Investigation of PISA 2015 Reading Ability Achievement of Turkish Students in Terms of Student and School Level Variables

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the students-level and school-level factors that are related to reading ability achievement of students who participated PISA 2015 (Programme for International Student Assessment) from Turkey. The effects of the student and school level factors on reading achievement of students were tested by 2 level hierarchical linear model. According to the findings, there are differences between schools in terms of students' reading ability scores in Turkey. When the findings of the effects of the student level variables on the reading ability scores are examined; mother’s socio-economic status, parental emotional support, and unfair teacher behavior variables seem to affect students' reading ability achievement. When the findings of the effects of the school level variables on the reading ability scores are examined; school size, teacher education level, and student behavior that hinders learning variables have a significant effect on the average reading ability scores of schools. When the student and school level variables mentioned above were modeled together, the significant effect of the school size variable was lost while the teacher education level and the student behavior that hinders learning variables continued to have a significant effect on the schools average reading ability scores.