2010 - Does the SES of the School Matter? An Examination of Socioeconomic Status and Student Achievement Using PISA 2003

Attribution: Perry, Laura B., & McConney, Andrew
Researchers: Andrew McConneyLaura B. Perry
University Affiliation: Murdoch University
Email: l.perry@murdoch.edu.au
Research Question:
The relationship between school SES and student outcomes.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Teacher College Record
Journal Entry: Vol. 112, No. 4, pp. 1137-1162
Year: 2010
Findings:
  • Increases in the mean SES of a school are associated with consistent increases in students’ academic achievement. This relationship is similar for all students regardless of their individual SES.
  • In the Australian case, the SES composition of the school matters greatly in terms of students’ academic performance.
  • The SES context in which the student finds himself or herself seems strongly associated with academic performance, on average.
  • For the typical student in the first SES quintile, being part of a high-SES school group versus a low-SES school group is associated with a difference of about 57 points in reading, 57 points in math, and 57 points in science. This pattern holds across reading, math and science, and it is also evident that it holds across the quintiles based on individual students.
  • For the Australian PISA case, both student-and school -level SES consistently and substantially matter in academic performance of students across the three core subjects of reading, math, and science.
Keywords: Academic AchievementCompositionMathReadingScienceSESRegions: InternationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Multilevel Models Sampling Frame:Population of 15-year old secondary students
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: SchoolStudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • Uses data from the Australian 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
  • The sample includes over 320 secondary schools and more than 12,000 students from Australia.
  • Sample included 312 schools and just over 12,500 students representative of the population 15-year old students across the country.
  • Divided the sample in 5 quintiles based on individual SES, then each of the five subgroups were further disaggregated into 5 subgroups using the mean school group SES variable. Therefore there were 25 subgroups organized by individual and mean school group SES. Computed the mean scores in reading, math, and science for each of these 25 subgroups.
  • DV: Mean performances in reading, mathematics, and science.
  • IV: Student level SES (index of highest parental occupational status, highest parental educational attainment, and economic and cultural resources in the home), aggregated mean SES school , etc.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts