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

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.

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-242 ◽  
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.

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

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
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.

Principals and Student Achievement

2018 ◽  
pp. 84-117 ◽  
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.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-95 ◽  
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.

Principals and Student Achievement

2021 ◽  
pp. 1378-1404
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.

scholarly journals Incidence of a Non-Sustainability Use of Technology on Students’ Reading Performance in Pisa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban Vázquez-Cano ◽  
José Gómez-Galán ◽  
Alfonso Infante-Moro ◽  
Eloy López-Meneses
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Reading Performance ◽  
Reading Competence ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
Variance Explained ◽  
At Home

This article describes an investigation that made a comparative analysis of the influence of the use of technology for non-academic activities on the reading performance of students in 21 countries within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as measured by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). To do this, we coded the SumIC001-008-010 variables (“Devices available at home” and “How often do you use digital devices for the following activities outside school”) in the PISA survey and quantified the effect by the proportion of variance explained of each variable in the model for each country. The results show that the reading score increases according to the variable for type and quantity of devices at home but falls drastically in all 21 countries when the “SumIC001” variable exceeds 15 points. Our research also found that the two activities that most negatively impacted reading performance if done on a regular basis were “playing online games via social networks” and “uploading your own created contents.” These results would seem to confirm that the non-sustainability and prolonged use of technology outside school is objectively negative for the development of reading competence in young people.

scholarly journals The Effect of School and Student-Related Factors on PISA 2015 Science Performances in Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-186
Author(s):  
Mehmet İkbal YETİŞİR
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Model ◽  
Educational Material ◽  
School Level ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Staff Shortage ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Cultural Status ◽  
Nested Structure

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a research project conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which evaluates the knowledge and skills gained by 15-year-old students over three-year terms. Within this study’s' scope, the PISA 2015 data were analysed to determine whether school-related factors [including the schools’ economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS)] were related to Turkish students’ science performances. Due to its nested structure, the released PISA 2015 data were analysed using the hierarchical linear model (HLM). Two models were considered to examine how Aggregated ESCS at the school level makes a difference. Thereby in model 1 shortage of educational material, staff shortage, student behaviours, and teacher behaviours were included in the analysis; in addition to these variables listed, aggregated ESCS was also added to the analysis in Model 2. The results of the analysis revealed that school-related factors - in particular, staff shortage, student behaviours, and aggregated ESCS indexes - were statistically related to students’ science performances. When the aggregated ESCS was controlled, it is observed that the school-level variables had a higher effect on students’ science performances.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-194
Author(s):  
Sivakumar Alagumalai ◽  
Nicholas Buchdahl
Keyword(s):  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
School Level ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Mathematical Literacy ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Negative Effect

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.

scholarly journals Browsing the Web for School: Social Inequality in Adolescents’ School-Related Use of the Internet

SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824401985995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Weber ◽  
Birgit Becker
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
International Student ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Educational Inequalities ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Proportional Odds Models ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
At Home

This article examines whether social inequality exists in European adolescents’ school-related Internet use regarding consuming (browsing) and productive (uploading/sharing) activities. These school-related activities are contrasted with adolescents’ Internet activities for entertainment purposes. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 is used for the empirical analyses. Results of partial proportional odds models show that students with higher educated parents and more books at home tend to use the Internet more often for school-related tasks than their less privileged counterparts. This pattern is similar for school-related browsing and sharing Internet activities. In contrast to these findings on school-related Internet activities, a negative association between parental education and books at home is found with adolescents’ frequency of using the Internet for entertainment purposes. The implications of digital inequalities for educational inequalities are discussed.

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