens this social gap between choosers and non choosers. According to the results of this research, most disadvantaged students who enter the process are likely to drop out of the process by self selection (decide not to write the central exam; or decide not to apply to the oral exam of a grammar school). However, the main problem is that the overwhelming majority of disadvantaged students remain non-choosers, and restrain themselves from the application process already from the beginning. The case of the successful disadvantaged students show that putting this school type on their mental horizon is among the most important factors that contributed to their future succces. In lack of a suitable family background and support, the social capital of the available other important actors played a crucial role in the success of these students.

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