Challenging the League Tables Orthodoxy in Northern Ireland

• In Event: Poster Group 5
  In Poster Session: Challenging the League Tables Orthodoxy in Northern Ireland

Proposal

Despite growing criticism, league tables are widely used in many parts of the world, with universities and secondary schools actively promoting their positions in rankings like the QS World University Rankings, THE World Rankings, and U.S. News and World Report’s annual lists of university and high school rankings. However, league tables have faced criticism for their potential negative impacts, with some arguing they limit schools to academic performance, favoring institutions with more resources and high-performing students.
In this poster presentation for CIES 2024, we propose a new framework for league tables using data from Northern Irish integrated secondary and grammar schools. WE demonstrate how schools contribute to advancing equity beyond just academic performance. The majority of high academic performing schools in Northern Ireland are sectarian grammar schools with entrance exams, which have a long history of substantial resources and a de facto segregated student body. This raises questions about whether their high academic performance is due to the quality of instruction or the students selected for admission.
To assess school quality beyond academic achievement, we conduct a regression analysis predicting academic performance based on the school's founding year (as a proxy for wealth and prestige) and the percentage of students eligible for free school meals (an indicator of low socioeconomic status). We then compare the predicted performance with the actual performance for each school and rank them based on the difference. This ranking aims to demonstrate evidence of school quality and challenges the perception that elite Protestant grammar schools are the best.
The findings show that the top 15 schools that exceed their predicted performance are mostly Catholic grammar schools, with one integrated, non-exam institution included. This challenges the prevailing belief that Protestant grammar schools are superior and serves as a form of protest against the traditional status quo.
By utilizing a framework that goes beyond academic performance, this research attempts to shed light on how schools in Northern Ireland contribute to educational equity. The proposed approach aims to shift the focus from mere academic excellence to a more comprehensive evaluation of school quality and its impact on social mobility. It encourages a reevaluation of existing league tables and their potential role in promoting equitable education.

Author

• Christopher Russell Marsicano, Davidson College