PISA data clusters reveal student and school inequality that affects results

Area of Science:

• Educational Research
• Socioeconomic Impact on Education
• International Comparative Studies

Background:

• The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data indicates a correlation between student performance, socioeconomic background, and private school attendance.
• Disparities in student performance and socioeconomic factors are observed across different countries.
• Previous analyses highlight the influence of socioeconomic status on educational outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To further analyze PISA data using network theory to identify clusters of countries with similar student performance and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• To investigate the performance of less privileged students in specific country clusters.
• To examine the clustering of countries with private schools, considering student socioeconomic status.

Main Methods:

• Application of network theory methods to analyze international PISA survey data.
• Clustering analysis to group countries based on student performance and socioeconomic indicators.
• Comparative analysis of Swedish grades against PISA results.

Main Results:

• Identified distinct clusters of countries with similar student performance and socioeconomic profiles.
• Discovered a cluster (including China, Spain, Portugal) where less privileged students achieve high performance.
• Observed Portugal and Brazil in a cluster with wealthy nations when analyzing private schools, despite differing student socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Swedish private school grades align with PISA results, suggesting no grade inflation but potential school segregation.

Conclusions:

• Network theory provides a novel lens for understanding international educational disparities and similarities.
• Socioeconomic background significantly influences student performance, but exceptions exist, highlighting potential for high achievement in diverse contexts.
• School segregation, rather than grade inflation, may explain performance differences in Swedish private schools.