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Teachers hold many beliefs, shaped by their educational knowledge, experiences, and cultural, social, historical, and political environments. These teacher beliefs, together with teacher characteristics and school context factors can influence cognitive processes, expectations, instructional decisions, and practices which could affect learning experiences, student engagement, and achievement. Numerous studies have explored these factors, however, often separately or with only one or two others. This paper explores primary school teachers' self-reported perceptions on the relationships between teacher beliefs (including teacher class level expectations, self-efficacy, motivation, goal orientation, work engagement, passion for teaching, relatedness to students), teacher characteristics (including gender, ethnicity, teacher experience), and school context factors (including decile and year level taught), and the impact of these on student achievement and teachers' instructional practices. Associations were found between teaching self-efficacy and all the other factors explored; work engagement and teachers' years of teaching experience, gender, and school decile; and years of teaching experience and student achievement. Further, relatedness to students, passion for teaching, and teaching self-efficacy was found to be associated with teachers' instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the incidence of the Colombian armed conflict on the academic performance of secondary students at the municipal level for the years 2003 and 2017. By using a General Nesting Spatial model, results suggest the conflict negatively affects academic performance. In 2003, a period of high conflict intensity, terrorist population attacks showed both direct and indirect negative effects on the test scores. In 2017, a period of low intensity, only direct negative effects were reported for the variables of forced displaced people, homicides, and victims of threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher quality is widely considered to be an important contributor towards student academic success. However, there is no universally agreed upon method to measure teacher quality and, often, different measures of teacher quality reveal different information about teachers. This paper examines the academic achievement of Mexican sixth grade students utilizing data from surveys administered to students, teachers, and parents, to assess measures of teacher quality. Two different methods of measuring teacher quality, subjective student evaluations of teachers and objective value-added estimates of teachers' contribution to students' academic performance, are identified and compared. The subjective measure of teacher quality is estimated based on student responses to questions about their teachers' behaviors. The objective measure estimates the change in students' standardized test scores across two consecutive years that can be attributed to their teachers. Estimates of the relationship between subjective and objective measures of teacher quality indicate that the measures capture similar information, but that discrepancies between the measures also exist. The analysis provides support for comprehensive student and value-added evaluations of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictive modelling in the education domain can be utilised to significantly improve teaching and learning experiences. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) generate a large volume of data that can be exploited to predict and evaluate student performance based on various factors. This paper has two broad aims. Firstly, to develop and tune several Machine Learning (ML) models to perform classification tasks on the dataset to predict student performance, including Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, Random Forests, K-Nearest Neighbours, and more. Secondly, to evaluate the efficacy of these ML models and identify those which are best suited to this task. The categories of data utilised in achieving these aims include (i) demographic information, (ii) academic background, and (iii) interaction with MOOC course materials. The research procedure comprises five phases: data exploration to analyse the dataset, feature engineering which involves discerning the most important features and converting them into a format decipherable by the ML models, model building, model evaluation by measurement of accuracy, and subsequent comparative evaluation between the different models. The results achieved in this study are expected to have implications on how MOOC platforms utilise data to improve user experience. As indicated by the findings of this study, the data collected by these platforms may be used to predict performance with accuracy of over 77%; this extracted information can be exploited to enhance educational theory or practices in the context of MOOCs, for instance by implementing varying teaching methodologies or providing different types of resources based on predicted performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of assessing the extent of the differences in the context of Italian educational system, the paper applies multilevel modeling to a new administrative dataset, containing detailed information for more than 500,000 students at grade 6 in the year 2011/2012, provided by the Italian Institute for the Evaluation of Educational System. Data are grouped by classes, schools and geographical areas. Different models for each area are fitted, in order to properly address the heteroscedasticity of the phenomenon. The results show that it is possible to estimate statistically significant 'school effects', i.e., the positive/negative association of attending a specific school and the student's test score, after a case-mix adjustment. Therefore, the paper's most important message is that school effects are different in terms of magnitude and types in the three geographical macro areas (Northern, Central and Southern Italy) and are dependent on specific students' and schools' characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the global economic crisis, unemployment rates increased dramatically across Europe, especially among the least educated population groups. The picture in Spain in 2012, with unemployment rates running at over 20% and youth employment close to 45%, was discouraging. In face of this situation, the Spanish autonomous government of Extremadura launched a programme specifically aimed at motivating unemployed individuals without a school degree to return to education and earn the compulsory secondary education diploma. This paper applies a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to evaluate the impact of this conditional cash transfer programme using administrative data. The results show that the programme did not increase the likelihood of earning the lower secondary education diploma. This finding is a caveat emptor for governments considering similar policies, and remarks again the importance of testing innovations before generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achievements and tensions derived from the internationalization of national scholarly communities have attracted extensive attention. However, very little is hitherto known about the effects of these processes on specific situated communities. Through a multi-method approach (bibliometrics and interviews), we provide a nuanced description of these effects on the becoming of university-based sociology in Valparaíso, Chile, during the last fifteen or so years. The paper pays special attention to the emergence of a particular form of internationalization based on international indexes and rankings that has gained influence on the day-to-day practices of the scholarly communities in that part of the scholarly (semi-)periphery. We thoroughly described the entanglements of individual trajectories and institutional framings in the practices and discourses of sociologists in Valparaíso. The article concludes by highlighting the tensions arising from the encounter of traditions and some trade-offs of the current form of internationalization for (semi-)peripheral communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the phenomenon known in Aotearoa New Zealand as twenty-first Century Learning. In recent additions to the local literature Hirschman and Wood (2018) have noted a lack of critical engagement with this narrative which is fast becoming normalised in New Zealand, and Lourie (2020) has shown how and why twenty-first century skills and competencies have been increasingly emphasised over traditional forms of knowledge. In responding to this literature I identify a number of problems with the narrative but my key purpose is to engage with what I regard as the deeper and more fundamental problem—a lack of 'knowledge about knowledge'. I use Young and Muller's (2010) 3 Futures scenarios to create a context from which to critique this knowledge gap and its contagion effects in the use of 'big ideas' in the current review of the National Certificate of Education Achievement. I argue that epistemically structured knowledge is our main resource for deep learning and that equitable access to this form of knowledge is a social justice issue. A more epistemologically informed approach to the changes currently being promoted in New Zealand education is required to mitigate the effects of epistemologically weak curriculum making encouraged by the twenty-first learning narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper estimates the effect of tertiary education eligibility on crime in Sweden. The hypothesis tested is that continuing to higher education decreases crime rates since it allows young people to escape inactivity and idleness, which are known to trigger crime. However, to qualify for tertiary education, individuals have to meet the eligibility requirements in upper-secondary school. Tertiary education eligibility may therefore affect crime rates.Methods: This paper uses a panel data set of 287 Swedish municipalities over the period 1998-2010 to estimate the tertiary education eligibility effect on crime. However, estimating educational effects on crime is challenging, because investment in education is an endogenous decision. In Sweden, substantial grade inflation, increased tertiary education eligibility by more than 6% points between 1998 and 2003. Thus, since the eligibility increase is exogenous to the educational achievements of a student cohort, i.e. not accompanied by a corresponding knowledge increase, we can use the increase to identify the effect of tertiary education eligibility on crime.Results: It is found that increasing the tertiary education eligibility rate decreases both property and violent crime substantially.Conclusions: The results show that when young people have the opportunity to attend tertiary education, and thus escape unemployment or inactivity, their propensity to commit crime decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critique of the school education productivity evaluation and two research constructs germane to it, teacher quality and teacher effectiveness. The paper will argue that policy inceptions of teacher quality and teacher effectiveness proxy for the productive capacity of schools and more broadly, school systems. Student achievement scores as determined by high stakes testing are the school education outputs of policy significance in current times while inputs thought to matter are increasingly tapered towards the particular characteristics of classroom teachers, specifically their quality (usually credentials) and effectiveness (teaching behaviours). The paper finds that attributing school system success largely to teachers and their work, especially in terms of their classroom teaching practice(s), distorts the school education policy agenda so that evaluations of school productivity purely serve accountability purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Hong Kong, parental preference for babies born in the Chinese Zodiac dragon year causes spikes in fertility. The larger number of “dragon babies” born in 1988 resulted in a schooling cohort which was 5% larger on average every school-year. Using an innovative identification strategy that avoids selection bias, I find that dragon cohort students increase their time spent studying math by an average of 0.26 hours per week (a 9% increase relative to the mean). These effort responses are strongest for girls and for students whose parents do not have post-secondary education. Being in the dragon cohort also results in higher math scores. These empirical findings are consistent with competitive behavior changes of dragon cohort members responding to the presence of additional students. I cannot, however, rule out other possible mechanisms, such as cooperation, peer quality, and educational investments, acting in conjunction to improve academic outcomes. This paper is the first to document the test score and effort impacts of such zodiac cohorts; its findings highlight the importance of cultural forces in determining population changes, and their potential to influence education and other societal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to discuss how the Singapore Education System is shifting towards student-centred designs and pedagogies, yet retaining a unique Singaporean orientation. It complements the McKinsey report by analysing directives and efforts to understand trade-offs, consequences, and insights for moving forward. The paper uses an ecological view to acknowledge that education systems are complex-historical, contextual, and cultural dimensions shape Singapore's trajectory. Building on understandings of high-performing systems, Singapore's trajectory, and informed by education research, the paper distils three shifts (from a systems level of analyses) which are currently on course: (1) hybridising pedagogies; (2) levelling up the base of lower achieving students; and (3) recognising diverse talents. The paper postulates a gradual, evolutionary stance and for continuing dialogue and alignments in the change process. The paper draws implications by proposing mitigating approaches in Singapore's continuing journey of balancing high academic achievements and twenty first century, inquiry-oriented learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in the inequality literature have stressed the importance of inequality of opportunity as opposed to inequality of outcome. In this paper we investigate the presence of inequality of opportunity in two measures of educational achievement for a representative sample of Irish 9 year olds. Students are partitioned into four groups according to maternal education levels and gaps in outcomes are calculated between each group. Quantile decompositions of the pairwise gaps reveal substantial gaps between groups and that almost half of the gaps can be explained by differences in characteristics between the groups. Detailed decompositions show consistently significant effects for income, number of childrens books in the home and maternal age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pasifika learners comprise a significant number of students in the New Zealand education system. In terms of educational performance, Pasifika learners generally have lower success rates and academic achievements than other student groups at both secondary and tertiary levels. The aim of this paper was to review current governance, investigate student support and evaluate outcomes at a New Zealand tertiary institution. Data collection occurred in three phases. The first stage of the research saw 37 student questionnaires completed between May and June 2014, phase two consisted of semi-structured interviews with graduate students between September and October 2015. Phase three in March 2016 entailed the analysis of learner achievement records. The results of the research illustrated that Pasifika students' experience was improved through a variety of learning support systems being available to them. Participants identified that the most valuable student support systems were study skills support and study buddies. Pasifika students also recognised that having a supportive environment that respected Pasifika cultural values and building trust in relationships with staff enhanced their learning experience. In conclusion, a variety of appropriate support systems and a culturally sensitive environment are needed to enrich Pasifika students' tertiary learning experience and achieving positive graduate outcomes. The insights provided by this paper will help develop student support systems that improve graduate outcomes of Pasifika learners, forming a template that can be implemented at tertiary institutions in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the vision and intent of New Zealand's Māori education policy, Ka Hikitia, and its implications on the daily lives of Māori students in New Zealand's education system. Extensive information on the secondary school experiences of rangatahi Māori (youth) have been gathered-originally in 2001 and at the end of 2015, through Kia Eke Panuku: Building on Success (Kia Eke Panuku: Building on Success is a secondary school reform initiative that is fully funded by the Ministry of Education, however, this paper represents the view of the authors and is not necessarily the view of the Ministry). Based on the messages from these two points in time, the paper concludes that the promises of Ka Hikitia are yet to be fully realised. If we, as educators, are to leave a legacy of more Māori students fashioning and leading our future, the need for the system to step up still remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experience of going to scale of Escuela Nueva, an educational innovation that started in Colombia and has influenced educational policy in several countries around the world during the last 30 years. The paper is based on the experience of the leaders of the innovation and its expansion over time. As an insider´s perpective, it relies on the knowledge of senior staff of Fundación Escuela Nueva and on the published evidence and experience accumulated during the decades following the creation of the innovation. The paper describes the context where Escuela Nueva was created and the practices of participating students, teachers, schools administrators and parents when undergoing learning and teaching. It presents the conceptual underpinnings of the innovation, and discusses existing evidence of impact of Escuela Nueva on students, teachers and parents. It then examines the experience of bringing Escuela Nueva to scale, using a three-stage framework: learning to be effective, learning to be efficient and learning to expand. The paper then discusses key factors for success, and the challenges of scale, impact and sustainability, and advances the argument that good design, adequate implementation and sustained support are essential to take an innovation to scale. To conclude, the following four key lessons of Escuela Nueva to the educational change field are discussed : (1) Teachers and students need to be the key actors of the change; (2) the proposed improvements have to be easily replicable within existing conditions; (3) the attitudinal change of teachers is positively affected as a result of demonstrating that the model was feasible, a good fit for its beneficiaries and that they could do it; and (4) a systemic approach is necessary to impact simultaneously on the critical factors of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs hierarchical linear models to explore the long-term effects of stereotype threat on college outcomes for students in the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen. Performance burden was negatively related to both grades and social satisfaction with college. Social satisfaction with college was also significantly impacted by students’ perception of the campus racial climate. This paper examines the combined impact of performance burden, campus racial climate, cumulative GPA, and social life satisfaction early in college on 4 year graduation rates. Overall, while there are large initial differences in the likelihood of graduating on time for black and Hispanic students relative to whites, these differences are completely explained by assessments of campus racial climate, social life satisfaction, and grades. The findings suggest that interventions to reduce stereotype threat and improve the racial atmosphere on campus may go a long way towards reducing—and in some cases eliminating—disparities between racial/ethnic groups in college outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How much university students learn in their studies is highly debated and important to understanding the value of higher education. Yet, information on learning gains at this level are scarce. Our paper contributes to the debate by using unique data for Brazil to estimate absolute test score gains across various fields of study in higher education and to assess whether students who attend certain categories of programs (public/private, research/non-research, highly selective/less selective) make greater relative gains than in others. Our results suggest that students in STEM fields tend to have higher absolute achievement gains compared to students in humanities and pedagogical programs, and that in a few fields, such as civil engineering and history, the relative gains for students in highly selective programs in that field of study are significantly higher than if they had attended somewhat less selective programs. However, students attending lowest quintile selective programs in a field of study have consistently lower gains across a range of study fields than similar students attending programs just one quintile higher. The results have important implications for the equity effects of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale assessments of student achievement provide a window into the broadly defined concepts of literacy and generate information about levels and types of student achievement in relation to some of the correlates of learning, such as student background, attitudes, and perceptions, and perhaps school and home characteristics. This paper provides an overview and outlines potential research opportunities of one such assessment—the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In order to provide examples of the work that can be accomplished with these data, we describe and discuss the results generated from PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 in terms of international comparisons of achievement and the models of relational patterns of student, home, and school characteristics. We provide insight from the recent pilot testing conducted in Taiwan for PISA 2006, which has a focus on scientific literacy. This is followed by a discussion of the implications and potentials of the 2000 and 2003 datasets to facilitate research on scientific and mathematical literacy. The paper concludes with a look ahead to PISA 2006 and what researchers should be attending to in the research reports generated from the OECD and the research interests that they could follow given access to the datasets generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an innovative approach to evaluate educational performance of Spanish students in PISA 2009. Our purpose is to decompose their overall inefficiency between different components with a special focus on studying the differences between public and state subsidized private schools. We use a technique inspired by the non-parametric free disposal hull and the application of robust order- $$m$$ models, which allow us to mitigate the influence of outliers and the curse of dimensionality. Subsequently, we adopt a metafrontier framework to assess each student relative to the own group best practice frontier (students in the same school) and to different frontiers constructed from the best practices of different types of schools. The results show that state-subsidised private schools outperform public schools, although the differences between them are significantly reduced once we control for the type of students enrolled in both type of centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing debate in many countries about the assumed negative influence of ethnically concentrated schools on pupils' cognitive development. This paper addresses the influence of concentrations of ethnic minority children in schools on the school achievement of their pupils. The analysis covers the period 1988-2004 and is based on a very large (60,000 pupils in each edition) longitudinal survey of the school achievement of primary school pupils, which was held every 2 years in the Netherlands. It reveals that the educational achievements of pupils from ethnic minority groups are improving, more so in arithmetic than in language. The paper examines whether ethnically concentrated schools make up the gap. We find that ethnically concentrated schools appear to become more and more adept at dealing with the educational disadvantage of ethnic minority children: they are making greater progress in educational achievement than schools with few ethnic minority children. Over the 15-year period studied, ethnically concentrated schools have removed around half the language disadvantage compared to 'white' schools, and as much as even three-quarters of the gap in arithmetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The universal accessibility movement has focused on solutions for people with physical limitations. While this work has helped bring about positive initiatives for this population, physical disabilities are just one of the many life situations that can complicate people's ability to fully participate in an information economy and society. Other factors affecting accessibility include poverty, illiteracy, and social isolation. This paper explores how the universal accessibility movement can expand its efforts to reach other diverse populations. Four sets of resources are discussed-physical, digital, human, and social-that are critical for enabling people to use information and communication technology. Examples of how these resources can help people access, adapt, and create knowledge are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of increased demands for excellence in all areas, academic promotion and tenure is now directly linked to achievement of measurable outputs in all areas of performance. In a work environment characterised by high workloads, competing expectations and reduced resources, academics must increasingly demonstrate active engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). For many, this may mean adopting new cultures, methodologies, theories, languages and modes of enquiry outside their home or cognate discipline. In the context of performance management, academics must reconceptualise and articulate notions of 'good academic practice', often in parallel with the practical requirement to continue to teach in the culture and practices of their cognate discipline. We need to better understand the implications, for institutions and individuals, of approaching SoTL through the lens of performance evaluation. This paper reports the key themes from a pilot study examining how academics at an Australian university are responding to the emergence of SoTL in the performance management context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While past literature has explored school engagement in older students, there is less research for younger children specifically, and very little which engages children themselves in the research process. This paper provides insight into school engagement for academically at-risk students in the second year of school through a participatory research project. Specifically, the paper reports on a project which examined three groups of students within the Catholic Education system in Australia, namely, those not considered at-risk academically, those considered at-risk but receiving one-on-one support, and those considered to be at-risk but not receiving support. Students participated in focus groups and a photo elicitation project, with questions adapted from The School Engagement Questionnaire forming the basis of data collection. In relation to behavioural engagement, the thematic analysis demonstrated that students in each group valued social interaction, while at-risk students spoke about experiences of punishment at school and students in the group receiving support spoke about rewards. In relation to cognitive engagement, themes of boredom were evident across all groups, while students in the non at-risk group were more likely to speak about the value of learning. At-risk students also displayed some anxiety in relation to school which was not displayed by students who were receiving support. Free time, favourite lessons and technology were all identified as prominent themes in all groups in relation to affective engagement. While the study has some limitations due to restricted timeframe and sample size, it provides an insight into the utility of considering school engagement in developing an understanding of the school experience of at-risk students in primary school. Future studies in this area should examine broader, more representative samples and also consider students with multiple risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the introduction of international achievement assessments, Korea has received a great deal of global attention because of its strong academic performance achieved at primary and secondary education levels. However, Korea has not fully benefited from these achievements in education for several reasons as discussed in this paper. The Korean education system is now faced with challenges that have emerged from these achievements. The purpose of this paper is thus to discuss the curriculum reforms in Korea, which were undertaken to achieve sustainable success and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century learning ecology. This paper highlights that beneath its high academic performance, the Korean educational system faces problems related to students' low interest levels in learning, a declining index of students' happiness, and increasingly deskilled teachers because of the prescribed national curriculum. This paper describes the current shift taking place in the Korean educational system as it move from knowledge delivery to competency development, from academic excellence to student happiness, and from centralized and detailed prescriptions to more autonomous decision making by teachers in order to overcome these problems and respond actively to twenty-first century learning ecology. In addition, this paper suggests that changes must be followed in terms of school practice, teachers' professional development, and sociocultural structures as means of achieving these reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an empirical investigation of inequality of education opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We use student scores from tests administered by the international consortium Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for a number of MENA countries and over time since 1999 to estimate the effect of circumstances children are born into on their academic achievement in science and mathematics. We find that inequality of opportunities explains a significant part of the inequality in educational achievements in most MENA countries, but there is ample heterogeneity. Family background variables are the most important determinants of inequality in achievement, followed by community characteristics. The results show that, despite great efforts in past decades to invest in free public education, most MENA countries are less opportunity equal in educational achievement than European countries, and several are less so than Latin America and the United States. From the variation in inequality of education opportunities across countries and over time we draw lessons on the influence of different education systems or changes in policy on equality of opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The dispersion of immigrants has challenged educators in new immigrant destinations to adapt to the needs of their first cohorts of children of immigrants. This paper evaluates how families, schools, and neighborhoods shape the academic adaptation of immigrants' children in new and established immigrant states. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study from 2002, the paper examines how 10th grade math and reading test scores differ across three settlement locations: established, new, and other immigrant states. Results indicate that achievement in math and reading is the highest in new immigrant states. While demographic differences between settlement locations largely explained differences in achievement, families and schools in new immigrant states also strongly influenced achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper arises from a study of how concepts related to understanding functions develop for students across the years of secondary/high school, using small samples from two different curricula systems: England and Israel. We used a survey consisting of function tasks developed in collaboration with teachers from both curriculum systems. We report on 120 higher achieving students, 10 from each of English and Israeli, 12–18 years old. Iterative and comparative analysis identified similarities and differences in students’ responses and we conjecture links between curriculum, enactment, task design, and students’ responses. Towards the end of school, students from both curriculum backgrounds performed similarly on most tasks but approached these by different routes, such as intuitive or formal and with different understandings, including correspondence and covariational approaches to functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests student performance may be negatively influenced by stereotype threat, “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Steele and Aronson in J Personal Soc Psychol 69(5):797, 1995). However, studies have also found that educating students about stereotype threat and the nature of intelligence can attenuate its effects. This paper explored whether a brief intervention could improve performance and attitudes for 109 at-risk students in a large urban school. Results found the intervention did not result in statistically significant differences in grades, or increases in student beliefs about their ability to succeed in school. Educational implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult depression, undoubtedly associated with executive dysfunction, leads to poor work performance. As depression in adolescents may have a negative impact on school performance, we aimed to analyse the possible relationship between selected executive deficits and academic performance. Executive dysfunctions may have more severe consequences on school performance at high school, as this stage of education requires engagement in long-term goals, whether writing an essay or preparing for an exam. Whilst inhibitory control is necessary at all educational stages, it seems that planning and decision-making play a greater role in high school than in primary school. We reviewed studies on executive functions conducted in adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) to establish the possible relationship between executive processes and school performance in depressed adolescents. The search identified 5 studies addressing planning and decision-making in adolescents with MDD, but none of those studies reported educational achievement. We identified a considerable gap in the research on the functional impact of depression in adolescents. Identifying the link between specific executive deficits and school performance could guide tailored therapeutic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on educational attainments have tended to focus on attainments at a specific level of education. The change in disparities in attainment over the educational life cycle, however, has been neglected in literature-in India, for instance, the only exceptions are Vaid () and Desai and Kulkarni (). This paper uses unit level National Sample Survey data (2004-2005) to examine gender disparities at different educational levels up to the high school level. Bi-variate analysis of gender disparities computed using the Sopher-Kundu index indicates that although there are substantial gender disparities at lower levels of education, this gets reversed at higher levels in several states. At the all-India level, too, in recent years, a reversal of disparity may be observed in urban areas. Econometric analysis using the variable parameter variant of the generalized ordered logit model reveals that robustness of females increase over the educational life cycle, though disparity remains, after controlling for socio-economic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational attainment varies greatly across countries and within countries over time. This paper asks whether the variation in education is primarily due to industry composition or to within-industry skill intensities. The main finding is that within-industry variation accounts for at least two-thirds of the cross-country and the time-series variation in educational attainment. The within-industry education gaps are broadly consistent with a model of industry neutral cross-country differences in skilled labor productivity. These results suggest that theories of educational development should focus on skill upgrading within industries rather than structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we review research on parental expectations and their effects on student achievement within and across diverse racial and ethnic groups. Our review suggests that the level of parental expectations varies by racial/ethnic group, and that students' previous academic performance is a less influential determinant of parental expectations among racial/ethnic minority parents than among European American parents. To explain this pattern, we identify three processes associated with race/ethnicity that moderate the relation between students' previous performance and parental expectations. Our review also indicates that the relation of parental expectations to concurrent or future student achievement outcomes is weaker for racial/ethnic minority families than for European American families. We describe four mediating processes by which high parental expectations may influence children's academic trajectories and show how these processes are associated with racial/ethnic status. The article concludes with a discussion of educational implications as well as suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on immigrants’ disadvantage focus predominantly on labour market perspectives. Immigrants’ poor education is a subject much less examined especially in a cross-national context. This paper examines differences in educational achievement between immigrants and natives across ten OECD countries. In English-speaking countries, immigrants fare best, while in Continental European countries they fare worse compared to natives. Whilst language skills seem to explain immigrants’ disadvantage in English-speaking countries, socioeconomic background and school segregation are further important determinants of immigrants’ gap in Continental Europe. Results presented are predominantly robust across three sources of achievement data: PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research presented in this paper is to contribute to our knowledge about problem solving in mathematics. My purpose in this paper is to compare, from this point of view, two very different institutions in the French tertiary education system, with the intention to interpret the chronic inequality of performance in problem solving between populations of mathematics students coming from these institutions. Problem solving knowledge and skills are not an explicit objective of teaching and their development depends largely on the student's private mathematical activity. This hypothesis is the reason why the inquiry aims at comparing mathematics students' ways of working as they study in both institutions. The results of the research are interpreted, on the institutional level, as effects of differences between the two teaching systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper an investigation of the outcomes of a Peer Support scheme for the students who are supported is reported. It was found that attendance at Peer Support sessions was positively and significantly correlated to academic performance. This relationship was found even when prior levels of academic performance were controlled for. However, it was also found that students who attended Peer Support sessions adopted less meaning orientated approaches to studying over the course of the academic year. It is argued that this is an indication that the quality of the learning of these students fell. Qualitative evidence suggests that this change in approach was in response to an increased awareness of the assessment demands of the course and that these students had become more strategically orientated in their approach to studying as a result of their attendance at Peer Support sessions. It is argued that these results suggest that the outcomes and operation of this Peer Support scheme were influenced by the context in which it operated. Two implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mentions the extent to which contemporary science curricula include knowledge of the nature of science as a goal of science instruction; it outlines the crucial role played by the pendulum in the achievements of the scientific revolution and documents how little these achievements are included in standard textbooks; it describes a number of classroom pendular experiments and activities that reproduce some of the main 17th centuary experiments and indicates how students can relive the original scientific, procedural and methodological debates; finally the paper suggests ways in which the pendulum can be used in cross-disciplinary teaching thus giving students a more authentic understanding of the way that science has developed in conjunction with mathematics, music, religion and commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 20 years of research on the social regulation of academic performances, this paper provides arguments for the idea that the social context in which cognitive functioning takes place is an integral part of that functioning, not just the surrounding context for it. Several studies in the classroom setting indeed reveal that student’s cognitive performances can depend on interactions between their actual and past social experiences, most notably interpersonal comparison and evaluation episodes. Because of their recurrence, these episodes can become part of student’s autobiographical memory and, therefore, can affect their actual behavior in specific conditions. Theoretical suggestions are made for a ‘social psychology of cognition.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the source of the gender gap in third-grade numeracy and reading. We adopt an Oaxaca-Blinder approach and decompose the gender gap in educational achievement into endowment and response components. Our estimation relies on unusually rich panel data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children in which information on child development reported by parents and teachers is linked to each child's results on a national, standardized achievement test. We find that girls in low- and middle-socio-economic-status (SES) families have an advantage in reading, while boys in high-SES families have an advantage in numeracy. Girls score higher on their third-grade reading tests in large part because they were more ready for school at age 4 and had better teacher-assessed literacy skills in kindergarten. Boys' advantage in numeracy occurs because they achieve higher numeracy test scores than girls with the same education-related characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being able to attend school and achieve an education is one of the most desired opportunities among resettled refugee young people. However, turning educational aspirations into reality is not straightforward. There is a large body of research documenting the barriers associated with educational achievement among refugees who resettle as teenagers, both in Australia and internationally. No studies, however, have identified the factors that predict completion of secondary school among resettled refugee youth over time. This paper reports the predictors of completion of secondary school among a cohort of 47 refugee youth resettled in Melbourne, Australia. Eight to 9 years after resettlement, 29 (62 %) had completed secondary school and 18 (38 %) had left school prior to completing year 12. Age on arrival and experiences of discrimination in Australia were significant predictors of secondary school completion. Older refugee youth (on arrival) and those who reported experiences of discrimination over the first 8 to 9 years in Australia were significantly less likely to complete secondary school. This longitudinal study confirms that, as a group, refugee youth are particularly at risk of not completing secondary school education, which can have an impact on their wellbeing and long-term socio-economic standing in their settlement country. Our study provides further evidence of the negative impact of discrimination on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of grouping mathematics students by perceived levels of attainment, commonly referred to by teachers as ability grouping, is a contentious and long-standing topic of debate in education. Responses from a survey of 102 mathematics support teachers affirm the widespread use of ability grouping within New Zealand primary school mathematics classroom. This contrasts recent literature that suggest changes towards more flexible heterogeneous grouping practices aligned with collaborative problem-solving learning environments will better support equitable and productive learning opportunities. In this paper, we explore teachers' levels of satisfaction with current grouping practices, with a view to understanding the potential for changes. The mathematics support teachers indicate that postgraduate study, experimentation within their own classrooms, and success working with problem-solving group tasks with struggling students have all served to prompt their rethinking of grouping practices. However, responses also point to teachers' uncertainty around change, the desire for extended professional learning support and exemplars of alternative practices, and the importance of whole-school leadership within a change process. It is clear that multi-levels of influence will be needed to disrupt embedded practices of ability grouping that currently serve to exclude and marginalise groups of disadvantage groups of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the education sector is improving more quickly than ever with the help of advancing technologies, there are still many areas yet to be discovered, and there will always be room for further enhancements. Two of the most disruptive technologies, machine learning (ML) and blockchain, have helped replace conventional approaches used in the education sector with highly technical and effective methods. In this study, a system is proposed that combines these two radiant technologies and helps resolve problems such as forgeries of educational records and fake degrees. The idea here is that if these technologies can be merged and a system can be developed that uses blockchain to store student data and ML to accurately predict the future job roles for students after graduation, the problems of further counterfeiting and insecurity in the student achievements can be avoided. Further, ML models will be used to train and predict valid data. This system will provide the university with an official decentralized database of student records who have graduated from there. In addition, this system provides employers with a platform where the educational records of the employees can be verified. Students can share their educational information in their e-portfolios on platforms such as LinkedIn, which is a platform for managing professional profiles. This allows students, companies, and other industries to find approval for student data more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'What (Whose) purpose does your knowledge serve?' In her book, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Martha Nussbaum states the difference between a democratic education for citizenship and an education for profit, and draws attention to the current education crisis caused by an overvaluation of the latter over the former. An education for democratic citizenship aims to develop three key abilities: critical thinking, the capacity to understand and to transcend parochial attachments, and empathy. An education for profit, however, requires the training of specific skills in order to produce the economic growth of a certain group, company or country. While the first, in accordance to a Socratic education, focuses on the foundation of perennial structures of thought related to human dignity, the latter, following the sophistic model, simplifies these structures according to economic priorities. In this paper, I critically explore Nussbaum's manifesto by reformulating two key arguments to show that: (1) education must always aim at creating knowledge, and (2) education must always be focused on the development of humanism as the greater goal, regardless of the emphasis on arts and humanities or on exact science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have indicated, particularly in the European context, that students' mathematical successes on international tests of student achievement may not be attributable to the quality of classroom instruction, although, as is shown, this is unlikely to be the case in Flanders, the autonomous Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Flemish students' mathematics performance on such tests have placed them at the head of the European rankings, warranting Flanders as a site of research interest that has been largely ignored by the international community. In this paper, drawing on analyses of four sequences of five lessons, taught by teachers construed locally as competent, I explore the nature of Flemish mathematics teaching. Framed by anecdotal reports that it reflects the structuralism of the now largely abandoned Bourbakian new mathematics movement humanised by the Dutch tradition of realistic mathematics education, the analyses focus on examining not only the extent to which these traditions are manifested in Flemish classrooms but the ways in which they interact. The dominant tradition seems to be that of mathematical structuralism mediated by teachers' use of realistic problems; a tradition not unlikely to underpin Flemish students' repeated successes. The results are discussed in relation to research highlighting the significance on students' achievement of the broader cultural milieu in which they and their teachers operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that the benefits from smaller classes may vary along multiple dimensions. In this paper we develop a flexible model of education production that incorporates the classroom-level time lost to disruption and the rate of learning during productive time as a function of teacher quality and individual propensity to acquire knowledge. We then investigate heterogeneity in class size effects by school poverty share, family income, teacher experience, and achievement percentile using data from Project STAR. We find that the benefits of small classes are consistently higher in schools with a larger low-income enrollment share. Conditional on school poverty share, we find little or no evidence that lower-income or lower-achieving students tend to realize larger benefits of smaller classes. Instead, we find that the return to smaller classes tends to increase with achievement regardless of school poverty share. Given the generally higher levels of disruption reported in higher poverty schools, this set of findings is consistent with, though not direct evidence of, the notion that reduced time lost to disruption is a primary mechanism through which smaller classes raise achievement and a compelling explanation for the empirical finding that class-size effects tend to be larger for lower-income children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools need reliable evidence about the outcomes of meditation programs before they consider if and how such programmes can influence learning agendas, curriculum and timetables. This paper reviewed evidence from 15 peer-reviewed studies of school meditation programmes with respect to three student outcomes: well-being, social competence and academic achievement. In total, there were 76 results where effect sizes could be calculated. The overall number of participants in the effect size analyses was 1,797. Of the 76 effect sizes calculated, 61 % were statistically significant. Sixty-seven per cent of the results had small effects on student outcomes, 24 % of the results had medium effect strength and 9 % showed a large effect of meditation upon student outcomes. Transcendental meditation programmes had a higher percentage of significant effects than mindfulness-based and other types of meditation programmes, but this may be to do with the settings and programme delivery rather than the technique itself. Programme elements such as duration, frequency of practice and type of instructor influenced student outcomes. A conceptual model is put forward based on two propositions: proposition 1-meditation positively influences student success by increasing cognitive functioning; proposition 2-meditation positively influences student success by increasing emotional regulation. Suggestions are made to stimulate future research and to assist in the development of more efficacious applications for meditation in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores geographical factors associated with the postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) preparation of students from underrepresented groups in the School District of Philadelphia from middle to high school during 2008 and 2011. We analyze Pennsylvania state assessment data for mathematics in conjunction with data from the American Community Survey using correlation analysis, cluster analysis, ordinary least squares regression, and geographically-weighted regression. Our analyses find strong relationships among math performance, a key indicator of college readiness for courses of study in STEM, and neighborhood factors within school catchment areas. For example, high percentages of unemployed residents are negatively correlated to math performance, while high median household income is positively correlated with math performance. These relationships vary spatially across middle and high school catchment areas. The results of this research can foster discussions about school reform towards more nuanced, spatially-informed STEM policies that focus on improving the educational outcomes of students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields, particularly for those youth living in economically disadvantaged communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework for understanding the growing interest in establishing single-gender schools and classrooms for African American males in the United States. From a legal perspective, CRT proponents contend that single-gender education offers African Americans a viable strategy for addressing and reversing the systemic and cultural forces that limit the academic achievement, educational attainment and destinies of African American males. Both potential benefits and problematic aspects of single-gender education as a timely reform strategy to raise academic achievement and improve the lives and futures of African American males are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]