Inequalities in Educational Performance: An International Comparison of Socioeconomic Achievement Gaps

• In Event: 56.029 - Conditions and Consequences of Educational Inequalities

Abstract

Following the release of the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, international achievement rankings made headlines in most participating countries. Although researchers and policy makers around the globe offered varied interpretations of the 2012 PISA results, most agreed that student socioeconomic status (SES) and its relationship with academic achievement is a necessary consideration when interpreting PISA results (Hanushek, 2014; Rothstein & Carnoy, 2013). This emphasis on educational inequity is further supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is underscored in several of its PISA-based reports (for example, see OECD, 2013).
Motivated by the relatively high child poverty rate in the US (UNICEF, 2012) and increasing income inequality in many wealthy nations (OECD, 2014), scholars and policy makers alike have suggested that achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students are of increasing international concern (Perry, 2008; OECD, 2013; Thomson, De Bortoli, & Buckley, 2012). These gaps are frequently presumed to be the reason for low PISA scores in the US (McKinsey & Co., 2009) as well as in other wealthy nations (Levin, 2007; Thomson, De Bortoli, & Buckley, 2012). Given that the SES-based achievement gap has been recently identified as the largest achievement gap in the US—registering more than twice the current size of the black-white achievement gap (Duncan & Magnuson, 2011; Reardon, 2011)—a descriptive examination of these gaps within an international context is both timely and necessary. SES-based achievement gaps in high-income countries demonstrate the degree to which the size and patterns of these gaps vary by country context. Furthermore, they provide internationally comparative benchmarks for defining high and low levels of inequality and disadvantage in academic achievement. In addition to exploring the size and patterns of SES-based achievement gaps in high-income countries, this study also provides a more comprehensive understanding of the international PISA rankings and the degree to which country-level average PISA scores mask educational inequality and disadvantage within countries.
For the purpose of exploring differences in the educational inequality and disadvantages associated with SES-based achievement gaps by country, this study specifically analyzes three measures: overall average performance, educational inequality (or achievement gaps), and educational disadvantage (achievement gap patterns). This study highlights that, when taken together, these three indicators of educational success are instructive for understanding the differences in educational outcomes across countries. They offer insights into the PISA results that go beyond average achievement by showing how country-level averages should not be emphasized or interpreted without also considering educational inequality and disadvantage.
By linking country-level average PISA scores to achievement-based measures of educational inequality and educational disadvantage, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the educational successes and shortcomings in high-income countries. Thus, this study offers an improved, descriptive foundation for informing educational and social policies and practices that aim to address issues related to educational inequality and disadvantages in high-income countries as they are observed through difference in academic achievement for high- and low-SES students.

Author

• Kristie J. Rowley, Brigham Young University