Young people’s changing relationship with school and schooling in the shadow of high stakes exams

• In Event: Post-COVID High-Stakes Exams in Comparative Perspective: Youth Experiences in Marginalized Secondary Schools in Colombia, India, and Malawi

Proposal

This study is based on two rounds of unique survey data collected from rural and urban locations in Colombia, India and Malawi. As part of the larger project, in each of these countries we conducted two rounds of surveys in 2021-22 and 2022-23. For these surveys in each country we identified 10-20 urban and rural schools located in communities experiencing various contextually defined forms of marginalization. In survey year 1, we administered an extensive questionnaire to youth in grades 9 (India, Malawi) and grade 10 (Colombia). The following year we revisited the same schools and administered the same survey to youth in grades 10 (India, Malawi) and grade 11. Through these six survey efforts, we have gathered data on nearly 1,600 students from around 40 schools in rural and urban locations of our study. While certain survey items are specific to country context, the overall design also reflects several unified themes we are able to explore across countries.

In this paper, we analyze the ways in which youth's responses about their sense of belonging, relationships, and academic commitment and performance change as they move from a year with relatively low exam pressures to their final year of secondary school when they must take a high-stakes end of year exam. For each country, we generate an in-depth understanding of the changing sense of youth belongingness in their school and their relationships with peers, teachers and principals. We examine items that help us understand youth perceptions about their learning environment in math and language classes, and their perceived sense of the relevance of school for their future pursuits. Given the general lack of literature on youth perceptions of their relationship to secondary-level schooling, any one of these six surveys would provide valuable insights. But this paper goes beyond that by providing a comparative analysis of youth perceptions and experiences as they transition from grade 9 to 10 or 10 to 11. As they move closer to a high-stakes exam, we find both similarities and differences across countries. For example, while youth in all three countries reported high perceptions of school relevance in both survey years, indices of school belongingness fell in each country in Year 2. Further, whereas Malawian youth had higher perceptions of both school relevance and belongingness in Year 1, in Year 2, Indian youth had slightly higher perceptions of belongingness relative to Malawian youth. Colombian youth had lower perceptions of relevance and belongingness than youth in the other two countries in both survey years.

The paper ends with a discussion of what these similarities and differences might tell us about the impact of high-stakes exam experiences on youth living in marginalized communities, and particularly, their sense of belonging and of the efficacy of secondary education in their present and future lives.

Authors

• Tatiana Chirkina, Michigan State University

• Amita Chudgar, Michigan State University

• Thomas Luschei, Claremont Graduate University

• Su Yon Choi, Michigan State University

• Aanchal Gidra, Michigan State University