Are boys left behind? The evolution of the gender achievement gap in Beijing's middle schools

Using one cohort of 7235 middle school students in Beijing, China, we examined the evolution of the gender achievement gap in middle school. Our study found a more significant female dominance than in U.S. studies: even though boys gradually caught up during middle school, especially in Math and Science, and the gender achievement gap decreased over the distribution of test scores, girls outperformed boys throughout primary and middle school and in each quartile of the performance distribution. As well, girls had a more positive school experience than boys, and boys had a higher dropout rate by the end of middle school. Despite significant gender differences in various important characteristics that have explained the gender achievement gap in the U.S., in our study, primary school test scores seemed to be the only significant source of the gender achievement gap at the end of middle school, indicating the importance of early intervention.     

Religion and education gender gap: Are Muslims different?

This paper uses individual-level data and a differences-in-differences estimation strategy to test whether the education gender gap of Muslims is different from that of Christians. In particular, the paper uses data for young Lebanese and shows that, other things equal, girls (both Muslim and Christian) tend to receive more education than boys and that there is no difference between the education gender gap of Muslims and Christians. Therefore, the paper finds no support for the hypothesis that Muslims discriminate against female education.     

Academic effectiveness of private,public and private–public partnership schools in Pakistan

In recent years, there has been major growth in low-cost or affordable private schooling in South Asia. This has applied in both urban and rural areas. In Pakistan, some 25%–33% of all children now attend private schools. Further, there has been substantial, consistent, developing country evidence that students of affordable private schools outperform academically their counterparts in government schools. This seems to remain true even after account is taken of intellectual ability, home and family characteristics.In this paper we use 2011 data collected by Pakistan's Annual Status of Education Report (ASER, 2012) to address three questions:

• (a)Do Pakistan's rural private school students outperform their public school counterparts?
• (b)Do Pakistan's public–private partnership (PPP) school students outperform their public school counterparts?
• (c)Are higher private school fees associated with higher student achievement?

Our results show that:

• •private school students in Pakistan, do outperform their government colleagues. This effect persists even after account is taken of other variables (child, household and school).
• •PPP students also outperform their government counterparts but this effect disappears when account is taken of private tuition.
• •students from the lowest-fee private schools outperform students from government schools and higher fee school students generally outperform the lowest fee schools but this latter difference seems attributable to factors other than solely the higher fee level itself.

     

Are students in receiving schools hurt by the closing of low-Performing schools? Effects of school closures on receiving schools in Sweden 2000–2016

This article aims to investigate how students in receiving schools are affected by school closures. The effects are analyzed in a quasi-experimental study of all Swedish middle schools that received displaced students from 2000 to 2016, utilizing family fixed effects. The results show that the inflow of displaced students had a negative effect on student outcomes in the receiving schools in terms of average grades and test scores and that this effect increased over time. However, student achievement among nondisplaced students in the receiving schools was not affected by the inflow of displaced students, even when the displaced students came from relatively low-performing schools.     

Education and psychological distress in adolescence and mid-life: Do private schools make a difference?

This article extends the evidence base on childhood circumstances, education and psychological distress. We examine the link between childhood advantage and disadvantage, the type of school attended during adolescence and psychological distress at ages 16 and 42. The analysis uses a large, population-based birth cohort study, the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) (n = 17,198) using a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. More advantaged young people were more likely to attend private schools, but we find no evidence for an effect of private schooling on psychological distress for men, and for women there was an association between private schooling and raised psychological distress at age 16. Having a university degree was associated with a modest reduction in psychological distress in mid-life. We establish that maternal psychological distress at age 10 was a risk factor for the offspring’s psychological distress both in adolescence and in mid-life, and adolescent psychological distress predicts psychological distress in mid-life. We conclude that schools which are academically successful do not necessarily provide wider benefits in terms of mental health.     

Access or quality? Why do families living in slums choose low-cost private schools in Lagos,Nigeria?

Lagos is home to 12,098 private schools catering to 57% of the state's enrolled children, from ultra-rich to relatively poor households, with many schools targeting those of lower socio-economic status. Government schools were intended to provide a just and equitable option for all; however, they have not kept pace with demand in terms of both capacity and quality, causing concerned parents to look elsewhere. This paper draws on original household survey data to investigate why parents living in slums would put considerable strain on their household budgets to access fee-paying primary education for their children, and discusses the equity implications of this situation. Context is provided through data from the first comprehensive private school census in Lagos during the school year 2010–2011. It is found that parents choose private schools because government schools are perceived to be failing (or too far from home), but also that they have higher expectations than can be provided by private schools run on incredibly tight budgets with often untrained teachers. It is highly questionable then how under such circumstances social justice can be served through this scenario.     

Is the math gender gap associated with gender equality? Only in low-income countries

In their seminal article, Guiso et al. (2008) uncover a positive relationship between several measures of gender equality and the math gender gap (which tends to favor boys) by exploiting cross-sectional variation in PISA test scores from 39 countries - the majority of which belong to the OECD - at a given year (2003). Using five waves of PISA data spanning the period 2003-2015 and exploiting variation both across- and within-countries, we find that the positive association between the female-male gender gap in math test scores and several measures of gender equality vanishes in OECD countries once we account for country fixed effects. Interestingly, our analysis also uncovers a positive and statistically significant association between the math gender gap and several gender equality indicators for countries in the bottom quartile of per capita GDP. This association is robust to controlling for country-level time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity.     

Basotho teachers’ constructions of gender: Implications on gender equality in the schools

Abstract

This paper gives prominence to rural teachers’ own accounts of gender in three co-educational primary schools in Lesotho. The paper employs the social constructionist paradigm as its theoretical framework. Drawing from ethnographic data (observations and informal discussions), it discusses factors that inform teachers’ constructions of gender and the implications of these on gender in/equality in the schools. Twelve teachers’ (male = 1; female = 11) participated in the study. Analysis denotes how teachers constructed masculinities and femininities as inherent gender qualities, and the role of Basotho culture, language and its discourse in promoting gender inequalities. The conclusion provides strategies that would strengthen teachers’ ability to promote gender equality in schools.     

Is there a gender gap? A meta-analysis of the gender differences in students' ICT literacy

The study of gender differences in academic achievement has been one of the core topics in education, especially because it may uncover possible gaps and inequalities in certain domains. Whereas these differences have largely been examined in traditional domains, such as mathematics, reading, and science, the existing body of empirical studies in the domain of ICT literacy is considerably smaller, yet abounds in diverse findings. One of the persistent findings however is that boys consider their ICT literacy to be higher than that of girls. This meta-analysis tests whether the same pattern holds for students’ actual performance on ICT literacy tasks, as measured by performance-based assessments. In total, 46 effect sizes were extracted from 23 empirical studies using a random-effects model. Overall, the gender differences in ICT literacy were significant, positive, and favored girls (g = + 0.12, 95 % CI = [0.08, 0.16]). This effect varied between studies, and moderation analyses indicated that the grade level students were taught at moderated its magnitude—effect sizes were larger in primary school as compared to secondary school. In conclusion, our findings contrast those obtained from previous meta-analyses that were based on self-reported ICT literacy and suggest that the ICT gender gap may not be as severe as it had been claimed to be.     

Research,Information and Education in Building: Where Are the Links?

RESUMÉ

A recent systematic study showed that the transfer of information from research to practice in construction is not efficient: results are disseminated badly, are difficult to trace and are little used by practitioners, whose information-gathering routines are defective. The way in which the building process is organized, characterized by discontinuity and variety, creates a context where the well-proven recipe is preferred to scientific knowledge, too difficult to apply with haste. How can one educate future practitioners and teach them to reconcile the need for better building—based on science—within the chaotic environment of the building industry? One answer to this question lies in improved exploitation of information, its systematic transformation and its valorization. A second answer lies in a search for operational continuity, thus paving the way for informed innovation.

Une étude systématique ricente a démontré I'inefficacité du passage de I'information de la recherche à la pratique en construction: les résuhats sont mal disséminés, difficiles a repérer et peu utilisés par les praticiens, eux-mêmes rarement avertis de I'importance de I'information. L'organisation de l'acte de bâtir, avec la discontinuite et la variété qui le caractérisent, crée un environnement o[ugrave] la recette éprouvée passe avant les connaissances scientifiques, trop difficiles à appliquer ‘àla va-vite’. Comment peut-on éduquer les futurs praticiens, et leur faire comprendre la nécessite de mieux construire—grâce a I'apport de la science—dans I'environnement chaotique du secteur du bâtiment? Une meilleure exploitation de I'information, de sa transformation systematique et de sa valorisation est sans doute une premiére réponse à cette question primordiale; une deuxième réponse préconise en outre la continuité operationnelle, ouvrant ainsi la parte à L'innovation guidée par I'information.     

Promoting Compulsory Education in Rural China: What Are the NPOs Doing?

Due to imbalanced social and economic development, education in poverty-stricken rural areas in China is lagging behind that of urban areas. The current study explores the role of the nonprofit organizations (NPOs) involved in rural compulsory education promotion. Results show that the NPOs are providing a variety of programs to promote rural compulsory education, and the types of programs, as well as their implementation strategies and impact, are influenced by their registration statuses and background characteristics. Due to lack of coordination and skills, there still remain service gaps, and the quality of the existing programs is questionable. The article proposes strategies to strengthen the nonprofit sector’s work in rural compulsory education.     

Unequal pay for equal work? Unpacking the gender gap in principal compensation

We investigate the male–female gap in principal compensation in state and national data: detailed longitudinal personnel records from Missouri and repeated cross-sections from the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). In both data sets, we estimate substantively important compensation gaps for school leaders. In Missouri, female principals make approximately $1,450 less annually than their male colleagues with similar characteristics, including experience level and degree attainment, leading the same school in different years. Gaps are present in both base salary and extra duty salary, and are only partially explained by career paths or workplace sorting. SASS analyses show that women make about $1,000 less than men nationally, on average, a gap that even grows larger once accounting for individual and workplace characteristics, teacher-supplied effectiveness ratings, and reported hours worked. The presence of these residual gaps after accounting for many supply-side explanations may signal gender discrimination in school principal compensation.     

Parents,quality, and school choice: why parents in Nairobi choose low-cost private schools over public schools in Kenya’s free primary education era

Low-cost private schools (LCPS) are widespread in Kenya, particularly in urban areas. This study examines the reasons that parents send children to fee-charging schools in a context of free public primary education. Drawing on parent survey and interview data, as well as interviews with national policy makers, we found that parents who chose LCPS for their children were more driven by quality concerns than were public school parents. We also present data on the costs of the school types, compared to household income. Despite being termed ‘low cost’, the fees charged by schools primarily serving the poor were often a heavy burden on families. We conclude with recommendations for maximising the impact of LCPS on educational access and quality.     

Are boys discriminated in Swedish high schools?

Girls typically have higher grades than boys in school and recent research suggests that part of this gender difference may be due to discrimination of boys in grading. We rigorously test this in a field experiment where a random sample of the same tests in the Swedish language is subject to blind and non-blind grading. The non-blind test score is on average 15% lower for boys than for girls. Blind grading lowers the average grades with 13%, indicating that personal ties and/or grade inflation are important in non-blind grading. But we find no evidence of discrimination against boys in grading. The point estimate of the discrimination effect is close to zero with a 95% confidence interval of ±4.5% of the average non-blind grade.     

Unemployment in South Africa on the rise: Are schools and universities to blame?

Abstract

Some critics have placed the blame for the rise in unemployment in South Africa at the doorstep of schools and universities since they are the initial formal education providers. This article argues that the notion that initial formal education should prepare the youth for the job market overlooks the core business of schools and universities, and the fact that the job market is not static. The article contends that schools and universities are there to prepare learners for life in all its spheres, through the development of literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills. It attempts to put into perspective the breadth and depth of initial formal education as a foundation for life in its entirety, not just for labour. It argues that the said skills enable the youth to access the wealth of knowledge locked up in texts that attempt to explain the wide spectrum of human experience and possibilities. These skills are taught within broad contexts of specific study fields that open job and service provision opportunities in the labour market. The article maintains that in cases where initial education institutions had adequate resources to accomplish their role, South African education has earned international recognition and its graduates have accessed job markets both in South Africa and internationally. It further identifies possible causes of the perceived current high rate of unemployment among the youth of South Africa, for example, the economic climate of the country and the legacy of inequalities in educational provisioning among others.

The article concludes that the popular criticism that universities operate as ivory towers has long become a cliché, since universities, apart from the conventional academic and professional qualification programmes they offer, also provide a variety of career-specific short programmes for people already in employment.     

Are private universities the solution to the higher education crisis in sub-Saharan Africa?

Although comparatively young, state universities in sub-Saharan Africa have accomplished alot. They have almost replaced expatriate faculty with indigenous staff and help foster intellectual communities. Some have developed relevant curricula and have produced the skilled human resources required to staff and manage public and private institutes. However, universities in the sub-region face formidable problems, viz: increased enrollments; fiscal challenges; quality issues and rising graduate unemployment. To help solve some of these problems, private universities are increasingly been seen as alternative routes to higher education achievement. Based on empirical data, this paper examines some of the challenges/opportunities that private universities face in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Low cost private schools for the poor: What public policy is appropriate?

Recent attention has focused on the existence of non-government schools that cater to children from low-income families. These schools can now be found in the majority of developing countries, many of which have a prescribed public policy to provide free public education. This raises the question, why would a low-income family choose to send a child to a fee-paying school if a place in a free school were available? This paper will report on case studies of low-fee schools in Jamaica, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Indonesia and Pakistan and will assess the reasons for their increased demand. In the past, some have argued that development assistance agencies should limit assistance to public school sector. Others have argued that the public sector is inadequate and in many ways has failed in its ambitions to provide a minimum quality for every child.This paper will consider what public policy should be toward low-cost private schools, including the policy of development assistance agencies which seek to assist low and middle income countries as well as the appropriate public policy for national and local governments. The paper will conclude with several recommendations. One recommendation is that although children from low-income families attend non-government schools, they continue to be citizens; hence they should not be excluded from poverty assistance strategies. A second recommendation is to expand government statistical functions so that non-government schools are regularly included in the calculations of enrollment rates. Lastly, the paper does not recommend voucher or other program of publically financed school choice on the grounds that the public sector should remain the main conduit for public schooling. It does, however, raise questions as to the limits of the public sector in delivering high quality schooling and whether these limits should be more candidly acknowledged.     

Affordability of private schools: exploration of a conundrum and towards a definition of ‘low-cost’

The affordability of private education is a contentious issue. While the extent of ‘low-cost’ private schooling is widely accepted, there is no agreement on what ‘low-cost’ means in this context and how this relates to affordability for poor families. This paper addresses the lacuna in the literature by defining ‘low-cost’ in relation to what poor families could afford if they were to send all their children to school while restricting their expenditure on schooling to a fixed proportion of their total family expenditure. This approach links the definition of ‘low-cost’ to internationally accepted poverty lines. Two examples from recent research in South Sudan and Liberia illustrate the flexibility of the new method. The paper also addresses the ‘conundrum’ in the research literature, which suggests low-cost private schools are unaffordable for poorest families, when the same literature typically shows some of the poorest using these schools.     

Adolescent moral motivations for civic engagement: Clues to the political gender gap?

This study explored gender differences in moral motivations and civic engagement among adolescents to add to existing explanations for the gender gap in political engagement in the US. We examined moral motivations for civic engagement in a sample of 1578 high school seniors, using a mixed-methods analysis of survey and interview data. Multiple regression confirmed that girls were more civically involved and expressed greater future civic intention. However, analysis of motivations suggested that differences in moral motivations might impact ongoing political development, as girls were more likely to take political action out of desire to help, while boys were more often motivated to act on values. Case studies of two interviewees—one male and one female—were analyzed to examine how civic commitment emerges in the interaction of desire to help, to act on civic values and another moral motivation that emerged in the qualitative analysis—to empower others.