Comprehensive Schools and Student Performance in Post-Socialist Countries: A Natural Experiment

• In Event: Comprehensive Education Across Communities

Abstract

Previous research illustrated with PISA data from 2000-2009 that the comprehensive schooling format was associated with higher academic achievement. Comprehensive schooling through the lower secondary level was practiced in all of the socialist countries. Subsequently some of the post-socialist systems have retained the comprehensive format whereas others have adopted a more differentiated format. Thus, the post-socialist countries present an interesting “natural experiment.” Do countries that shift to comprehensive schooling experience improvements in academic achievement, and conversely do systems that discontinue comprehensive schooling experience declines? This paper proposes to examine this issue with PISA data from 2000 through 2012; data for 2012 is not yet available but expected to be released in December 2013.

Author

• Olga Bain, The George Washington University