PISA 2012: Examining the influence of prior knowledge, time-on-task, school-level effects on achievements in mathematical literacy processes – Interpret, employ and formulate

Recent studies reiterate the importance of mathematical literacy and the identification of skills, knowledge and cognitive processes which contribute to composite test scores to facilitate targeted remediation and extension activities. To this end, the current article examines data from the 2012 cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), using multilevel modelling techniques to explore the relationship between selected student-level and teacher/school-level factors and the three processes of interpret, employ and formulate which were measured as the skills underlying mathematical literacy in that assessment. Results of the analyses indicate that boys outperform girls significantly ( p < 0.001) in all three processes whereby formulate invokes relatively more inter- and intra-level influences compared with interpret. Apart from the relatively higher item-difficulties of formulate, an increase in the complexity of contextual effects at the student and the teacher/school-level emerges as mathematical processes move from interpret to employ to formulate. Findings also reveal that students taught by teachers who had mathematics as a major in their undergraduate studies and who work in relatively smaller classes or groups show higher performance in all three mathematical literacy processes. Use of ICT in mathematics lessons is negatively associated with the three mathematical literacy processes. The additional negative effect of mathematical extracurricular activities at school on the processes highlights the need to rethink how technology and extracurricular lessons are to be used, designed/structured and delivered to optimise the learning of mathematical processes, and ultimately improve mathematical literacy.

Download Full-text

Three Paradoxical Effects on Academic Self-Concept Across Countries, Schools, and Students

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000332 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 231-242 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Herbert W. Marsh ◽

Philip D. Parker ◽

Reinhard Pekrun

Keyword(s):

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Frame Of Reference ◽

School Level ◽

Self Concept ◽

Positive Effects ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Country Level ◽

Starting School

Abstract. We simultaneously resolve three paradoxes in academic self-concept research with a single unifying meta-theoretical model based on frame-of-reference effects across 68 countries, 18,292 schools, and 485,490 15-year-old students. Paradoxically, but consistent with predictions, effects on math self-concepts were negative for: • being from countries where country-average achievement was high; explaining the paradoxical cross-cultural self-concept effect; • attending schools where school-average achievement was high; demonstrating big-fish-little-pond-effects (BFLPE) that generalized over 68 countries, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/non-OECD countries, high/low achieving schools, and high/low achieving students; • year-in-school relative to age; unifying different research literatures for associated negative effects for starting school at a younger age and acceleration/skipping grades, and positive effects for starting school at an older age (“academic red shirting”) and, paradoxically, even for repeating a grade. Contextual effects matter, resulting in significant and meaningful effects on self-beliefs, not only at the student (year in school) and local school level (BFLPE), but remarkably even at the macro-contextual country-level. Finally, we juxtapose cross-cultural generalizability based on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data used here with generalizability based on meta-analyses, arguing that although the two approaches are similar in many ways, the generalizability shown here is stronger in terms of support for the universality of the frame-of-reference effects.

Download Full-text

Communities of practice and PISA for Schools: Comparative learning or a mode of educational governance?

Education Policy Analysis Archives ◽

10.14507/epaa.25.2901 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 92 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Steven Lewis

Keyword(s):

Learning Community ◽

Professional Learning ◽

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

School Level ◽

Topological Spaces ◽

Global Learning ◽

Policy Cycle ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

New Variant

This paper examines the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) PISA for Schools, a new variant of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that compares school-level performance on reading, math and science with international schooling systems (e.g., Shanghai-China, Finland). Specifically, I focus here on a professional learning community – the Global Learning Network (GLN) – of U.S. schools and districts that have voluntarily participated in PISA for Schools, and how this, arguably, helps to normatively determine ‘what works’ in education. Drawing suggestively across diverse thinking around contemporary modes of governance, and emerging topological spaces and relations associated with globalization, and informed by interviews with 33 policy actors across the PISA for Schools policy cycle, my analyses suggest that GLN allows the OECD to discursively and normatively constrain how ‘world-class’ schools and systems, and their policies and practices, are defined. However, and in light of the productive capacities of power relations, I also argue that GLN provides opportunities for local educators and leaders to undertake meaningful collaboration and sharing, and to find policy spaces outside of those defined by more performative discursive framings of school accountability. To this end, I explore how GLN may help to foster alternative policy spaces from which educators can ‘talk back’ to national and state authorities, and potentially promote more ‘authentic’ understandings of, and possibilities for, schooling accountability.

Download Full-text

Peculiarities of formation and assessment of schoolchildren’s mathematical literacy

Science for Education Today ◽

10.15293/2658-6762.2104.06 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 113-135

Author(s):

Larisa Olegovna Denischeva ◽

◽

Natalya Viktorovna Savintseva ◽

Ildar Sufiyanovich Safuanov ◽

Andrei Vladimirovich Ushakov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Modeling ◽

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Real Life ◽

Mathematical Literacy ◽

Main Research ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Teachers Experiences ◽

Characteristic Features ◽

Conceptual Foundations

Introduction. The study investigates the problem of developing mathematical literacy. The purpose of the article is to reveal the specifics of developing and assessing schoolchildren’s mathematical literacy. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the concept and model of mathematical literacy defined for the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The main research methods include an analysis of mathematics teachers’ experiences and an analysis of the structure of mathematical literacy tasks. Results. The article presents an analysis of the conceptual foundations of developing schoolchildren’s mathematical literacy. The authors identified and structured the characteristic features of the tasks aimed at forming mathematical literacy, described the main approaches to their development, based on the use of model schemes and mathematical modeling. The links between the contexts of real-life situations and the content areas of the school mathematics course were traced. The complete process of working with mathematical models is illustrated by tasks arising in life situations. The authors revealed the main approaches to the development of tasks, designed to form mathematical literacy, based on the model schemes and the process of mathematical modeling. Conclusions. In conclusion, the authors summarize stages of designing mathematical literacy tasks and the requirements to the approaches of their development. The conclusion is made about the possibility of using model schemes as a reference for mathematical literacy tasks.

Download Full-text

An Investigation of Master Student Understanding on Mathematical Literacy Problems

Jurnal Gantang ◽

10.31629/jg.v5i1.1828 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Al Jupri ◽

Rizky Rosjanuardi

Keyword(s):

Prospective Teachers ◽

International Student ◽

Online Survey ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Student Understanding ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Mathematical Literacy ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Problems And Solutions ◽

Shape Uncertainty

Indonesian government has been promoting the National Literacy Movement since 2016 to response disappointing results of the Program for International Student Assessment on literacy and mathematical literacy skills of students. This movement involves many parties, including educational universities, to prepare mathematics education students of master level, as prospective teachers or lecturers, to understand mathematical literacy. To investigate this condition, this study aims to analyze master student understanding on mathematical literacy problems. To do so, we conducted an online survey via Google Form involving 32 master students from several universities in Bandung. In this survey, each master student was called for sending two mathematics problems and solutions that considered to be literacy problems. The results revealed that 17 (53%) involved master students understand mathematical literacy problems. The most frequent category of literacy problems to appear was Change and Relationship followed by categories of Space and Shape, Uncertainty and Data, and Quantity, respectively. Another result showed that word problems seemed to be regarded as the same as mathematical literacy problems by some students. We conclude that master student understanding of mathematical literacy needs to be improved for facing future educational careers.

Download Full-text

The digital divide at school and at home: A comparison between schools by socioeconomic level across 47 countries

International Journal of Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1177/00207152211023540 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 115-140

Author(s):

Josef Kuo-Hsun Ma

Keyword(s):

Digital Divide ◽

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

School Level ◽

Digital Competence ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Institutional Settings ◽

Educational Expenditures ◽

E Learning ◽

At Home

Despite efforts to improve digital access in schools, a persistent digital divide is identified worldwide. Drawing on data from the 2018 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for 15-year-olds, I examine how students’ digital use for educational purposes (at school and at home) and their perceived digital competence differ between schools by socioeconomic status (SES) and vary across 47 countries. Using multilevel modeling, I find that the second-level digital divide between schools exists even among more developed societies. Students attending high-SES schools are more likely to use computers for schoolwork within and outside of schools, and have more digital competence than those attending low-SES schools. These differences remain substantial and statistically significant even when controlling for school-level resources. Moreover, the between-school digital divide in students’ digital competence is negatively associated with economic development and educational expenditures, and positively associated with income inequality. In conclusion, I discuss implications of the findings and highlight the importance of examining how schools with varying socioeconomic profiles provide different e-learning experiences for individual students, explained by the different institutional settings and cultural features of schools.

Download Full-text

Principals and Student Achievement

Maximizing Social Science Research Through Publicly Accessible Data Sets - Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-3616-1.ch005 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 84-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Marshall Perry ◽

Karen M. Sealy ◽

Héctor X. Ramírez-Pérez ◽

Thomas C. DeNicola ◽

Yair Cohen

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Student Achievement ◽

Instructional Leadership ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

School Context ◽

School Level ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Context Specific

Connections between principal leadership activities, school context, and student achievement are examined within this paper. Data for this quantitative study are from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The eight countries of examination participated in both the TALIS and PISA and the researchers merged datasets, yielding a study sample of 1,301 schools. This paper supports a context-specific view of instructional leadership. When looking across countries, the researchers found different practices were more strongly associated with the academic achievement of students, and suggest that school leaders have a meaningful overall relationship with academic achievement, both directly and indirectly. This study therefore supports prior research about the direct and indirect effects of instructional leadership. Further study, which accounts for differences in family academic resources and school-level opportunities to learn, will better illuminate the connection between instructional leadership practices and academic achievement.

Download Full-text

Who is More Likely to Participate in Private Tutoring and Does it Work?: Evidence from PISA (2015)

ECNU Review of Education ◽

10.30926/ecnuroe2018010304 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 69-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Xiangyi Liao ◽

Xiaoting Huang

Keyword(s):

Scientific Literacy ◽

International Student ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Hierarchical Linear Model ◽

Educational Expectations ◽

Private Tutoring ◽

School Level ◽

After School ◽

Exact Matching ◽

International Student Assessment

Purpose In recent years, private tutoring has become increasingly prevalent in China and has become both a dominant way for students to learn after school and a major component of family educational expenditure. This paper aims to analyze the factors that affect Chinese students’ participation in private tutoring and the effectiveness of private tutoring. Design/Approach/Methods We use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 of Mainland China area and focus specifically on science-related private tutoring. Multilevel logistic model and hierarchical linear model based on coarsened exact matching (CEM) are used to conduct the investigations. Findings Empirical results show that individual level factors including student's interest in science, educational expectations, and school-level factors such as school autonomy, science-related learning resources and school size pose a significant influence on the likelihood of participation in private tutoring. Moreover, science-related private tutoring has not significantly improved the overall scientific literacy scores of students. In addition, private tutoring has widened the performance gap among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, with students from socioeconomically advantaged family experiencing more significant gains from tutoring. Originality/Value These findings suggest that providing free high-quality tutoring to students from disadvantaged families might be an effective way of promoting educational equity.

Download Full-text

Efficacy of Grade Retention in Macao

International Journal of Chinese Education ◽

10.1163/22125868-12340074 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 57-80

Author(s):

Yisu Zhou ◽

Yi-Lee Wong

Keyword(s):

Grade Retention ◽

International Student ◽

Learning Strategy ◽

Student Assessment ◽

Learning Trajectory ◽

International Student Assessment ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Catch Up ◽

Second Chance

Grade retention is widely used in Macao at the elementary and secondary levels. While many teachers and students believe retention gives low-performing students the opportunity to catch up, there is little empirical evidence to support such a claim. Using Programme in International Student Assessment 2009 (pisa, 2009) data, we examine the effect of grade retention on students’ learning time, learning strategy, metacognition, and academic achievement. We also analyze the influence of school policies to determine the net effect of retention. Our findings suggest that, contrary to conventional thinking, grade retention has a highly negative effect on the above factors. Students who repeated a grade did not benefit from this second chance, but rather were substantially held back in their learning trajectory. We suggest that schools in Macao shift their focus to designing programs that will help students with greater needs, rather than focusing exclusively on identifying such students.

Download Full-text