To perform well in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and respond to rapid social changes, many countries have implemented curriculum reforms. The success of curriculum reform relies on teachers' rational, cognitive and emotional feelings for the challenge of implementation. Teachers' receptivity, growth mindset and grit has…

To explore the relationships between parents' attitudes toward school (PAS) and adolescents' family socioeconomic status (SES), psychological "suzhi," and academic performance, we investigated a total of 1319 Chinese middle school students from junior grade 1 to senior grade 3 and their parents. The psychological "suzhi" was…

In this paper, we analyze recently collected data that conducts a unique assessment of high school student performance for over two thousand students from five Chinese provinces. Across three domains of scientific intelligence tested, we document heterogeneous gender gaps in academic performance. These differences generally arise due to…

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…

Descriptive analyses of socially important or theoretically interesting phenomena and trends are a vital component of research in the behavioral, social, economic, and health sciences. Such analyses yield reliable results when using representative individual participant data (IPD) from studies with complex survey designs, including educational…

A common decision parents face is the choice of school for their children. In Ireland, somewhat uniquely in an international context, this choice includes a large number of state-funded single-sex schools, to the point that this can be considered a realistic option for many parents. Focusing on secondary-level education and using the PISA 2018…

This narrative systematic review examined relationships between school attainment, socio-economic status and gender in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2012. The influence of socio-economic status was considered at the individual and school level, while gender was examined at the individual level. To ensure consistency among included studies, the…

Previous research has suggested that skills acquired at a young age, such as reading or math skills, may have an impact on the early labour market outcomes of individuals. In this study, tax data linked to the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are used to examine the association between…

The percentage of students with lower academic achievement than their peers due to their socio-economical disadvantages is globally accepted as an indicator of inequality. Some students, despite their disadvantages, are as successful as their advantaged peers. The family and individual characteristics and academic experiences of these students,…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the drivers of English Language Competence (ELC) in a representative sample of European adolescents. School factors -- such as English instruction time and English onset -- are found to play an important role, especially in countries whose official languages are more distant from English. However,…

In gender differential item functioning (DIF) research it is assumed that all members of a gender group have similar item response patterns and therefore generalizations from group level to subgroup and individual levels can be made accurately. However DIF items do not necessarily disadvantage every member of a gender group to the same degree,…

This article examined the relationship between participation in adult nonformal education (NFE), defined as on-the-job training, attending private lessons, attending seminars, or distance learning, and Canadian immigrant respondents' literacy and numeracy outcomes, using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies…

This study examines the degree of association between students' STEM occupational expectations and between-country differences in public attitudes toward science and technology (S&T). This study focuses on public attitudes among two different populations: students and adults. Three-level Hierarchical Generalised Linear Models are employed to…

This study investigated the factors underlying the estimation of learner self-confidence during explanations with a conversational agent in an online explanation task. Based on reviews of previous studies, we focused on how factors such as the learner's task activities and personal characteristics can be predictors. To examine these points, we…

School tracking is usually criticised as a mechanism for social and cultural reproduction. Evidence from the literature shows a significant effect of early tracking on social inequality. Some studies also show that early tracking has a negative effect on the probability of completing higher education. This study uses PISA 2009 data and the…