As a conceptual replication of Dumont et al. (2017), this study examines school type effects on academic self-concept, motivation to learn, and beliefs about apprenticeship opportunities of students attending non-academic-track schools towards the end of compulsory schooling in Grade 9. By applying multilevel analyses, we further investigate how school type effects can be contributed to the anticipated type of school-leaving certificate and the classroom composition. The analyses are based on the German NEPS data of the Starting Cohort 3 from five federal states. To examine whether the effects vary over time, in addition to Grade 9 (N = 1277), a further measurement point in Grade 5 (N = 1572) was used. The results confirm that when controlling for students' achievement, the achievement of their classmates, and the type of secondary school they attended, students who expected the intermediate school-leaving certificate (mittlerer Schulabschluss) still revealed higher academic self-concepts (in reading and school in general) and a higher achievement- and career-related learning motivation than students who planned to graduate with a low school-leaving certificate (Hauptschulabschluss). We found the results to be similar for both measurement points. Teachers should therefore be sensitized to the fact that even the anticipation of graduating with a lower school-leaving certificate can have disadvantages for the motivational development of the students, over and above the effects of the school type and the class composition.
