臺灣許多家長讓子女跨區到明星學校就讀，不過若依Coleman等人的論點，明星學校學生成績較好主要是因為它們收到高社經背景學生，而非教育品質較佳。研究者還沒看到有國內研究用校際間成績比較來檢證以上論點，研究者也就運用「臺東縣教育長期資料庫」2005年全縣國二學生普查資料檢證以上論點。研究結果顯示：臺東市某明星國中，在全縣標準化學業測驗中，成績居第二名，成績最高的是一所私校，此私校平均家庭收入比明星國中更高。在控制社經背景等出身背景變項後，各國中與明星國中的成績差距大幅縮減。明星國中學生社經背景較高，學生到校外補習班補學科比率最高，是該校成績較高的主要原因。

In Taiwan many parents send their children to prestigious schools across school districts. However, according to Coleman et al., higher student academic performance in prestigious schools is due to higher student socioeconomic background rather than better educational quality. As we had not seen comparative studies testing the above theory in Taiwan, we used the census data of eighth graders in Taitung Educational Panel Survey 2005 to understand this local phenomenon. It was showed that the average scores of students in the prestigious school ranked second, while students in one private school performed best. Those students in the private school had higher family income than students in the prestigious school. After controlling socioeconomic and other background variables, score gap between the prestigious school and others substantially decreased. Higher socioeconomic background and the highest cramming percentage accounted for the higher student academic performance in the prestigious school.