The role of schools in bridging within-school achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status: a cross-national comparative study

Since the publication of the Coleman report in 1966, research on the role of schools in influencing student achievement relative to the role of family background has generated considerable interest and controversy. A large volume of international and comparative research has also been devoted to studying school effects on student achievement. Relatively few studies have examined international differences in the importance of schools in bridging achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status (SES). Using PISA 2012 data, this study examines the role of schools in bridging within-school SES gaps in achievement and compares findings across 61 countries. Contrary to prior research, we find that schools may have limited ability in bridging SES gaps that exist within schools. We also find that across all countries included in the study, specific factors such as the school’s learning environment and school context are not systematically associated with within-school SES gaps.     

Modelling TIMSS Data in a European Comparative Perspective: Exploring Influencing Factors on Achievement in Mathematics in Grade 8

In international comparative studies like TIMSS data analysis is aimed at differences and similarities among education systems (countries). In this article the outcomes are presented of explorative path analysis on data collected with grade 8 students and classrooms in eight Western and two Central European education systems. For the 10 education systems the resulting general path model explains 19% or less of the variance in achievement in mathematics. In many systems home educational background and students’ attitude towards mathematics have a positive relation with achievement in mathematics, out-of-school activities a negative. Due to the psychometric quality of scales and non-availability of measures of important factors at classroom level (e.g., time on task and teacher’s expectation), no significant results were found of factors that can be manipulated by policy makers.     

Does inequality in opportunity perpetuate inequality in outcomes? International evidence from four TIMSS cycles

Entrenched socioeconomic inequalities in achievement have been observed in international assessments for decades, with previous research suggesting that these inequalities may be exacerbated by differentiation in the opportunities provided to various social groups. Much previous research in this field has been US-based or subject to measurement issues. This study investigated socioeconomic inequalities in outcomes and opportunities using four cycles of international assessment data across 78 countries. Further, the paper questions whether inequalities in opportunities are related to inequalities in outcomes. The findings indicate global social inequalities in mathematics and science outcomes, while inequality of opportunity was particularly concentrated in economically advanced countries. Little evidence of the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequality in achievement through differentiated educational provision was found.     

Sense of coherence and academic achievement of domestic and international students: a comparative analysis

Traditional models of educational outcomes relate academic achievement to university experiences controlling for background characteristics, like former levels of achievement. In these models, most of the variance in the outcome under consideration is explained not by experiences inside the university but by background characteristics, such as prior levels of academic achievement. In many instances the contribution of institutional experiences to outcomes under consideration is small. To date, researchers have not included sense of coherence (SOC) among background characteristics. In the current study traditional models are modified to include SOC as a possible contributor to first year academic achievement among domestic and international students with English and other first languages at four Canadian universities. It is found that a model including SOC better fits data for commuter and residence students than a model in which SOC is omitted. Although the effect of SOC on first year academic achievement is small, it is larger than the effects of some institutional experiences. As a result, SOC should be included in attempts to explain first year academic achievement.     

Measuring academic Self-Concept in children: A comparison of two scales

While numerous studies attest to a relationship between academic self-concept and achievement, a variety of measures of self-concept have been used, and the equivalence of these instruments has received limited attention. In this investigation, the Self-Concept of Ability Scale (SCAS) and the newer and less examined Self-Perception of Attainment Scale (SPAS) were compared for their ability to predict achievement in reading as measured by the California Achievement Test (CAT). We predicted that: (a) both scales would be significant predictors of reading achievement, (b) when used as single predictors, the SCAS would have significantly greater weight than the SPAS, and (c) a linear combination of these scales would have greater weight than either scale alone. Using 187 eighth-grade students, we confirmed that both scales were significant predictors of achievement in reading and that a linear combination of the two accounted for more variance than either scale alone. We did not find, however, that the SCAS was a significantly better predictor than the SPAS.     

Getting it ‘better’: the importance of improving background questionnaires in international large‐scale assessment

In addition to collecting achievement data, international large‐scale assessment programmes gather auxiliary information from students and schools regarding the context of teaching and learning. In an effort to clarify some of the opacity surrounding international large‐scale assessment programmes and the potential problems associated with less than optimal background questionnaires, this paper outlines how auxiliary student background data influence the black box of achievement score construction. This discussion is supplemented with a number of empirical examples that point to possible threats to accurate achievement estimation, including missing data treatment, poor scale reliability, and questionnaire respondents’ misunderstanding or inaccurate answers to the questions.     

A Note on the Problem Solving Style Questionnaire: An alternative to Kolb's Learning Style Inventory?

Given the psychometric limitations of existing measures of Kolb's experiential learning model (ELM), two new scales of learning styles have been developed. The validity of these scales has been supported in samples of undergraduate and MBA students in the USA. This paper provides evidence of some psychometric properties of scores yielded by these scales using samples of undergraduate students in the UK. Only limited support is found for the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of scores produced by the scales. However, an item attrition exercise identifies a two‐factor solution providing an acceptable fit to the data. The scales are reported as being positively correlated with academic performance and prior academic achievement. Despite the mixed evidence, we suggest further development of the scales is warranted to create a psychometrically sound measure of the ELM.     

Effect of the Science Learning Environment on Science Achievement: A Comparison of 12 Countries from the IEA Second International Science Study

ABSTRACT

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Second International Science Study (SISS) was conducted in 1984, resulting in a vast amount of educational data collected from 23 countries and educational systems. This research study reports on the analyses of 12 of those countries using multilevel modeling, investigating the relationships between the students’ reported perceptions of the science learning environment and their science achievement when controlling for student background variables. The three science learning environment scales which were collected in the SISS and analysed here were Student Participation, Teacher Directed Learning and Practical Work. Additionally, this research reports on the effect of these science learning environment scales on gender and socioeconomic differences in science achievement.     

Student Background and Teacher Effects on Achievement and Attainment in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study

In this article, we have studied the effect of student social background, classroom social context, classroom organisation, and teacher behaviours on mathematics achievement and attainment ill English and Welsh primary schools. Data were collected over 2 years as part of a programme evaluation, for which we observed 138 teachers and tested and collected background data on over 3,000 students. Results were analysed using multilevel modeling, and point to the importance of student background and teacher behaviours to achievement and attainment. The implications of these findings are explored.     

International Educational Performance of the United States: Is there a problem that money can fix?

This paper addresses two important issues concerning US education: first do monetary inputs affect educational achievement; and second, if monetary inputs do affect educational achievement, how does the US compare internationally, when considering both achievement and fiscal effort? We use several national and international reading and mathematics achievement tests as educational outputs; and US state and international income and educational expenditures per capita as inputs. Given our use of aggregate data we focus on describing the relationship between educational inputs and outputs at the state or national level. Still, our results indicate that there is an association between relative fiscal effort and achievement. We find that the US performs as expected, given its income and relative fiscal effort. We also find several US states to be as efficient as top performing foreign nations.     

Change of Emphasis in the Mathematics Assessment in Hungary

International survey data showed that Hungarian students performed well in both mathematics and science in the past. Since 1991 achievement in these 2 areas has declined, and this was most clearly shown in Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Two possible reasons for this phenomenon are investigated here: as a consequence of recent political and economical changes; due to the conservative structure of math and science teaching which differ from the international trend. While the achievement of Hungarian students was high on items requiring awareness of the traditional disciplines, it was lower on literacy and life-skill items and topics such as environment issues, measurement, data representation and interpretation, and so forth. Following international trends, the national monitoring surveys have shown a shift from the “academic” approach to the “real-life” application of mathematics. The paper presents both the new approach and the findings from the most recent national survey.     

The Influence of Culture on Students’ Mathematics Achievement Across 51 Countries

The results of international large-scale assessments have shown that countries vary considerably in their mathematics performance. Culture has been suggested as a possible cause for the national difference, but insufficient empirical research has been conducted to investigate the effect of culture on mathematics achievement. Based on Hofstede’s conceptualization of culture, the present study examined the relationship between national culture and students’ mathematics achievement by analyzing data from 51 countries using two-level hierarchical linear modeling. The results showed that national culture played an important role in shaping mathematic achievement. It accounted for 23.89% of the country differences in mathematics performance after controlling for student gender, family socioeconomic status, and national GDP per capita. One cultural dimension “long-term orientation” had a strong positive association with mathematics achievement. The implication of the findings is discussed, followed by a discussion of issues regarding employing culture dimensions theory in mathematics education.     

What can national data sets tell us about inclusion and pupil achievement?

Recent developments in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have produced a national pupil database (NPD) that contains information about the attainments of individual pupils. Every child in the country has been allocated a unique pupil number (UPN), which means that the academic progress of individuals can be tracked over time. It is possible to combine data on attainment with the demographic information which is obtained from the pupil level annual schools census (PLASC). These innovations make it possible to combine 'value added' information about pupil progress from one key stage of education to the next with data from the PLASC, which contains pupil background information, to produce a single matched data set. Thus the NPD and the PLASC are able to provide much of the necessary information to explore issues of individual pupil performance over their school careers. Notably, more specific information about the academic achievement of pupils who are described as having 'special educational needs' is now available. Lani Florian, lecturer in inclusion and special educational needs, Martyn Rouse, senior lecturer in inclusion and special educational needs, Kristine Black-Hawkins, senior research associate, and Stephen Jull, research associate, are all based at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. In this article, drawing on their work in the 'Inclusion and Achievement Project', they explore the problems and possibilities for researching issues of pupil achievement and inclusion through the use of these new national data sets.     

Explaining student and home variance of Chinese reading achievement of the PIRLS 2011 Hong Kong

Hong Kong attained the top place in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011, an international study of reading achievement, which arouses keen interest in understanding the reasons behind this remarkable achievement. Although factors associated with reading achievement in English have been widely studied, similar studies using Chinese as a different language system are limited. The present study proposes and tests a hypothetical model that attempts to explain the variance of reading achievement of Hong Kong pupils in the PIRLS 2011 study, focusing on parental and student factors. Data of 3,875 fourth graders from 132 primary schools and their parents or caregivers (n = 3,682) are involved in the analysis. Structural equation modeling supports the hypothesized model as tenable explaining 34% of the variance of reading achievement. Parental background acts as the fundamental factor that exerts an indirect effect on reading motivation, reading self‐efficacy, and reading achievement of students via books at home and early reading abilities. Reading motivation and reading self‐efficacy are found to be significant in influencing reading achievement. Implications for educational practices and future research are discussed.     

PISA2006天津试测的实施及其启示

PISA是当前最知名的国际教育成效评价项目之一。本文结合2006年PISA天津测试的实践经验,从PISA测试的背景、实施流程、保密措施等方面介绍PISA的实施理念与操作规范,并在此基础上从测验实施角度,总结提出值得我国教育考试机构借鉴的有关问题。     

Orchestrating interdependence in an international online learning community

This paper focuses on research into the student experience as participants in the development of an international online community. The background context for this is an international master’s programme and the specific context for the research is a module on Digital Media Applications (DMA), which are outlined. The programme design emphasises peer and formative assessment practices and the pedagogical approach aims to foster group collaboration in international teams. Following an overview of the research methods adopted, a number of emergent themes from the data analysis of student diaries are discussed, including issues of language, culture and identity. In conclusion, we offer some reflections on these issues and discuss the underpinning assumptions (in relation to assessment practices in particular) that have given direction to our subsequent ongoing research and development.     

The Socio-Economic Background of Erasmus Students: A Trend Towards Wider Inclusion?

The article focuses on the financial issues and family background of Erasmus students. It examines the costs of Erasmus study periods in the academic year 2004/05 and the socio-economic background of Erasmus students that year, based on over 15000 survey responses. Results are compared with those of a similar survey undertaken in 1998 to track changes over the last decade. The main question that the article addresses is whether international mobility of higher education students within the Erasmus programme has been expanded to more students from lower socio-economic backgrounds during this period. We find that, in spite of still important socio-economic barriers to the take-up of the programme, access has been moderately widened.     

The existence and impact of floor effects for low-performing PISA participants

ABSTRACT

Modern international studies of educational achievement have grown in terms of participating educational systems. Accompanying this development is an increase in heterogeneity, as more and different kinds of educational systems take part. This growth has been particularly pronounced among low-performing, less economically developed systems. Although studies such as PISA have made modifications to account for increased diversity, the degree to which international assessments serve educational systems at the lower ends of the achievement continuum is understudied. We used modified Wright maps and PISA’s definition of proficiency to evaluate the fitness of PISA, especially among low performers. Our findings suggest that there is mismatch between some populations and PISA. Results from a simulation show that such disparities produced biased achievement estimates and correlations with policy relevant variables. Projected PISA growth and new instantiations of PISA, particularly geared toward developing educational systems, make these findings timely and especially relevant.     

Is There Anything Specific about Early School Leaving in Southeast Europe? A Review of Research and Policy

Studies on early school leaving (ESL) from countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia have been missing from the international early school leaving research map. As a contribution to remedying this, the article reviews research papers and strategic documents from these countries, guided by the general question whether there is anything specific about ESL in this region in comparison to the wider European research and policy context. The aspects of ESL examined include definitional similarities and differences, extent of ESL, dominant theoretical and methodological approaches, factors identified as impacting ESL as well as policy solutions. We find that Croatia and Slovenia are among the countries which have the lowest ESL rates in Europe. The findings of the reviewed research studies correspond to international research papers in terms of the following frequent risk factors for ESL: low economic and cultural family background, ethnic minority and migration status, type of school enrolled and motivation and academic achievement. There is a strong focus on Roma children early school leavers in all of the countries examined and Bosnia and Herzegovina stands out in the broader European context with the finding that girls from large, low socio-economic status families, who live more than three kilometres away from school, are at particular risk of ESL. In discussing ESL, the reviewed studies tend to emphasise individual and family characteristics rather than also broader social constraints as ESL determinants, a practice also reflected in policy documents which do not mention the role of broader social and economic conditions shaping early school leaving.     

国际教育测评视野下的芬兰教育成功特点探析

芬兰在国际教育测评中,特别是在“国际学生评价项目”中的成功引起了世界各国教育研究者及政策制定者的关注。通过对芬兰在IEA和OECD等组织的测评项目中所取得的成绩情况进行梳理,认为芬兰教育在国际测评中取得了以成绩卓越、均衡公平和持续发展为特性的成功。通过考察芬兰教育成功的特点,以期深化对芬兰教育和教育成功的理解,为我国基础教育提供有益启示。