Achievement Gaps by Student and School Socioeconomic Status: A Comparison of Australia and Canada

• In Event: Education Equity in Australia: Opportunities, Outcomes, and Mechanisms

Abstract

Researchers have long known that student outcomes such as academic achievement are associated with both the socio-economic status (SES) of the student as well as the combined socio-economic status of one’s peers at school. Students who come from privileged families tend to have higher scores on standardised tests, for example, than their less privileged peers. In addition, attending a school that enrols many privileged students is associated with higher test scores, and this is true for all students regardless of their individual social background. National systems of education that have lower levels of school segregation tend to have smaller achievement gaps between high and low performing students and between poor and wealthy students than more segregated systems. Their mean national score on international tests of student achievement are typically higher as well because they can distribute educational opportunities to a wider spectrum of students. Many researchers and policy makers therefore argue that school segregation by socio-economic status should be ameliorated on both equity and efficiency grounds. Yet research has shown that school socio-economic segregation is actually increasing in Australia. We conduct a secondary analysis of PISA to examine the strength of the relationship between school socio-economic status and student outcomes, achievement gaps between low and high SES schools, and achievement gaps between low and high SES students. We compare our findings from Australia with Canada, a country that has a highly equitable education system and an economy, culture and society that are similar to Australia’s. We then compare achievement gaps between low and high SES schools and students in Australia over the last decade to determine whether educational inequalities are growing. We conclude by discussing some of the insights that the Canadian case can offer Australian policy makers.

Authors

• Laura Perry, Murdoch University

• Andrew McConney, Murdoch University