Is There a Trade-Off Between Equality and Efficiency? An International Comparison Among PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Participants

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: Division L Section 7 Poster Session

Abstract

We used student test scores in PISA 2009 survey to examine the tradeoff between equality and efficiency. We characterized the distribution of student performance by estimating test scores at each percentile of the distribution. Results revealed that countries not only varied greatly in average student performance, but also differed substantially in the distribution of student performance. Our results indicated that there was a tradeoff between equality and efficiency, in the sense that national systems with high degrees of inequality in student performance on average had higher average performance than those countries with low degrees of inequality. Further analysis suggested that this tradeoff was especially true in math and science tests; however, this relationship did not exist in reading tests.

Author

• Liang Zhang, The Pennsylvania State University