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Several studies have been published on disengaged test respondents, and others have analyzed disengaged survey respondents separately. For many large-scale assessments, students answer questionnaire and test items in succession. This study examines the percentage of students who continuously engage in disengaged responding behaviors across sections in a low-stakes assessment. The effects on calculated scores of filtering students, based on their responding behaviors, are also analyzed. Data of this study came from the 2015 administration of PISA. For data analysis, frequencies and percentages of engaged students in the sessions were initially calculated using students' response times. To investigate the impact of filtering disengaged respondents on parameter estimation, three groups were created, namely engaged in both measures, engaged only in the test, and engaged only in the questionnaire. Next, several validity checks were performed on each group to verify the accuracy of the classifications and the impact of filtering student groups based on their responding behavior. The results indicate that students who are disengaged in tests tend to continue this behavior when responding to the questionnaire items in PISA. Moreover, the rate of continuity of disengaged responding is non-negligible as can be seen from the effect sizes. On the other hand, removing disengaged students in both measures led to higher or nearly the same performance ratings compared to the other groups. Researchers analyzing the dataset including achievement tests and survey items are recommended to review disengaged responses and filter out students who are continuously showing disengaged responding before performing further statistical analysis.

Globalisation and policy transfer in education make it incumbent upon decision makers to prioritise among competing policy options, select policy initiatives that are appropriate for their national contexts, and understand how system-specific factors moderate the relationship between those policies and student outcomes. This study used qualitative comparative analysis and correlational analyses to explore these relationships with publicly available data on socio-economic, cultural, and education conditions, and their association with PISA 2015 results in 49 countries. Findings show that gender and income equality, human development, and individualism were outcome-enabling conditions for PISA 2015 results, and gender equality was the most consistent of these conditions. These factors significantly moderated the relationships between education policy and PISA results. Implications for the identification of meaningful peer countries for comparative educational research, policy transfer, and the future expansion of PISA are discussed.

The doctoral defence is the oral examination of the doctoral thesis. While it is a major milestone for doctoral candidates, this event is often shrouded in mystery. In this article, I explore the doctoral defence from an international perspective. I have studied the format of the defence based on written testimonies as well as the literature on this topic. From this analysis, I distinguish four main elements of the defence format: (1) timing of the defence with respect to thesis publication, (2) number of steps in the defence, (3) public or private defence, and (4) the timeline of the defence itself. I then use these building blocks of the doctoral defence format to discuss differences and similarities between the formats, and finally to categorize defence formats used internationally by analysing the format of 26 countries, 24 of which use an oral defence format. The result is a deeper understanding of the defence format, which is valuable for candidates, committee members, supervisors, and administrators, and which can also serve the current discussions within the European Union on a standard format for the doctoral defence. Ultimately, understanding the defence format removes the mystery surrounding the defence.

In this study, we investigated factors predictive of disconnection, or not being in education, employment, or training (NEET), among young adults with at least a 2-year college degree. We also explored the extent to which disconnection influences civic participation and well-being among NEETs with and without college degrees. The authors used 2012 and 2015 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from the Survey of Adult Skills in the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) for 29 countries, including the United States, along with US 2012 data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Results highlight that college-educated individuals whose parents have low levels of educational attainment actually have a higher likelihood of becoming NEET relative to college-educated individuals whose parents are more highly educated. Study findings also emphasize the influence of economic and geographic differences (country-level for OECD and county-level for United States) on NEET rates, in addition to the extent to which mothers have a higher likelihood and fathers have a lower likelihood of being NEET relative to their childless peers and the influence of country-level family leave policies on the odds of being NEET across the OECD. College field of study also emerges as an important influence on disconnection across the 29 OECD countries in the study, but not in the United States separately. Finally, comparing results for college-educated NEETs and NEETs without degrees, we found that higher education appears to reduce the likelihood of community disengagement and reports of poor health among NEETs across the OECD countries. However, this is not the case within the United States where NEETs are less likely to be engaged in their communities and more likely to describe themselves as in poor health regardless of their educational attainment.

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

In large-scale assessments, performance differences across different groups are regularly found. These group differences (e.g., gender differences) are often relevant for educational policy decisions and measures. However, the formation of these group differences usually remains unclear. We propose an approach for investigating this formation by considering behavioral process measures as mediating variables between group membership and performance on the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment complex-problem solving (CPS) items. We found that across all investigated countries interactive behavior can fully explain gender differences in CPS, but cannot explain differences between students with and without a migration background. However, in some countries these results differ from the cross-country results. Our results indicate that process measures derived from log data are useful for further investigating and explaining performance differences between girls and boys and students with and without migration background.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

This article examines the extent to which parental socioeconomic status (SES) affects the likelihood of a child becoming a top-performing student, offering an international perspective by reporting this relationship in 31 developed countries. The impact of 3 important educational system characteristics (differentiation in terms of early tracking, standardisation, and private schooling) on the relationship between parental SES and top performance was determined. We employed multilevel logistic regression models on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 (N = 216,980) to reveal that children with low parental SES have a lower probability of becoming a top-performing student than those with high parental SES, although this association differs between countries. The negative relationship between a disadvantaged parental background and top performance was not affected by the educational system characteristics under investigation.

This study compares the literacy and numeracy proficiencies of higher education (HE) degree holders in 21 OECD countries based on primary analysis of the national data sets collected via the OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2012 study. The differences in the graduates' average literacy and numeracy proficiencies amongst the OECD countries are substantial. Depending on the country, a smaller or greater proportion of a young highly educated age group does not have sufficient skills in literacy or numeracy to cope with many of the everyday tasks requiring the use of that skill. The PIAAC study challenges existing evaluation practices of the effectiveness of HE in fostering individual skills and puts into perspective the attempts to lift national average skill levels by increasing the HE sector's intake.

This article examines the long-run effect of higher education, measured in average years of tertiary schooling, on the level and growth rate of national per capita income. It uses an improved dataset on educational attainments which not only reduces measurement error but also overcomes data comparability issues and allows us to estimate the long-run effect of human capital through higher education on economic development. Using unique long panel data for 36 advanced and emerging economies spanning over the period 1870-2010, we find that higher education has a positive and significant effect on the level and the growth rate of national per capita income. Specifically, our empirical results indicate that a 1% increase in educational attainment at higher education level would raise the growth rate of per capita income by about 0.01% to 0.02% over a five-year period. That is, at the sample mean, an increase in average tertiary education by one year would raise output growth by about 6% to 11% in five years. We find that the returns to female education are lower than the returns to male education at tertiary schooling levels. Our results are robust to alternative specifications.

This article was written in response to concerns that have been expressed about the possible consequences of an increasing number of countries overtaking the United States in educational attainment. International statistics on educational attainment were analyzed, questions about comparability of data were discussed, and the impact of different approaches to the organization of higher education on attainment rates was examined. The author concluded that comparing the rate of attainment of subbaccalaureate credentials between the United States and other countries is problematic both because of definitional issues, and as a consequence of the major transfer function of American community colleges. The article explains how colleges that previously offered short term vocational training in many European countries have evolved into vocationally-oriented baccalaureate granting institutions that have enabled their nations to achieve rapidly rising levels of baccalaureate degree attainment. It suggests that the experience of these countries may provide useful lessons--and cautions--for policy makers and educational leaders with respect to expanding the role of community colleges in awarding baccalaureate degrees.

Educational policies and practices are influenced by cultural, political, and economic factors, and this is also true of specialized educational approaches such as gifted education. Factors such as a country's cultural tendency toward egalitarianism or meritocracy, whether the political system is centralized or decentralized, and the degree to which the economy supports basic education for all students may be reflected in the way in which a country approaches gifted education. We examined gifted and talented education policies and practices in 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member and partner countries and considered how those policies and practices may reflect country-specific characteristics. In this article, we discuss ways in which gifted education in OECD countries may reflect cultural, political, and economic features of countries.

We investigate the impact of external differentiation and vocational orientation of (lower and upper) secondary education on country variation in the mean numeracy skills of, and skills gaps between, adults with low and intermediate formal qualifications. We use data on 30- to 44-year-olds in 18 countries from the 2011-12 round of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. We find that higher levels of external differentiation (tracking) amplify skills gaps between less- and intermediate-educated adults. This is mainly due to lower mean skills achievement of less-educated adults. By contrast, greater emphasis on vocational skills in upper-secondary education is positively related to numeracy skills for both less- and intermediate-educated adults. Gains are larger for the less educated, so the gap in numeracy skills tends to fall with the degree of vocational orientation. We discuss implications of our findings for research on educational and labor market inequalities.

This article focuses on analysing the effect of educational differentiation policies of OECD educational systems on socioeconomically disadvantaged students, based on data from PISA 2009. The analysis is conducted on the basis of a definition of two subgroups of disadvantaged students: those that achieve high scores, and those obtaining scores that are significantly below the average for their country. Educational systems are classified in four models following the classification proposed by N. Mons. Results show that the more integrated the educational system, the greater the number of disadvantaged high achievers, and the lower the number of disadvantaged low achievers.

This article focuses on evidence regarding cross-national patterns of participation in adult education and an interpretation of these patterns from an institutional and public policy perspective. The interpretation follows from the perspective that sustaining high and widely distributed levels of investment in the development and maintenance of skills over the lifespan of individuals is to a large extent interconnected with a high-level of non-market coordination via institutional arrangements and/or specific public policy measures. Such arrangements and measures are seen to alleviate coordination problems that otherwise lead to underinvestment in skills and/or inequity in the distribution of access to education and training and hence skills. Consequently, it is argued that institutional contexts and public policy measures condition participation patterns in adult education, and are thus worthwhile to understand better for the purposes of informing policy. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)

This study analyzed whether research collaboration patterns differ across higher education systems based on maturity of the systems, their language, and their geographical region. This study found that collaboration patterns differ across higher education systems: academics in developed systems are more collaborative than their colleagues in developing systems; academics in English-speaking countries are no more collaborative than their colleagues in non-English speaking countries; and academics in European countries are more collaborative internationally than their colleagues in non-European countries. In addition, it was found that publication is not associated with collaboration, either domestically or internationally. This finding implies that collaboration is a different dimension from publication. Finally, the article discusses implications of the findings for evaluation systems. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study considers the extensive critique of the impact of the "market" or "neoliberal" model on learning and its outcomes in the light of alternative models. The purpose is to consider the potential impacts of the market on learning and its outcomes and to contextualise critique by considering alternative coordination regimes. Three alternative regimes to coordinating economic activity and various aspects of education and adult learning systems (market-dominated, state-dominated and stakeholder-dominated) are contrasted by highlighting the weaknesses and strengths of each with regard to learning and its outcomes. In turn, these regimes are linked to the varieties of capitalism and welfare state literature. Comparative data are used to briefly consider the link between alternative regimes and the level and distribution of adult learning.

By examining the different methods and processes by which national data gathering agencies compile and submit their findings to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the authors (1) assess the methodological challenges of accurately reporting tertiary completion and graduation rates cross-nationally; (2) to examine the incongruence of existing internationally comparative data on tertiary completion, particularly within the OECD; and (3) to offer policy recommendations for increasing the congruence and comparability of U.S. higher education data with that of other OECD countries (and the rest of the world). (Contains 5 tables, 3 figures, and 4 footnotes.)

This paper is a macro study on higher education R&D and its impact on productivity growth. I measure the social rate of return on higher education R&D in 17 high-income OECD countries using country level data on the percentage of gross expenditure on R&D performed by higher education, business, and government sectors over the period 1981-2006. Empirical results suggest that lagged R&D performed by higher education is positively affecting productivity growth in all specifications. The long-run propensity of productivity growth to R&D performed by the higher education sector is also found to be positive and significant while it is found be insignificant to business R&D. (Contains 13 notes, 3 figures and 8 tables.)

The PISA survey influences educational policies through an international competitive process which is not wholly rationally-oriented. Firstly, PISA league tables act normatively upon the definition of formal educational aims while the survey tests cannot evaluate the educational systems' relative strengths with regards to such aims. We argue that they measure a kind of academic potential of the students. Secondly, errors in interpreting national success or failure stem from the causal inferences developed from observing national cases. In order to give such comparisons a stronger basis, we distinguish five main educational models within the OECD countries and compare their PISA 2006 results to their population's socio-cultural levels as well as their performance recorded in an academic-programme-based survey such as TIMSS. Our conclusions contrast heavily with the usual lessons inferred from PISA, which follow OECD-promoted guidelines, and explain French students' weakening as well as Finnish students' success. (Contains 8 tables and 22 notes.)

While higher education is regarded a high priority for economic development in many countries, public budgets often fall short to support desired levels of expansion in higher education. This leads to cost-sharing: students and their families are required to contribute more to the costs of higher education. This paper explores worldwide trends to cope with this issue based on the following questions: Is it fair to ask for larger contributions from students? What are the global patterns and forms of higher private shares in the costs of higher education? And what is the impact of cost-sharing on higher education access and equity? (Contains 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This article presents information on 2 international educational effectiveness studies, one completed and the other ongoing. The 2nd study is, to a large degree, a reaction to a methodological problem encountered in the 1st study, the lack of an internationally valid instrument measuring teacher effectiveness. This article presents 4 reasons for conducting the 2nd study (International System for Teacher Observation and Feedback (ISTOF)) and then details the overall work plan for ISTOF-I (2004-2006) and ISTOF-II (2006-2007). The sample of 20 fully participating country teams in ISTOF is very diverse with representatives from nearly all geographic areas of the world (North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia), many of which have never participated in teacher or school effectiveness research. This article summarizes progress made on the development of the ISTOF protocol, including the generation of components and indicators of teacher effectiveness. In many ways, the study is already a success, due to the diversity of the participating countries and their generation of major parts of the protocol during ISTOF-I. Nevertheless, this article concludes with a discussion of some of the major challenges that the research team will face as it begins ISTOF-II. (Contains 4 tables and 6 notes.)

This paper examines the extent that material, social, and cultural resources and schools account for the relationship between socioeconomic background and student achievement among 15-year-olds in 30 countries. Generally, cultural factors play a more important role in most countries although in a small minority of countries, material resources have a substantial impact. Most often, social resources have little impact. In many countries, educational differentiation--that is, school tracks and school types, and curriculum tracking within schools--mediates the relationship between socioeconomic background and student achievement. Countries with highly tracked systems tend to show stronger relationships. On average, over 60% of the effect of socioeconomic background on achievement is accounted for by these factors. These findings are independent of whether achievement in reading, mathematics, or science is examined. The implications of this study for reducing socioeconomic inequalities in education are discussed.

Although the participation rates of females in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (or STEM) education is poor in most Western countries, considerable differences across countries exist as well. This may be due to differences in the so-called gender achievement gaps, that is, delays of one sex with respect to the other. The variation in gender gaps in mathematics, science, and reading literacy, both across countries and across schools within countries, is explored in the present study using the PISA data. The results of multilevel analyses show the participation of women in tertiary STEM education to increase as the relative achievements of girls with respect to boys in secondary education improve. When the characteristics of schools and countries are examined in relation to the size of the gender achievement gaps, integrated educational systems are found to be more favourable to the achievement of girls than differentiated educational systems. (Contains 7 tables, 2 figures, and 9 endnotes.)

The dramatic growth in health expenditures is an important health policy concern worldwide. Therefore, understanding the factors that increase health expenditures provides policy makers with evidence for decision-making. We aim to examine long-term effects of carbon dioxide emission, urbanization rate and GDP per capita on health expenditures. This study investigates the effect of carbon dioxide emission, urban population, and GDP per capita on health expenditure for 21 OECD countries over the period 1992–2018. Panel ARDL Approach and Gengenbach, Urbain and Westerlund Panel Co-integration Test have been used in the article. Test results indicate the long-run relationship among health expenditure and carbon dioxide emission, urban population, and GDP per capita. Effect of carbon dioxide emission (CO2), urban population, and GDP per capita is significant and positive on health expenditure. Rapid economic growths of OECD countries recently and environmental pollution have increased health expenditures in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]