OECD PISA Research Articles

Comparing the evolution of productivity and performance gaps in education systems through DEA: an application to Latin American countries

The main objective of this paper is to propose a tool for measuring the productivity and performance gaps across a set of Decision Making Units for monitoring their evolution and analyzing their components over time. To do this, we use the approach proposed by Aparicio and Santín (Eur J Oper Res 267(1):227–235, 2018) which is grounded on a base-group base-period productivity index and Data Envelopment Analysis. Additionally, we propose a new index for measuring the performance gap between two or more groups of production units and its decomposition in effectiveness gap and outcome possibility set gap. As an empirical illustration of the approach, we focus our attention on the educational sector. In particular, we analyze six Latin American countries over time. For this purpose, we rely on OECD–PISA data aggregated at school level. Over the period 2006–2018, performance and productivity followed very different paths in each country showing that the correlation between school performance and productivity is very low. Therefore, we suggest that the simultaneous analysis of performance and productivity gaps together with their evolution over time is a must in order to benchmark countries and monitor improvements and weaknesses in education systems.

READING COMPETENCE AND ENGAGEMENT OF LATVIAN STUDENTS IN THE VIEW OF OECD PISA 2018 RESULTS

Students' reading competence determines the achievements of learners in all areas of school education as well as in their further education, professional activity and life. The results of the OECD Program for International Student Assessment - OECD PISA 2018 confirm the need to improve reading competence in Latvia (OECD, 2019).The aim of the study is to analyze the achievement of Latvia's fifteen-year-old students in OECD PISA 2018 and the previous international program cycles in relation to students' reading engagement and its changes. Reading engagement significantly influences not only students' reading competence but are in themselves one of the goals of modern education (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Guthrie, Klauda & Ho, 2013). The study will use the OECD PISA international databases for statistical analysis the data of Latvia and other countries for comparisons with OECD averages, and especially with the attitudes and achievements of Estonian and Finnish students. The analysis of the first results shows that the promotion of reading engagement among Latvian students, especially boys, is one of the factors for increasing reading competence.

Gender differences in STEM expectations across countries: how perceived labor market structures shape adolescents’ preferences

ABSTRACT Despite the reversal of gender differences in educational attainment, women continue to be underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) occupations. Yet comparative studies indicate that the male advantage in STEM fields varies across countries. To understand how these country variations come about, this study analyzes the gender gap in adolescents’ STEM expectations. While previous research mainly focused on the role of the cultural environment and the education system, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the opportunity structures of the labor market. We study how employment opportunities in science and technology, the post-industrial restructuring of labor markets in both low- and high-status occupations, and women's success in graduating from STEM fields might explain the gender gap in STEM expectations. Empirically, we analyze 15-year-old pupils’ occupational expectations from the OECD's PISA 2015 study linked with macro-level indicators in 35 EU and OECD countries by means of two-step multilevel models. Results indicate that the gender gap in STEM expectations is larger in countries with a more pronounced post-industrial restructuring of the labor market. However, rather than steering girls away from the STEM sector, post-industrial restructuring increases boys’ STEM expectations and thus seems to strengthen their gender-typical tasks preferences.

Problematizing global educational governance of OECD PISA: Student achievement, categorization, and social inclusion and exclusion

This study problematizes the global educational governance of OECD PISA and its statistical data as a governing technology in contemporary discourses of education reforms. The study examines principles that order the discourses and practices of the international comparative assessment. The effort of analysing the impact of an education reform regime led by OECD PISA reveals how statistical reasoning defines problems in educational systems and forms social discourse surrounding educational reform to solve such problems. In doing so, this article focuses on standardization, classification, and normalization for measuring and comparing student achievement and national effectiveness. The study also offers an alternative way of considering the politics of inclusion and exclusion embedded in practices of education reforms propelled by the international comparative assessment.

Er búsetumunur á námsárangri þegar ólík þjóðfélagsstaða er tekin með í reikninginn?

Um áratugaskeið hafa yfirvöld menntamála hér á landi kynnt niðurstöður samræmdra prófa og PISA-rannsóknar OECD þannig að búseta sé önnur lykilbreytan til skýringar á námsframmistöðu ásamt kyni. Framleiðsla stjórnsýslu menntamála á þekkingu á tengslum búsetu og námsárangurs var skoðuð, rætt er hvernig skilgreiningar móta sýn á búsetumuninn og niðurstöður rannsókna á tengslum búsetu og þjóðfélagsstöðu raktar. Gerð var athugun á því að hve miklu leyti þjóðfélagsstaða skýrir muninn milli landsbyggðar og höfuðborgarsvæðis á frammistöðu á PISA í lesskilningi, læsi á stærðfræði og læsi á náttúruvísindi í fimm umferðum PISA, frá 2003 til 2015. Algengast var að lítil eða engin tengsl væru milli búsetu og námsframmistöðu þegar þjóðfélagsstaða nemenda hefur verið tekin með í reikninginn samkvæmt fjölbreytuaðhvarfsgreiningum. Þó voru dæmi um að þjóðfélagsstaða skýri ekki búsetumuninn. Búsetusamanburður stjórnsýslu menntamála, sem gerður er í þágu markmiða um framfarir í menntun, gerir ekki ráð fyrir mismunandi þjóðfélagsstöðu nemenda og nærir þannig þjóðarímyndun um vanmáttugt skólastarf á landsbyggðunum.

Access To Educational Technology And Its Implications On Learning Outcomes Of 15-Year Olds In Saudi Arabia:, Empirical Evidence From OECD PISA 2018 In The Context Of Covid-19

Access To Educational Technology And Its Implications On Learning Outcomes Of 15-Year Olds In Saudi Arabia:, Empirical Evidence From OECD PISA 2018 In The Context Of Covid-19

Backgrounds and Goals of ‘Innovations’: The Examples of New Math in the 1960s and the Change from Input to Output 1995

Every innovation should be questioned critically in the sense of humanization of education, in particular with regard to the context and overarching objectives for which an innovation is effective. That innovations are not always improvements will be shown on two international examples from the last six decades. In the 1960s, triggered by the so-called Sputnik shock, an innovation was initiated by the OEEC (OECD). In the interests of the economy, the number of educated people in mathematics and science should be increased. In connection with this, the innovation known under “New Math” for teaching mathematics was born. A further international innovation started in the mid-1990s stimulated by the results of the comparative OECD studies TIMMS (1997) and PISA (since 2000) which also focused on mathematics and science. This meant a change from input to output (final tests) and the change of the school system according to organizational forms of business management.

Collaborative Problem Solving: Processing Actions, Time, and Performance.

This study is based on one collaborative problem solving task from an international assessment: the Xandar task. It was developed and delivered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Program for International Student Assessment (OECD PISA) 2015. We have investigated the relationship of problem solving performance with invested time and number of actions in collaborative episodes for the four parts of the Xandar task. The parts require the respondent to collaboratively plan a process for problem solving, implement the process, reach a solution, and evaluate the solution (For a full description, see the Materials and Methods section, “Parts of the Xandar Task.”) Examples of an action include posting to a chat log, accessing a shared resource, or conducting a search on a map tool. Actions taken in each part of the task were identified by PISA and recorded in the data set numerically. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model looks at two types of relationship: at the level of latent variables (the factors) and at extra dependencies, which here are direct effects and correlated residuals (independent of the factors). The model, which is well-fitting, has three latent variables: actions (A), times (T), and level of performance (P). Evidence for the uni-dimensionality of performance level is also found in a separate analysis of the binary items. On the whole for the entire task, participants with more activities are less successful and faster, based on the United States data set employed in the analysis. By contrast, successful participants take more time. By task part, the model also investigates relationships between activities, time, and performance level within the parts. This was done because one can expect dependencies within parts of such a complex task. Results indicate some general and some specific relationships within the parts, see the full manuscript for more detail. We conclude with a discussion of what the investigated relationships may reveal. We also describe why such investigations may be important to consider when preparing students for improved skills in collaborative problem solving, considered a key aspect of successful 21st century skills in the workplace and in everyday life in many countries.

La repetición de curso a debate: un estudio empírico a partir de PISA 2015

La repetición de algún curso académico es una de las grandes preocupaciones del sistema educativo español, porque su tasa duplica el promedio de los países de la OCDE y la Unión Europea, lo que resulta muy costoso, y porque es una medida de calidad controvertida, ya que, lejos de lograr la nivelación pretendida, incluso aparece asociada en la investigación con el fracaso escolar. En este trabajo se pretende estudiar empíricamente el fenómeno, identificando las variables que determinan el perfil del estudiante repetidor y no repetidor y aquellos predictores que más inciden en la probabilidad de repetir. Para ello, se ha partido del cuestionario de contexto del estudiante proporcionado por el informe de PISA 2015 de la OCDE para España, que ofrece información sobre variables vinculadas con los antecedentes del estudiante, procesos y medidas no cognitivas, y que permite identificar claramente al estudiante que ha repetido algún curso en primaria y/o secundaria y al que no. Los datos se han analizado con la técnica de árboles de decisión y mediante regresión logística binaria. Los resultados muestran que las variables que mejor discriminan entre los perfiles del estudiante repetidor y del no repetidor son las aspiraciones educativas y el haber cursado una materia de ciencias el curso anterior. La principal conclusión del estudio es que la probabilidad de repetir se asocia más con variables de procesos (tiempo de aprendizaje y currículum), que, con variables vinculadas a los antecedentes del estudiante, en contra de lo que se ha venido perpetuando a través de la literatura. Esto supone un distanciamiento de las variables que tradicionalmente se han relacionado con la repetición y la aportación de evidencia empírica favorable a la apertura de una nueva perspectiva educativa, basada en el abordaje de la repetición de curso desde un enfoque menos socioeconómico y más pedagógico

The efficiency of schools in developing countries, analysed through PISA 2012 data

This paper analyses the efficiency of more than 6800 schools in 28 developing countries, by means of a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis and using data from OECD PISA 2012. The results reveal that the average efficiency of schools is around 70%, meaning that achievement scores can be raised by 30% by employing a more effective use of available resources. Substantial heterogeneity exists both between and within countries; in general, efficiency scores are higher when comparing schools only with those in the same country. Among factors associated with schools' efficiency, the most important are the characteristics of student population (for instance, motivation, truancy, etc.). Therefore, some practices related to accountability, teachers’ involvement and professional development, and extracurricular activities are also positively associated with higher levels of efficiency.

Capitalism without capital: the intangible economy of education reform

ABSTRACTThis paper explores third-wave post-neoliberalism as an assemblage, fractured and dis/embodied, a mobile tool of governance articulated in various shapes across geopolitical sites. Post-neoliberalism is assembled alongside other key cultural shifts, such as post-truth, posthuman and the computational turn. In light of this Special Issue, this paper will argue that education reform is not only shaped by neoliberal drivers, such as marketisation, competition and decentralisation, but a central tenet of post-neoliberal reform is the presence of the intangible; ‘big data’ and data-fication, shaped by prominent globalised datasets such as OECD PISA, artificial intelligence, predictive software and complex algorithms. Measurement is far from new in the capitalist economy, but this economy seeks to measure the intangibles, that which does not necessarily exist in three-dimensional spaces. This is, as I will argue in this paper, the mark of capitalism without capital and the rise of the intangible economy in schooling.

Gender and Differences in School Performance in Reading and in Mathematics in Italian Schools

The paper takes gender into consideration in assessing if and how much this ascribed factor impacts school performance. The effects of gender connected to the type of school attended and to the geographical area of residence are analysed. Although there are gender gaps in literacy resulting from the OECD PISA - Programme for International Student Assessment’ study - with greater female proficiency in text comprehension and greater male ability in conceptual skill in mathematics - it seems, however, that these trends can be significantly mitigated by the type of school attended and by the geographical area of residence. The paper takes into consideration the Italian case.

Lifelong learning for (re)making future citizens through South Korean curriculum reforms and OECD PISA

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to analyze ‘systems of reason’ that govern the discursive practices constructed in terms of lifelong learning under the name of education reform. This study examined the notion of lifelong learning as a cultural thesis describing modes of life for producing (future) citizens through an analysis of documents from the OECD and South Korea. Along with other OECD member countries, South Korea is deeply involved in a contemporary discourse about educational reform that includes lifelong learning. At the center of this discussion in South Korea, there is an increasing amount of attention being given to comparison, standardization, and school accountability. School accountability in relation to student achievement aims to make citizens more intelligible; it also aims for effective transformations of national education systems and greater productivity and competitiveness nationally. However, (inter)national discourses about lifelong learning are not neutral elements that explain the present and plans for the future, but systems of reason associated with the construction of a particular mode of life for students. Findings of the study suggested that the lifelong learning discourse by the OECD and South Korea embody a particular category for creating particular images and narratives of students and citizens. National boundaries of education systems are now being crossed because of supranational governance of education. Examining the OECD and its influence can draw attention to who the student and the citizen should be and who is excluded from the space of success. By exploring these issues at national and international levels, the study presented how the discourses of the OECD and South Korea are assembled and connected.

Factors that influence the level of financial literacy among young people: The role of parental engagement and students' experiences with money matters

This paper focused on the family as context for financial socialization and students' experiences with money matters to explain the acquisition of financial knowledge of young people in fifteen OECD countries and economies. We used data from the second OECD PISA financial literacy assessment in 2015. Multilevel regressions of students' performance in financial literacy were presented. When explaining financial literacy differences across countries a significant predictor of financial literacy was a well-functioning educational system proxied in our study by the quality of its mathematical and scientific education. After accounting for performance in mathematics and reading and other variables, estimates of multilevel regressions by country showed that students' financial literacy was associated mainly with understanding the value of saving and discussing money matters with parents. In some countries, exposure to (and the use of) financial products – in particular, holding a bank account – improved students' financial knowledge as well.

Pre-service versus in-service mathematics teachers’ opinions of mathematics reform in post-primary schools in Ireland

A new approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics has been introduced on a phased basis in post-primary education in Ireland. As part of the OECD PISA 2012, a survey was undertaken of in-service mathematics teachers in Ireland, with the aim of gathering data on the opinions of teachers about this reform. Here, a modified version of the survey was distributed to pre-service teachers immediately before and after a four-month teaching placement to ascertain if there were differences in the views expressed by pre-service and in-service teachers in relation to the teaching and learning of mathematics, and also if there were differences expressed by the pre-service teachers before and after their placement in post-primary schools. Analysis of the results showed considerable levels of agreement between all groups, with some exceptions in relation to confidence in teaching the reformed curriculum, emphasis on various teaching and learning activities, and usage of ICT in the classroom.

DEVELOPMENT OF FINANCIAL LITERACY IN LATVIAN STUDENTS

The development of the information and communication technologies goes hand in hand with changes in the financial environment, development of the offering and opportunities, and an ever increasing necessity for financial education to develop and advance in the schooling sector. It is therefore essential for school curricula to include the acquisition of knowledge and skills which support the development of financial literacy in order to assure that students are able to take care of their financial wellbeing in the future. The main aim is to find out what financial skills Latvian students need to develop in order to improve their financial literacy.Based on research studies conducted by other researchers, the research study is being conducted to look for the necessary skills and knowledge which financial literacy comprises and which might assure financial wellbeing in the future regardless of the constant development of the financial environment. The data of the Financial Module of the year 2012 OECD PISA study, in their turn, are used to analyse the financial literacy of Latvian students at the age of 15 by finding out the knowledge and skills students in Latvia have with regard to finances. By calculating the percentage of students able to solve the tasks given to them, the research study analyses which tasks Latvian students find difficult and which ones are easy for them. The research study explains what knowledge and skills financial literacy comprises. The results show that Latvian students find analytical tasks difficult, i.e., tasks which require substantiation of their opinion, whereas they find it easier to deal with tasks where use of mathematical skills is sufficient.The possible reasons for the current situation are provided and suggestions for improving it are offered in the research study.

COGNITIVE DEPTH OF TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS IN BIOLOGY FROM 7TH TILL 9TH GRADE

From OECD PISA Science test results presented in 2016 shows that in Latvia only 3,4% of students performance is in accordance to the 5th and 6th performance level (higher order cognitive skills (HOCS) measured), which is below OECD average. In Latvia from 2016 started Curriculum Development and Implementation project, which one of the priorities is student’s ability to apply HOCS (higher order cognitive skills) to improve these results. The development of deeper thinking (cognitive activity) is one of the most advanced skills in all subjects, including biology. In order to reduce the risks, it is necessary to analyze introducing new reforms the opportunities for students to develop HOCS through biology lessons and textbooks in current teaching and learning process. In previous researches it was found out that all items with context of 9th grade biology in the Latvia’s National level Science test (period 2015-2017) were measuring only low and average depth and no one was in high cognitive level as opposed to the PISA framework. It is required to study reasons of that more deeply. The research goal is to analyze cognitive depth of given tasks that students have the opportunity to do in the lessons of biology, biology textbooks from 7th till 9th grade and with 9th grade biology tasks in Latvia’s National level Science tests from years 2015 till 2017 and to compare these three cognitive depth results to the PISA 2015 Science framework. To find out cognitive depth of given tasks, there were analysed 31 samples of biology lessons and 6 biology textbooks for grades 7th till 9th.

Comparing the Efficiency of Schools Through International Benchmarking: Results From an Empirical Analysis of OECD PISA 2012 Data

This paper derives efficiency scores for around 8,500 schools in 30 countries, using Programme for International Student Assessment 2012 data and a nonparametric approach called data envelopment analysis as method. On average, achievement scores of schools can be increased by 27%, holding inputs constant. Efficiency scores vary considerably both between and within countries; the role of managerial efficiency and structural differences due to operating in different contexts (countries) is disentangled. Subsequently, a number of school-level factors are found to be correlated with efficiency scores and indicate potential directions for improving educational results. Heterogeneity of such characteristics across countries and along the distribution of efficiency is explored.

The impact of marketisation and spatial proximity on reading performance: international results from PISA 2012

What are crucial determinants of a country’s average educational performance? Using data from the OECD PISA 2012 study on 58 countries, we develop a typology of educational regimes based on marketisation in terms of school autonomy and accountability. Following organisational theories, we expect that school autonomy is an ideal condition for student achievement, particularly in combination with efficient accountability practices. We test the effect of regime type on adjusted PISA test scores and examine the effect of spatial proximity of countries as an alternative explanation for similar achievement. Results are in line with our expectation that the institutional regime ‘information-based market’ shows high levels of student performance, but the liberal type of ‘laissez-faire’ performs even better. Moreover, we find effects of neighbouring countries on average performance levels.

Calculating the Future: The Historical Assemblage of Empirical Evidence, Benchmarks & PISA,

Purpose —Prominent at the intersections of national educational agencies, higher education, and international educational performance assessments are two reform standards: “benchmarks” determining optimal student performance, and “empirical evidence” for determining the quality of reform practices. These two notions are often taken as connecting policy and research to effective changes in many countries. The article examines the historical and cultural principles about educational change and its sciences embedded in these standards through examining OECD's PISA and the McKinsey & Company reports that draw on PISA's data. Findings/Originality/Value —First, the reports express salvation themes associated with modernity; that is, the promise of a better future through governing the present. The promise is to provide nations with data and models to achieve social equality, economic prosperity, and a participatory democracy. Second, the promise of the future is not descriptive of some present reality but to fabricate the universal characteristics about society and individuals. The numbers embody social and psychological categories about a desired unity of all students. Third, the “empirical evidence” of the international assessment entails a particular notion of science and “evidence”; one that paradoxically uses the universals in comparing and creating divisions.