The Measurement of Educational Inequality : Achievement and Opportunity

This paper proposes two related measures of educational inequality: one for educational achievement and another for educational opportunity. The former is the simple variance (or standard deviation) of test scores. Its selection is informed by consideration of two measurement issues that have typically been overlooked in the literature: the implications of the standardization of test scores for inequality indices, and the possible sample selection biases arising from the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) sampling frame. The measure of inequality of educational opportunity is given by the share of the variance in test scores that is explained by pre-determined circumstances. Both measures are computed for the 57 countries in which PISA surveys were conducted in 2006. Inequality of opportunity accounts for up to 35 percent of all disparities in educational achievement. It is greater in (most of) continental Europe and Latin America than in Asia, Scandinavia, and North America. It is uncorrelated with average educational achievement and only weakly negatively correlated with per capita gross domestic product. It correlates negatively with the share of spending in primary schooling, and positively with tracking in secondary schools.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Gignoux, Jeremie, Ferreira, Francisco H.G.
Language:	English
Published:	2011-11-01
Subjects:	ACCESS TO BOOKS, ACHIEVEMENT, ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS, ACHIEVEMENT TESTS, ACHIEVEMENTS, ADULT LITERACY, ADULTS, BOARDING SCHOOLS, BOOKS AT HOME, CAUSAL ANALYSIS, CLASSROOMS, COGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENT, COGNITIVE SKILLS, COGNITIVE TEST, COLLEGE EDUCATION, COUNTRY COMPARISONS, CURRICULA, DATA COLLECTION, DISSERTATION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION, EDUCATION EXPENDITURE, EDUCATION POLICIES, EDUCATION POLICY, EDUCATION SYSTEM, EDUCATION SYSTEMS, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS, EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY, EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES, EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURE, EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION, EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, EDUCATIONAL POLICY, EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES, EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS, ELEMENTS, ENROLLMENT, ETHICS, EXAMS, FORMAL EDUCATION, GDP, GINI COEFFICIENT, GINI INDEX, GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, HBS, HIGHER EDUCATION, HOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEY, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATA, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HUMAN CAPITAL, IMMIGRATION STATUS, INCOME, INEQUALITY, INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT, JOB TRAINING, LABOR FORCE, LEARNING, LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, LEARNING LEVELS, LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES, LEARNING OUTCOMES, LEVEL OF EDUCATION, LITERACY, LITERACY SURVEY, LITERATURE, LOWER SECONDARY, LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION, MATH SCORES, MATHEMATICS, MEAN INCOME, MOBILITY, NUMBER OF STUDENTS, OPEN ACCESS, PAPERS, PARENTAL EDUCATION, PRIMARY EDUCATION, PRIMARY LEVEL, PRIMARY LEVEL OF EDUCATION, PRIMARY SCHOOLING, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PUBLIC EDUCATION, READING, RESEARCHERS, SCHOOL CHILDREN, SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, SCHOOL LOCATION, SCHOOL YEAR, SCHOOLING, SCIENCE STUDY, SECONDARY EDUCATION, SECONDARY SCHOOLS, SELECTION BIAS, STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS, STUDENT PERFORMANCE, STUDENT POPULATION, SUBJECTS, TEACHER, TEACHERS, TEACHING, TERTIARY EDUCATION, TEST SCORES, UPPER SECONDARY, VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS, WAGE INEQUALITY, WAGES, WELL-BEING, WORKERS,
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20111108080743 https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3640
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!