This paper examines whether there is significant difference between special purpose high school
graduates and general high school graduates whose academic performances were on a similar level
before they enrolled in high school. To perform the analysis, a comparative analysis on graduates
from both types of high schools, whose middle school grades were top-tier rated, was done via
employing the Korean Education Employment Panel data (fourth-wave, 2007) from Korea Research
Institute for Vocational Education and Training. In this analysis, the two-stage least squares model
with instrumental variables was used in purpose of resolving the endogeneity problems. Referring to
the result of the analysis, the SAT performances of special purpose high school graduates is not
confirmed to be significantly better than those from general high schools. The performances of
graduates from special purpose high schools located in Seoul and other metropolitan areas, however,
were higher than those of general high school graduates overall. The aforementioned results indicate
that while some special purpose high schools showed a higher student academic achievement, their
effect on educational performance is, in general, limited. Reforming special purpose high schools is,
thus, an urgent and important challenge in education policy.