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By placing particular attention to the socio-economic dimension, this thesis explores the role of three pillars of an educational system: decentralization, early education and curricular tracking. The first article focuses on an experiment in Mexico that aimed to increase parental empowerment in the school's decision-making. Results show that increased participation produced an increase in cognitive abilities, however, this was mediated by the SES of the student. The second article brings an international perspective by comparing the evolution of the achievement gap over time in 32 countries. The findings suggest that tracking and vocational enrollment are important explanatory mechanisms of the cross-country variability in achievement gaps. The third article studies whether early education is associated with adult outcomes but concentrating on a particularly vulnerable population in the United States: GED recipients. Results show that participation in early education is associated with greater odds of graduating high school over attaining a GED. Esta tesis explora el rol de tres pilares de un sistema educativo: descentralización, educación temprana y seguimiento curricular. El primer artículo estudia un experimento en México que tuvo como objetivo aumentar el empoderamiento de padres en la toma de decisiones en la escuela. Los resultados muestran que mayor participación de los padres aumentó las habilidades cognitivas de sus hijos. Sin embargo, esto fue mediado por el SES del estudiante. El segundo artículo compara la evolución de la brecha de logros en 32 países. Los hallazgos sugieren que el seguimiento curricular y los estudios vocacionales pueden ser mecanismos explicativos de la brecha. El tercer artículo estudia si la educación temprana está asociada con resultados positivos en la adultez en Estados Unidos. Los resultados muestran que la participación en educación temprana está asociado con mayores probabilidades de graduarse de la escuela secundaria en comparación con la obtención de un GED.

Despite extensive research on attainment grouping, the impact of attainment grouping on pupil attainment remains poorly understood and contested. This paper presents evidence from a study conducted with 2944 12–13 year olds, from 76 schools in England, who were allocated to between-class attainment groups (‘setting’) in English and mathematics over the first 2 years of secondary schooling. After controlling for prior attainment, pupils in the top set performed significantly better than pupils in the middle and bottom sets in both English and mathematics. The findings indicate a widening gap in attainment, especially in the case of English. Findings, especially in the case of mathematics, provide more evidence of a relative benefit for pupils placed in top sets than a relative detriment for those in bottom sets. Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)

Entrenched socioeconomic inequalities in achievement have been observed in international assessments for decades, with previous research suggesting that these inequalities may be exacerbated by differentiation in the opportunities provided to various social groups. Much previous research in this field has been US-based or subject to measurement issues. This study investigated socioeconomic inequalities in outcomes and opportunities using four cycles of international assessment data across 78 countries. Further, the paper questions whether inequalities in opportunities are related to inequalities in outcomes. The findings indicate global social inequalities in mathematics and science outcomes, while inequality of opportunity was particularly concentrated in economically advanced countries. Little evidence of the perpetuation of socioeconomic inequality in achievement through differentiated educational provision was found.

Any learning is stimulated by the teaching method or technique adopted. When put in traditional competitive settings, students worry more about their self-esteem and tend to shy away from participating in the activities, while, only those with higher level of oral skills volunteer in answering the questions. This inequity in practice causes a discrepancy in students’ performance in the oral expression exams and thus, results in a gap in the achievement. This paper suggests cooperative learning as a means to reduce the achievement gap between high and low achievers in the oral expression classes. This study is an endeavor to highlight the effectiveness of cooperative learning in reducing the disparity between high and low achievers and also to accentuate the benefits of this method in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The study followed an experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent groups design with a sample of 44 second year EFL students from the University of Khenchela, Algeria. The intervention lasted for a semester. The results showed that the achievement gap was reduced in the experimental group after using cooperative learning instructions, while the traditional method, in the control group, failed in closing the achievement gap between high and low-achievers. As a conclusion, some recommendations will be given with the aim of promoting the use of cooperative learning in the EFL classrooms as well as fostering teachers’ awareness of the effectiveness of such teaching method in improving students’ performance in oral expression.

A quantitative theoretical model of academic achievement, based on the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is used to explore the origin and development of achievement discrepancies via the phenomenon known as the Matthew effect. This paper applies the model to explore the potential impact of various types of educational interventions and their anticipated effects on academic achievement as well as excellence and achievement gaps. Interventions tend to aggravate both type of gaps unless they are paired with countervailing curricular insufficiency that serves to limit the growth of the highest achieving students.

Achievement gaps refer to the difference in the performance on assessments of students belonging to different social groups. Achievement gaps between ethnic groups have been observed in countries with heterogeneous populations. In this paper, achievement gaps between ethnic populations in Brazil were analyzed by studying the performance of a large cohort of senior high-school students in a standardized national exam. Ethnic groups were stratified by Brazilian states and socio-economic variables to homogeneize the groups, and the analyses focused on the disciplines of mathematics and writing that involve different cognitive functions. A Welch&rsquo, s t-test analysis was performed and key socio-economic variables that may explain the gaps were studied. The results show that gaps between ethnic groups of students living in low-income households were either statistically insignificant or small (2&ndash, 6 % ) if statistically significant. Larger gaps however were observed for students coming from high-income families in some contexts. Although parental education was associated with higher performance, it may either increase, decrease or maintain the gaps between White and Black, and between White and Pardo students. Our results support that socio-economic variables, linked to historical developments, have an impact on student&rsquo, s performance irrespective of ethnic background, resulting on little to no influence on group performance when students are exposed to similar cultural and economic contexts.

The capacity of schooling to overcome disadvantage in society is a recurring topic of discussion and debate in countries around the world. Current government-led reforms of curriculum, assessment and schooling often aim to address inequality, as part of broader agendas to improve national productivity and social wellbeing. Recent approaches to curriculum reform in a number of countries emphasize the importance of defining rigorous standards for all students. A curriculum review of the senior secondary years, conducted recently in two regions of Australia, combined a focus on standards with strategies related to the personal relevance of the curriculum for students. The position presented in this article is that efforts to make curriculum immediately relevant for senior secondary students can restrict opportunities to learn and achieve within all curriculum areas. Specific examples from a range of learning areas demonstrate how aspects of curriculum and assessment design that could help to support students at risk of not succeeding can be undermined by attempts to make the new curriculum relevant to students’ current lives.The example of curriculum reform presented in this paper highlights the importance ofevaluating the outcomes of standards-based reform in education within local contexts Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The recent release of the Gonski Review recognises the decline in Australia's schooling performances over the last decade, noting in particular a distressing increase in the 'achievement gap' affecting students from low SES backgrounds (Gonski, 2012). The report details the need for more quality in teachers throughout the schooling system, particularly within the schools with the greatest academic needs. This paper specifically focuses on a group of high-achieving pre-service English teachers. In their last two years of university study, they participated in a program called Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS), designed to prepare them to work in disadvantaged or low SES schools. We wanted to capture their experiences of teaching in challenging settings during their practicum, and as they prepared to graduate, we wondered what they now felt about teaching English in low SES schools. Using narrative inquiry, we analysed a range of reflective data to gain insight into such things as their initial motivations for entering the teaching profession and how their preconceived expectations may or may not have shifted after practicum experiences in low SES schools. We encouraged open reflection about how they perceived themselves as English teachers.