What do high-achieving graduates bring to nonacademic track high schools?

In this study, the effects of high-achieving graduates in nonacademic track high schools with low university enrollment rates are investigated. Japanese high schools are stratified, with each high school having nearly fixed tiers of universities to which their graduates advance. Because it is so rare for students from nonacademic track schools to be accepted into top universities, students who are accepted can serve as accidental role models, positively affecting the motivation, aspiration, and knowledge of academic procedures of their lower schoolmates. I have created and used various definitions of nonacademic track schools and high-achieving graduates by using the university acceptance data of almost all high schools in Japan from 2001 to 2021. The results showed that the quasirandom appearance of high-achieving graduates improved the university acceptance outcomes of nonacademic track high schools for subsequent years. Additionally, the appearance of high-achieving graduates is not related to factors such as teacher‒student ratios, regional socioeconomic characteristics, or changes in the school district system. Therefore, the observed performance improvement may result from changes in student beliefs and motivations or from the accumulation of school expertise rather than from peer effects or systemic changes.