Large-scale international achievement studies such as PISA have been widely used to study how educational inequality compares across countries. Yet the various different biases that may affect these estimates are often not considered or are poorly understood. In this paper we draw upon the total survey error framework to provide a case study of…

This study evaluated differential item functioning (DIF) in achievement motivation items before and after using anchoring vignettes as a statistical tool to account for group differences in response styles across gender and ethnicity. We applied the nonparametric scoring of the vignettes to motivation items from the 2015 Programme for…

The purpose of this study is to extend the literature on cultural reproduction theory and schools by problematizing the relationship between student background and student achievement. Using Program for International Student Assessment 2012 data, we analyze a series of random effects analyses of covariance to test the relationship between student…

This article juxtaposes the evolving scholarship investigating the influence of cultural capital on student learning and the developing trajectory of sociologists employing quantitative research methods. It critically reviews results from 34 studies analysing PISA or ASPIRES data to generate three key insights demonstrating complexities in…

"Current Studies in Educational Disciplines 2021" is published annually from the selected papers invited by the editors. This edition includes 6 sections and 14 papers from the field of Environmental Education, Science Education, Educational Technology, Mathematics Education, Assessment in Education and STEM Education. All submissions…

Singapore has been assigned the role of a "model" nation state primarily for two reasons: its rapid rate of economic growth and its outstanding performance on cross-national tests of educational achievement, such as PISA. This has resulted in advocates of reform citing it as illustrating "best practices", especially in the…

The demographic shift occurring in Serbia has had a profound effect on the education system. The student population has declined by 21 percent in primary schools and 13 percent in secondary schools since 2000, but the school network has changed little since then. This has resulted in many schools with few students. Furthermore, the total number of…

In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences between reading and math scores of migrants' children (8430 daughters and 8526 sons) in 17 OECD destination countries, coming from 45 origin countries or regions, using PISA 2009 data. In addition to the societal gender equality levels of the origin and destination countries (the gender…

In 2004 the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) published an Australian Education Review (AER) on Indigenous Education: "The Case for Change: A review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes," AER 47 (Mellor & Corrigan, 2004). In the 13 years since its publication, the state of Indigenous education…

This paper considers dilemmas around "value" and the "valuing" of children and childhood(s) in schools. I argue that in neo-liberal contexts, processes of children's identity making become aligned with the idea of the corporate citizen--value and worth derived from the capacity to produce, excel, self-regulate as well as…

Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 surveys for 50 countries, this paper explores gender segregation of adolescent science career plans. We ask whether, in different cultures, bridging the male-female gap in science self-concept could reduce gender disparities in students' career preferences. Bringing together the…

This report reviews the conceptual debates and existing data sources that relate to three ambiguous and controversial targets included in the post-2015 education framework: Relevant Learning Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills, Values, and Attitudes (for education for global citizenship and sustainable development); and Teachers and Safe, Inclusive, and…

Economic inequality is high and rising in a number of developed countries, including in the United Kingdom and the United States. There are growing concerns that this may have negative implications for equality of opportunity, and the extent to which social disadvantage is transmitted across generations. It is widely believed that providing…

Claims that the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) represent a leap forward in the quality of comparative international research on schooling. Discusses prospects of achieving a consensus among educational policy makers on the reforms suggested in both study…

This article deals with central issues in the field of sociology and politics of education after the publication of the outcomes of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study for Germany. These outcomes serve to remind us of the old debate on politics of education in the 1960s. The main topic since then remains the reproduction…