Does extended music education during primary school foster long-term musical participation? What other factors contribute to long-term musical participation? In our study on "Impacts and Long-Term Effects of Musical Participation," we investigate how the German programme "An Instrument for Every Child (JeKi)," which fosters the…

This study investigated the associations among students' attitudes towards science, students' perceived difficulty of learning science, gender, parents' occupations and their scientific competencies. A sample of 1591 (720 males and 871 females) ninth-grade students from 29 junior high schools in Shanghai completed a scientific competency test and…

Science excellence is associated not only with a student's inherent aptitude but also a range of contextual factors. The objective of this paper was to identify the most important contextual characteristics of top performers in scientific literacy, by simultaneously considering factors at the PISA questionnaire-based student, family, and school…

This study investigated parent general value of science operationalized in the 2006 questionnaire of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), as a determinant of adolescents' scientific literacy performance. The transmission of academic values literature is small. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies to date have…

This study examines direct and indirect effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental expectations on adolescents' mathematics and problem-solving achievement in mainland China. SES here is composed of family wealth, home educational resources, and parental education. Over 5,000 ninth-grade students in 5 geographical districts of China…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses the extent to which 15-year-old students near the end of their compulsory education have acquired the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in modern societies. The assessment does not just ascertain whether students can reproduce knowledge; it also examines…

Studies have highlighted the beneficial effects of parental involvement in children's educational lives. Few studies, however, analyse parental involvement in a cross-national perspective and few evaluate a wide array of forms of involvement. In 2009, 14 countries and economies implemented the parental questionnaire option in the PISA 2009 cycle.…

Using PISA 2009, an international education database, this study compares gifted and talented (GT) students in three groups with normal (non-GT) students by examining student characteristics, reading, schooling, learning methods, and use of strategies for understanding and memorizing. Results indicate that the GT and non-GT gender distributions…

What is important for citizens to know and be able to do? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer that question through the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student knowledge and skills. The PISA 2015 Assessment and Analytical Framework presents the conceptual foundations of the…

This study investigates the relationship between school-level accountability practices and science achievement of 15-year-olds, across four counties: Australia, Korea, Portugal, and the United States. We used PISA 2006 data, since 2006 is the only administration that has focused on science. School-level accountability practices are here defined as…

Problem statement: Contemporary global environmental problems have highlighted the importance of acting responsibly towards natural resources and the environment. The role of science education in shaping how people interact with the environment, therefore, has gained importance. The science education community has responded to this challenge by…

Background: Influence of external factors in general, and socioeconomic background factors in particular, on traditional reading performance has been extensively researched and debated. While traditional reading is well investigated in this respect, there is a lack of studies on equity aspects related to digital reading achievement, in spite of…

Are students well prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Can they analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Have they found the kinds of interests they can pursue throughout their lives as productive members of the economy and society? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer these…

A huge gap in science literacy is between students who do not show the competencies that are necessary to participate effectively in life situations related to science and technology and students who have the skills which would give them the potential to create new technology. The objective of this paper is to identify, for 25 countries, distinct…

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) is a research program that tracks young people as they move from school into further study, work and other destinations. This "User guide" has been developed for users of the LSAY data. The guide endeavours to consolidate existing technical documentation and other relevant information…