Programme For International Student Assessment Scores Research Articles

Artificial Neural Network and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System Hybridized Models in the Sustainable Integration of Language and Mathematics Skills: The Case of Singapore and Hong Kong

The four basic language skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing play, a crucial role in the development of an individual’s skills in other disciplines. The current study aims to underpin the relationship between language skills and mathematics skills by focusing on the language and mathematics curricula of two consistently high-achieving countries, Hong Kong and Singapore, in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. In the current study, the convergent parallel mixed method was utilized that qualitative and quantitative data were composed together. Primarily, the outcomes of four language skills were determined in the native language teaching curricula of the two countries. The topics and themes related to four basic language skills were determined from the two mathematics curricula. The curricula were examined by document analysis from qualitative research methods. The analysis was conducted by examining the native language teaching and the mathematics curricula of both countries by the content analysis method. Later, the findings of the document analysis were used to develop machine learning models to find a possible positive relationship between language skills and the PISA scores. Although a number of previous studies have found a reasonable relationship between language skills and mathematics skills, the current study results were contradictory to the ones performed previously in the literature, and considering the curricula no positive relationship between the language and mathematics skills was found. The findings of the current study were further supported by the artificial neural network (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) model performance metrics. Compared to an acceptable level of 0.80, significantly low R2 values of 0.35 and 0.39 for the ANN and ANFIS models, respectively, indicated very little relationship between the language and mathematics skills.

Strangers in the Homeland? The Academic Performance of U.S.-Born Children of Return Migrants in Mexico

The number of return migrants from the U.S. to Mexico has swelled in recent years, yet we know little about the academic performance of the over 500,000 U.S.-born children who have accompanied them. This study compares Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores of U.S.-born children of return migrants in Mexico to two groups: Mexican-born students in Mexico and students in the U.S. born to Spanish-speaking immigrant parents. While previous work often highlights the struggles these children face in adapting to schools in Mexico, at age 15 they attain slightly higher PISA scores than their Mexican-born counterparts. However, these adolescents’ scores are much lower than similar youths’ in the U.S. Results for both comparisons change little in models controlling for variables related to immigrant selection and are consistent across possible individual moderators, including age at migration. This paper highlights the importance of a cross-border perspective and attention to institutional context in studies of immigrant education.

Exploring contributing factors to PISA 2022 mathematics achievement: Insights from Indonesian teachers

As an international benchmark, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 evaluates the educational performance of 15-year-old students across various countries. It has been observed that the average mathematics score globally declined in 2022. Understanding the responses of mathematics teachers, as practitioners, to the PISA 2022 results is crucial for evaluating the reasons behind this decline in mathematics scores. This research aims to explore and understand the perspectives of Indonesian mathematics teachers on the factors contributing to the low PISA 2022 mathematics scores. This study employs a qualitative approach, with participants being randomly selected and includes interviews with 36 mathematics teachers in Indonesia. According to the statements provided by teachers, the decline in mathematics scores in the 2022 PISA, relative to the years 2018 and 2015, can be attributed to six primary factors: pandemic-related issues, curriculum, individual factors, resource limitations, student factors, and parental involvement. Subsequently, mathematics teachers provided several recommendations for the government, schools, and parents that might enhance student mathematics achievement. These recommendations include conducting more training, improving ICT facilities in schools, and strengthening parental knowledge about the importance of parental support. The findings of this study offer various recommendations that could be implemented by the government, schools, and mathematics teachers to improve student mathematical achievement and potentially increase PISA scores in 2025.

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE INDONESIA'S VISION 2045

This research was conducted with a descriptive qualitative type, in accordance with the readiness in the education industry to obtain outcomes regarding the quality of the Indonesian nation's human resources in facing the golden year 2045 as seen from the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) scores, international achievements in the fields of literacy, mathematics and science in high school students / grades 9-10 at the age of 15 in the province of Bangka-Belitung. The results from observations enriched by SINTA accredited national journals and reputable international journals are strengthened by several references and secondary data, with the era this pandemic, has forced us to innovate and be competent and professional in mastering digital technology, so we need to work hard and be extra focused to improve ourselves from the policies contained in the law, the education system and the quality of teachers, so that students/students become habitual and culture in the PISA score measurement indicator which is the main standard so that Indonesia can align with the PISA standard determined by the OECD (The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) which is followed by developed countries and developing countries to produce high-quality human resources. international/global. When the PISA ranking in the province of Bangka-Belitung continues to improve and advance in the long term, it becomes an obligation for all provinces in Indonesia, so that by itself Indonesia will become the most prosperous and prosperous country.

Perceptions of key education actors towards PISA: the case of Scotland

ABSTRACT This study explores the perceptions of government officials, teachers, and parents in Scotland regarding the use of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results to evaluate national education performance. International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as PISA have been increasingly influencing education policymaking worldwide, but there is limited understanding of how education actors perceive these assessments. This study uses Scotland’s recent declining performance in PISA after the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) reform in 2010 as a case study. Interviews with key officials involved in implementing the CfE, and parents’ and teachers’ representatives reveal their doubts about the validity of PISA as a means of assessing Scottish education performance. This is because PISA data lack comparability and accountability, as students’ academic performance is not impacted by PISA scores and teacher evaluations are not based on them. They do not consider that the PISA results reflect the effects of the CfE reform. These views contradict the Scottish government policy that PISA, among other assessments, is meant to inform policymakers and evaluate reform effects. Our findings have implications for countries that routinely use PISA to assess their educational performance and do not consider the views of education actors.

Is the SES and academic achievement relationship mediated by cognitive ability? Evidence from PISA 2018 using data from 77 countries.

Earlier research has suggested that that the international large-scale assessment, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), may be looked upon as a form of school test that is mostly explained by participating students' socioeconomic status, non-cognitive factors, and various school factors, whereas another strand of research focuses on the similarities between PISA and cognitive ability assessments such as IQ tests. The latter position does also highlight the strong relationships between PISA scores and IQ test scores, typically aggregated to the country level. The current article adds to this scholarly debate by examining the latest PISA survey from 2018. Correlation, regression, moderator, and mediation analyses were run for aggregated country-level data (N = 77) from PISA 2018. The results indicate that PISA scores indeed are strongly associated with both cognitive ability test scores and socioeconomic status indicators such as average annual national income. A more nuanced position suggests that PISA should be labelled a test that measures cognitive school skills rather than a proxy of national IQ, as the link between country-level abilities and school age abilities is neither causal, nor theoretically and empirically palpable, yet partly robust.

Improving schooling through effective governance? The United States, Canada, South Korea, and Singapore in the struggle for PISA scores

ABSTRACT Improving schooling by reducing achievement gaps based on family background has been on the agenda of school governance worldwide for more than three decades. International benchmarking like the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is used to find models of best practice in effective school governance. Enlarging school autonomy, strengthening school management, and enhancing accountability have emerged as widely recommended and globally spreading governance tools. However, we do not know how much these tools make a difference between schools. To close this research gap, we conduct a multilevel regression analysis, which explores the association of student and average school socioeconomic status, migration background, school disciplinary climate and governance tools with student PISA scores. The United States, Canada, South Korea, and Singapore in 2009 and 2015 serve as test cases. Our findings indicate that school governance tools do not reduce achievement gaps.

Conditioning: how background variables can influence PISA scores

ABSTRACT The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become one of the key studies for evidence-based education policymaking across the globe. PISA has however received a lot of methodological criticism, including how the test scores are created. The aim of this paper is to investigate the so-called ‘conditioning model’, where background variables are used to derive student achievement scores, and the impact it has upon the PISA results. This includes varying the background variables used within the conditioning model and analysing its impact upon countries relatively positions in the PISA rankings. Our key finding is that the exact specification of the conditioning model matters; cross-country comparisons of PISA scores can change depending upon the statistical methodology used.

Sustainable Development and Workers Ability: Considerations on the Education Index in the Human Development Index

Sustainability is an imperative of the 21st century in order to preserve the environment for the next generations, but sustainable development also requires the introduction and use of new technologies, and the related abilities for their use. The United Nations have adopted the Human Development Index HDI in order to assess human well-being. This index includes a component related to knowledge, the Education Index, which is expressed in terms of the mean schooling years. However, this information does not contain a measure of the student’s ability to solve complex problems or ability to reason, which are fundamental skills for sustainable development. In this study, an improved version of the Education Index was developed by considering the data available from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This new index takes into account both the social impact of schooling years and the outcomes of the education systems for each country (PISA scores). As a consequence of this new Education Index, a new Human Development Index, HDI*, is proposed. Two case studies were performed, comparing the European and non-European countries, focusing on government education spending. Moreover, the trends of an energy and an environmental indicator are analyzed in relation to the HDI*.

Equity lost: Sweden and Finland in the struggle for PISA scores

This study seeks to explore the effect of tools of school governance advanced by the global reform agenda (1) on student performance and (2) on reducing the effect of sociodemographic variables on this performance. To do so, we compare two Nordic welfare states with an egalitarian tradition: Sweden and Finland. The Swedish school system has undergone comprehensive market-based and accountability-driven reforms beginning in the early 1990s. The Finnish school system is still based on the professional trusteeship of teachers, but has moderately implemented reforms of decentralization, enhancing school autonomy and opportunities of school or curriculum choice beginning in the late 1990s. Our analysis comprises of two steps. In the first step, a literature review of the reforms and their effects in Sweden and Finland is carried out. In the second step, regression analyses are conducted using data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 2000, 2009, and 2015. The results show an increasing influence of sociodemographic factors and growing inequality and no effect of governance tools as recommended by the global reform agenda in both countries over time, but more so and earlier in Sweden than in Finland.

Banning mobile phones in schools: evidence from regional-level policies in Spain

Purpose The autonomous governments of two regions in Spain established mobile bans in schools as of the year 2015. Exploiting the across-region variation introduced by such a quasi-natural experiment, this study aims to perform a comparative-case analysis to investigate the impact of this non-spending-based policy on regional Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in maths and sciences and bullying incidence. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply the synthetic control method and diff-in-diff estimation to compare the treated regions with the rest of regions in Spain before and after the intervention. Findings The results show noticeable reductions of bullying incidence among teenagers in the two treated regions. The authors also find positive and significant effects of this policy on the PISA scores of the Galicia region that are equivalent to 0.6–0.8 years of learning in maths and around 0.72 to near one year of learning in sciences. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical study analysing the impact of mobile phone bans in schools on bullying cases, exploiting variation across regions (or other units), years and age intervals. Besides, the scarce formal evidence that exists on the consequences of the mobile phones use in students’ academic achievement comes from a micro perspective, while the paper serves as one more piece of evidence from a macro perspective.

The impact of test language on PISA scores. New evidence from Wales

AbstractIn this paper we investigate the link between the language in which pupils take the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test and the scores they achieve in this assessment, focusing upon the case of Wales. Using five rounds of PISA data and an instrumental variable approach, we show how pupils who took the test in Welsh score around 0.3 standard deviations (30 PISA test points) lower in reading, mathematics and science than their peers who took the test in English. This finding is robust to different model specifications and statistical approaches. We argue that this may indicate that the academic performance of teenagers in Wales may be underestimated in PISA – particularly amongst those who take this test in Welsh.

In search of quality and equity: The United Kingdom and Germany in the struggle for PISA scores

School reforms aiming at improving educational performance (quality), closing achievement gaps and reducing the impact of family background on performance (equity) have been on the agenda worldwide for three decades. These reforms converge in a common core which puts emphasis on school autonomy, free school choice, competition between schools, managerial school leadership, high teacher quality and test-based accountability of schools. We investigate how far these reforms have been associated with improvements in quality and equity in two countries following their own developmental path: the United Kingdom and Germany. Despite all insights provided by the existing literature, we still do not sufficiently know how far the application of governance tools following the global reform agenda does make a difference between schools. For closing this research gap, we conduct multi-level linear regression analyses to test the association of governance tools of the reform agenda with individual student performance and achievement gaps based on family background. We make use of data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and look at the test years 2000, 2009 and 2015 to see how far there has been improvement over time along with advancing reforms. The results show that the reforms have failed so far.

Trends in Cognitive Skill Inequalities by Socio-Economic Status across Canada

In this article, we document the trends in cognitive skills gaps across Canada. We use Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores over seven cycles, from 2000 to 2018, to provide an exhaustive portrait of the trends in the test score distribution over time and the score gaps by parental socio-economic status (SES). We find that the achievement gap between top-performing students (90th percentile) and students facing challenges (10th percentile) is large and represents more than four years of schooling. We also show that socio-economic differences in PISA scores for reading, mathematics, and science are large but generally stable over time. There are variations in SES score gaps by province, a proxy for the extent of inequality of opportunities, but these variations are not large.

Finance, talent and income inequality: Cross-country evidence

This paper investigates the relationship between financial development and income inequality by taking the role of individuals' talent into account. We measure talent using the direct observations of individuals’ achievements before entering the labor force by using the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores. We employ the FE, IV-RE, 2SLS and System GMM models to a panel data of 46 developed and developing countries for the period 1998–2012. We also use principal component analysis (PCA) to construct a reliable measure of financial development. The paper finds that financial development is negatively associated with income inequality. The paper also shows that countries with higher PISA scores experience lower income inequality while the marginal effect of financial development on income inequality varies by the level of PISA scores. Moreover, the results do not suggest evidence of nonlinearity between financial development and income inequality.

Vietnam’s extraordinary performance in the PISA assessment: A cultural explanation of an education paradox

This paper examines the nature and drivers of Vietnam’s paradoxical performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – consistently high student achievement despite being the poorest of all participating countries and a centralized education system. We first document ‘Vietnam advantage’ in a wide-range of supply and demand-related indicators such as school participation rate, educational inequality, inputs and expenditure in cross-country regression models. We then estimate an augmented educational production function to show that these supply and demand-side advantages don’t explain away Vietnam’s positive deviance in PISA when compared to other participating developing and developed countries. We then conduct student-level analysis to examine Vietnam’s performance in PISA 2012 in a regional context, vis-à-vis three high-spending but low-performing ASEAN member countries (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand) and two high performing Asian countries (South Korea and Singapore). Pooled regression estimates show that, holding differences in various indices of socioeconomic background, the gap in average student test scores between Vietnam and South Korea in Reading and Science becomes statistically insignificant. Moreover, once school-specific differences are also accounted for, Vietnamese students do just as well as Singaporean across all subjects – equalizing for existing socioeconomic differences between countries would give Vietnam an even better advantage in PISA. A similar gain in PISA scores is absent in the case of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The paper concludes by offering a cultural explanation for the significant variation in educational performance among high-spending East Asian countries.

Does ICT familiarity always help promote educational outcomes? Empirical evidence from PISA-Thailand

Since education is a major step toward long-term human capital development, it is assumed that facility in the use of information and communication technology (ICT), which can help complement, enrich, and transform education, should be promoted among students. However, does a higher level of ICT familiarity always help promote learning skills and educational outcome? This empirical research paper investigates the impacts of ICT familiarity on educational outcomes in developing countries where access to ICT infrastructure is limited. Using Thailand as a case study of a developing country, a nationally representative survey of 8249 students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Thailand was analyzed. Our results show that using ICT for educational proposes can help improve Thai students’ PISA scores. However, using ICT that is not tailored to educational proposes is found to have an insignificant effect on educational outcomes. This result supports government, related agencies, and families in their efforts to foster children’s use of ICT to enhance their education, but suggests limiting such usage for non-educational proposes.

Vietnam's Extraordinary Performance in the PISA Assessment: A Cultural Explanation of an Education Paradox

This paper examines the nature and drivers of Vietnam's paradoxical performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – consistently high student achievement despite being the poorest of all participating countries and a centralized education system. We first document 'Vietnam advantage' in a wide-range of supply and demand-related indicators such as school participation rate, educational inequality, inputs and expenditure in cross-country regression models. We then estimate an augmented educational production function to show that these supply and demand-side advantages don't explain away Vietnam's positive deviance in PISA when compared to other participating developing and developed countries. We then conduct student-level analysis to examine Vietnam's performance in PISA 2012 in a regional context, vis-a-vis three high-spending but low-performing ASEAN member countries (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand) and two high performing Asian countries (South Korea and Singapore). Pooled regression estimates show that, holding differences in various indices of socioeconomic background, the gap in average student test scores between Vietnam and South Korea in Reading and Science becomes statistically insignificant. Moreover, once school-specific differences are also accounted for, Vietnamese students do just as well as Singaporean across all subjects — equalizing for existing socioeconomic differences between countries would give Vietnam an even better advantage in the PISA. A similar gain in PISA scores is absent in the case of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The paper concludes by offering a cultural explanation for the significant variation in educational performance among high-spending East Asian countries.

Trends in International PISA Scores over Time: Which Countries Are Actually Improving?

Many countries attempt to increase their Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings and scores over time. However, despite providing a more accurate assessment of the achievement-based improvements across countries, few studies have systematically examined growth in PISA scores over multiple assessments. Using data from the 2006, the 2009, and the 2012 PISA, we analyzed which countries experienced significant increases in their country-level average PISA scores between 2006 and 2012. To facilitate improved policy decisions, we also examined what country-level conditions were associated with such increases. Contrary to expectations, we found that few countries significantly increased their PISA scores over time. Countries that did experience meaningful improvements in PISA scores were more likely to have had lower PISA scores in 2006 and experienced country-level foundational advancements more recently, such as advancing to a more democratic form of government and/or a higher income classification.

On the Relationship between Selected Socio-Economic Indicators and Student Performances in the PISA 2015 Study

The main aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) international study results of 15 and 16 years-old pupils from 2015 and a set of socio-economic indicators (on a national level) such as governments’ expenditures on primary education, gross domestic product per capita, the Democracy index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, or primary teachers’ salaries. The study covered 71 countries or territories, including 34 OECD countries and their 37 non-OECD counterparts. The methods included multivariate linear models, models based on Tornquist functions, and cluster analysis. The main result of the study is that there exists a threshold in terms of GDP per capita and government expenditures on primary education per capita. Above the threshold, the higher GDP per capita or expenditures do not translate into the higher PISA scores. However, below this threshold, the opposite is true. Therefore, poorer and mainly non-OECD countries may achieve better student performances in PISA tests by increasing expenditures on primary education, while for student performances of the wealthy and mainly OECD countries expenditures are not a statistically signifi cant factor. The division between OECD and non-OECD countries was also confi rmed to be statistically signifi cant by cluster analysis method. In addition, from linear multivariate models it was found that PISA scores were statistically signifi cantly (and positively) related to the national GDP per capita, governments’ expenditures on primary education, and the Democracy index, while the infl uence of primary teachers’ salaries on PISA scores was found statistically insignifi cant.