Educational decentralisation has been implemented globally. However, few studies have compared the effects of different decentralisation strategies on students' academic achievement in diverse cultural contexts. Using data from 49 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, this study attempts to fill…

This study uses evidence from a longitudinal survey (PISA Plus, Germany) to examine the potential of bias in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs). In PISA Plus, participation was mandatory at the first measurement point, but voluntary at the second measurement point. The study provides evidence for relevant selection bias regarding…

This study assesses whether student exclusions from PISA 2018 in Sweden followed the criteria set by the OECD. We do this using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our conclusion is that the exclusions made in PISA 2018 in Sweden did not follow OECD criteria and were much too high. Furthermore, interviews with school coordinators indicate…

This study aims to explore the effect of cultural capital on the perception of parental involvement policies offered by schools in various countries. Using PISA (2018) data, a multilevel model is implemented for each participant country to adopt a comparative perspective. While the results suggest a complex effect, moderated by idiosyncratic…

How could the technicality arising from eleven percent of students being excluded from a PISA test in Sweden trigger a polarized debate followed by investigations by both the OECD and national authorities? This question is explored in the study by drawing on discursive institutionalism, especially the concept of normative background ideas,…

Our study is among the first to provide a comprehensive review of cross-national patterns of gender differences in various STEM-related constructs--achievement, beliefs, attitudes, aspirations, and participation, concerning country-level gender equality. We complement our review with empirical analyses utilizing rigorous methodologies and richer…

This study aims to examine the moderating effect of participation in informal science activities on the associations among students' awareness of environmental issues and their attitudes toward science and epistemological beliefs. The data set included 9841 15-year-old students from four Chinese provinces (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and…

The purpose of large-scale international assessments is to compare educational achievement across countries. For such cross-national comparisons to be meaningful, the participating students must be representative of the target population. In this paper, we consider whether this is the case for Canada, a country widely recognised as high performing…

Purpose: Principal instructional leadership and teacher participation in decision-making are conceptualized as shared instructional leadership (SIL) -- a management philosophy that positively impacts student academic performance. However, the statistically meaningful relationship between SIL and student performance remains controversial as SIL…

Using structural regression analyses, data from the U.S. 2017 Program on International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) background survey were examined to test the effect of informal learning (observed through everyday activities, such as reading the newspaper or using the Internet to find information about issues) on civic engagement…

Recent decades have witnessed a global expansion of private supplementary tutoring, known as shadow education--additional support in academic subjects that takes place outside of regular school hours. Using the data of 55 countries from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, this study examines the association between…

Traditionally secondary studies on achievement on Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) tests point to the significant impact of socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds of families as well as the role of parental involvement, which in some cases has had a negative impact on achievement. For this article, a model of…

The role and impact of school boards vary considerably across contexts. Whereas school boards in some communities provide schools with extra resources, others mandate instructional approaches. Despite the potential importance of school boards for school resources and student achievement, related single-country research is limited, and…

Much attention has been given to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and its effects in different education systems, including the United States. This paper begins to address a major gap in this literature by focusing on the costs of participation in PISA. The…

Although shadowed by the institutionalization of contemporary schooling, out-of-school time and space encompass a variety of learning possibilities and are socially organized to enable and maintain educational privileges for some students but not for others. Out-of-school time (OST) curricular instructions have been expanding globally and more…