What Makes a School Effective? A Comparison Between Finland and Shanghai

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: School Effectiveness and School Improvement SIG 105 Poster Session

Abstract

Shanghai and Finland are strong performers in PISA 2009 survey. Multilevel analyses based on PISA 2009 database show that the influence of student and school characteristics on reading achievement varies between Finland and Shanghai. Student background characteristics and school climate strongly influence reading achievement in both Finland and Shanghai. The influence of school composition is much higher in Shanghai than in Finland. On contrast, the influence of school resources in Finland is small, with that in Shanghai even smaller. In terms of the score gap in country average achievement, Finland gets extra benefits from student background characteristics (143.28 points) and school composition (15.62 points); while Shanghai gets extra benefits from school resources (17.35 points) and school climate (88.25 points).

Authors

• Bo Ning, Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation, KULeuven

• Jan A. Van Damme, KU Leuven

• Wim Van den Noortgate, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

• Sarah Gielen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven