We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. To account for those differences, we apply a…

This study determined the relationship between regional PISA-scientific literacy and socio-demographics in the Philippines, specifically in terms of household-related socio-demographics, school-related socio-demographics, regional competitiveness, and regional budget allocation on education. Utilizing quantitative descriptive causal-comparative…

Family structures are associated with achievement outcomes, but the percentage of children residing in different family structures has changed over time. In this paper, we revisit data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to determine whether previous findings have also changed over time. Drawing on PISA 2012, we employ…

Despite increasing demand in distance education, relatively little is known about the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as basic skill levels of adult distance education participants at the national level in the US. This study analyzed the US data from the 2012/2014 and 2017 Program for International Assessment of Adult…

The relevance of the school context to creating a successful learning environment and promoting teachers' instructional quality is not yet clear. In the current study, we examine whether schools differ in aspects of instructional quality (i.e., classroom management and task feedback) and whether differences between schools can be explained by…

Previous research has demonstrated the potential of examining log-file data from computer-based assessments to understand student interactions with complex inquiry tasks. Rather than solely providing information about what has been achieved or the accuracy of student responses ("product data"), students' log files offer additional…

School socio-economic compositional (SEC) effects have been influential in educational research predicting a range of outcomes and influencing public policy. However, some recent studies have challenged the veracity of SEC effects when applying residualised-change and fixed effects models and simulating potential measurement errors in hierarchical…

The paper extends the literature on grade repetition in Brazil by (a) describing and synthesizing the main research findings and contributions since 1940, (b) enlarging the understanding of the inequity mechanism in education, and (c) providing new findings on the effects of the school socioeconomic composition and school proportion of repeaters…

This study examined a new form of pervasive gender inequality: the gender gap among high achievers in math and considered its implication for developing STEM talents. Using the cross-nation Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) data from both 2003 and 2012, we examined the mathematics gender gap among 15-year-old high achievers…

Few studies on male-female inequalities in education have elaborated on whether school characteristics affect girls' and boys' educational performance differently. This study investigated how school resources, being schools' socioeconomic composition, proportion of girls, and proportion of highly educated teachers, and school practices, being…

Recent reports based on PISA data have shown a generally positive relationship between the amount of time spent on homework and achievement, and a negative relationship between a measure of socioeconomic status and homework time for secondary students. These findings suggest that homework practices are either reflecting or contributing to…

Mathematics competency is fast becoming an essential requirement in ever greater parts of day-to-day work and life. Thus, creating strategies for improving mathematics learning in students is a major goal of education research. However, doing so requires an ability to look at many aspects of mathematics learning, such as demographics and…

The stability of educational test results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) over 15 years was examined, and the influence of demographics and social capital was assessed, as was the impact of educational reforms. The test results were remarkably stable, with correlations up to 0.99 for country-level results over 2…

This report reviews the economic literature investigating the effects of the share of immigrants in classes and schools on the school performance of immigrants and natives. The review is organized in four sections. In the first section, we document the recent expansion in the presence of immigrants in European schools, introduce a measure of…

International achievement measures such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have traditionally reported a significant gap between non-migrant and immigrant student groups--a result that is often referred to as the "immigrant performance disadvantage". This article examines first- and second-generation immigrant…