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Understanding student performance beyond traditional factors: Evidence from PISA

Author

Listed:
  • Rolando Avendaño

    (OECD)

  • Felipe Barrera-Osorio

    (Harvard University)

  • Sebastián Nieto Parra

    (OECD)

  • Flora Vever

    (OECD)

Abstract

This paper studies the linkages between schools’ inputs and students’ performance in Latin America. We exploit the richness of PISA 2012 questionnaires at the student and school level to study the association between a different set of inputs and students’ performance in mathematics. First, this research shows that students’ characteristics and their environment (i.e. sex, age and economic, social and cultural status of students and schools) explain close to 30% of the variation in education performance in Latin America, a higher percentage than in OECD and other economies which participated in PISA 2012. Second, after controlling for students’ characteristics and their environment, our results show that in Latin America, some non-traditional school inputs, such as the feedback provided by the principal to the teacher, weekly instructional time or the attitude and motivation of teachers, are associated with student performance, whereas more traditional inputs (e.g. school infrastructure, share of certified teachers and teacher qualifications) are not always related to better learning outcomes. These findings suggest that some pedagogical initiatives, which are also more cost-effective, could improve students’ performance in the region. Cet article étudie les liens entre les politiques en matière d’éducation et la performance des étudiants en Amérique latine. Nous exploitons la richesse de la base de données de PISA 2012 générée à partir des questionnaires soumis aux étudiants et aux écoles visant à analyser l'association entre certaines variables liées aux politiques éducatives avec la performance des élèves en mathématiques. Tout d'abord, cette recherche montre que les caractéristiques des élèves et leur environnement (sexe, âge et situation économique, sociale et culturelle des élèves et des écoles) expliquent près de 30% de la variation de la performance des étudiants en Amérique latine, un pourcentage plus élevé que dans les pays de l’OCDE et d'autres économies participant à PISA 2012. Deuxièmement, après avoir contrôlé les caractéristiques des étudiants et leur environnement, nos résultats montrent qu'en Amérique latine certaines politiques « non traditionnelles » pratiquées par certaines écoles, telles que les évaluations des enseignants réalisées par le principal, le temps d'enseignement hebdomadaire ou l'attitude et la motivation des enseignants, ont une influence sur la performance des élèves, alors que certaines politiques traditionnelles, telles que les infrastructures scolaires, la part des enseignants certifiés, les qualifications des enseignants n’en ont pas. Ces résultats suggèrent que des initiatives pédagogiques présentant un bon rapport en termes de coûts et d’efficacité peuvent être mises en oeuvre en Amérique latine pour améliorer la performance des élèves dans la région.

Suggested Citation

  • Rolando Avendaño & Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Sebastián Nieto Parra & Flora Vever, 2016. "Understanding student performance beyond traditional factors: Evidence from PISA," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 331, OECD Publishing.
  • Handle: RePEc:oec:devaaa:331-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5jlz7n7bxn0p-en
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    Cited by:

    1. Farieta, Alejandro & Delprato, Marcos, 2024. "The effect of philosophy on critical reading: Evidence from initial teacher education in Colombia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Amérique latine; educational performance; Latin America; PISA; PISA; secondary education; éducation secondaire;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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