IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/evarev/v38y2014i3p251-290.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Regional Differences in the Reading Competencies of Italian Students

Author

Listed:
  • Mariagiulia Matteucci
  • Stefania Mignani

Abstract

Background: Recently, the study of territorial differences in educational outcomes has assumed a particular importance for the policy strategies related to the socioeconomic conditions of different geographical areas. In Italy, international surveys for student assessments have introduced a regional stratification only recently, and regular national student assessments started only in 2008. Method: In this article, the reading performances of Italian students based on OECD-PISA 2009 are investigated, taking into account regional and macro-area partition. Student outcomes are explored by using a multilevel analysis, where school membership, socioeconomic and cultural background of students, and regional gross domestic product are introduced. Results: The results show that, despite the existence of a unified educational system in Italy, regional and macro-area differences in student reading achievements are consolidated and variability in performances among schools is especially noticeable. Comparisons based on national assessments by INVALSI at the end of compulsory school confirm these findings. Conclusion: Italian policy makers are advised to take into account these results to improve learning opportunities and to reduce educational gaps. In particular, targeted regional policies are needed to improve the mean performance especially in the Southern regions of Calabria, Campania, and Sicilia, and to strengthen the system equity in several regions, such as Emilia-Romagna. To decrease the school differences, possible suggestions are to postpone the choice of the school type (currently, at age 14) and to motivate good teachers to work in schools located in the worst socioeconomic and cultural environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariagiulia Matteucci & Stefania Mignani, 2014. "Exploring Regional Differences in the Reading Competencies of Italian Students," Evaluation Review, , vol. 38(3), pages 251-290, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:38:y:2014:i:3:p:251-290
    DOI: 10.1177/0193841X14540289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X14540289
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0193841X14540289?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brunello, Giorgio & Checchi, Daniele, 2005. "School quality and family background in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 563-577, October.
    2. Massimiliano Bratti & Daniele Checchi & Guido De Blasio, 2008. "Does the Expansion of Higher Education Increase the Equality of Educational Opportunities? Evidence from Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(s1), pages 53-88, June.
    3. Di Liberto, Adriana, 2008. "Education and Italian regional development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 94-107, February.
    4. Massimiliano Bratti & Daniele Checchi & Antonio Filippin, 2007. "Geographical Differences in Italian Students' Mathematical Competencies: Evidence from Pisa 2003," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 66(3), pages 299-333, November.
    5. Cullen, Julie Berry & Jacob, Brian A. & Levitt, Steven D., 2005. "The impact of school choice on student outcomes: an analysis of the Chicago Public Schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 729-760, June.
    6. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2009. "Education And Income Inequality In The Regions Of The European Union," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 411-437, August.
    7. Agasisti, Tommaso & Cordero-Ferrera, Jose M., 2013. "Educational disparities across regions: A multilevel analysis for Italy and Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1079-1102.
    8. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wössmann, 2006. "Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences- in-Differences Evidence Across Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 63-76, March.
    9. Oecd, 2011. "Improving Performance: Leading from the Bottom," PISA in Focus 2, OECD Publishing.
    10. Daniele Checchi & Vito Peragine, 2010. "Inequality of opportunity in Italy," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(4), pages 429-450, December.
    11. Bratti, Massimiliano & Checchi, Daniele & Filippin, Antonio, 2007. "Territorial Differences in Italian Students’ Mathematical Competencies: Evidence from PISA 2003," IZA Discussion Papers 2603, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Ludger Wöbmann & Elke Lüdemann & Gabriela Schütz & Martin R. West, 2007. "School Accountability, Autonomy, Choice, and the Level of Student Achievement: International Evidence from PISA 2003," OECD Education Working Papers 13, OECD Publishing.
    13. Paris Yeros, 2012. "Book Review: Henry Bernstein (2010). Class dynamics of agrarian change," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 1(3), pages 341-346, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Masci, Chiara & Ieva, Francesca & Agasisti, Tommaso & Paganoni, Anna Maria, 2016. "Does class matter more than school? Evidence from a multilevel statistical analysis on Italian junior secondary school students," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 47-57.
    2. Orazio Giancola & Luca Salmieri, 2020. "Family Background, School-Track and Macro-Area: the Complex Chains of Education Inequalities in Italy," Working Papers 4/20, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    3. Camanho, Ana S. & Varriale, Luisa & Barbosa, Flávia & Sobral, Thiago, 2021. "Performance assessment of upper secondary schools in Italian regions using a circular pseudo-Malmquist index," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 289(3), pages 1188-1208.
    4. Ralph Hippe & Maciej Jakubowski & Luisa De Sousa Lobo Borges de Araujo, 2018. "Regional inequalities in PISA: the case of Italy and Spain," JRC Research Reports JRC109057, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Francesco Schirripa Spagnolo & Nicola Salvati & Antonella D’Agostino & Ides Nicaise, 2020. "The use of sampling weights in M‐quantile random‐effects regression: an application to Programme for International Student Assessment mathematics scores," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 69(4), pages 991-1012, August.
    6. Antonella D’Agostino & Francesco Schirripa Spagnolo & Nicola Salvati, 2022. "Studying the relationship between anxiety and school achievement: evidence from PISA data," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 31(1), pages 1-20, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferraro, Simona & Põder, Kaire, 2018. "School-level policies and the efficiency and equity trade-off in education," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 1022-1037.
    2. Guarini, Giulio & Laureti, Tiziana & Garofalo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Territorial and individual educational inequality: A Capability Approach analysis for Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 247-262.
    3. Giambona, Francesca & Porcu, Mariano, 2018. "School size and students' achievement. Empirical evidences from PISA survey data," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 66-77.
    4. Bönke Timm & Neidhöfer Guido, 2018. "Parental Background Matters: Intergenerational Mobility and Assimilation of Italian Immigrants in Germany," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, February.
    5. Agasisti, Tommaso & Cordero-Ferrera, Jose M., 2013. "Educational disparities across regions: A multilevel analysis for Italy and Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1079-1102.
    6. Contini Dalit & Scagni Andrea, 2012. "Social-Origin Inequalities in Educational Careers in Italy. Performance or Decision Effects?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201214, University of Turin.
    7. Lagravinese, Raffaele & Liberati, Paolo & Resce, Giuliano, 2020. "The impact of economic, social and cultural conditions on educational attainments," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 112-132.
    8. Luigi Benfratello & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Gilberto Turati, 2020. "Tracking in the tracks in the Italian public schooling: Inequality patterns in an urban context," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(2), pages 39-70.
    9. Orazio Giancola & Luca Salmieri, 2020. "Family Background, School-Track and Macro-Area: the Complex Chains of Education Inequalities in Italy," Working Papers 4/20, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    10. Iacopo Odoardi, 2020. "Can parents’ education lay the foundation for reducing the inactivity of young people? A regional analysis of Italian NEETs," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(1), pages 307-336, April.
    11. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Nadia Belhaj Hassine, 2012. "Equality of Opportunity in Education in the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers e07-33, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Simona Ferraro & Tommaso Agasisti & Francesco Porcelli & Mara Soncin, 2021. "Local governments’ efficiency and educational results: empirical evidence from Italian primary schools," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(35), pages 4017-4039, July.
    13. Sieds, 2011. "Complete Volume LXV n.1 2011," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 65(1), pages 1-181.
    14. Ralph Hippe & Maciej Jakubowski & Luisa De Sousa Lobo Borges de Araujo, 2018. "Regional inequalities in PISA: the case of Italy and Spain," JRC Research Reports JRC109057, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Antonella D’Agostino & Francesco Schirripa Spagnolo & Nicola Salvati, 2022. "Studying the relationship between anxiety and school achievement: evidence from PISA data," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 31(1), pages 1-20, March.
    16. Vincenzo Carrieri & Apostolos Davillas & Andrew M. Jones, 2023. "Equality of opportunity and the expansion of higher education in the UK," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(4), pages 861-885, December.
    17. Ludger Wößmann, 2006. "Bildungspolitische Lehren aus den internationalen Schülertests: Wettbewerb, Autonomie und externe Leistungsüberprüfung," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7(3), pages 417-444, August.
    18. Antonio Di Paolo, 2012. "Parental Education And Family Characteristics: Educational Opportunities Across Cohorts In Italy And Spain," Revista de Economia Aplicada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Estructura Economica y Economia Publica, vol. 20(1), pages 119-146, Spring.
    19. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Jérémie Gignoux, 2014. "The Measurement of Educational Inequality: Achievement and Opportunity," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 210-246.
    20. Daniele, Vittorio, 2021. "Socioeconomic inequality and regional disparities in educational achievement: The role of relative poverty," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:38:y:2014:i:3:p:251-290. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.