The Measurement of Educational Inequality : Achievement and Opportunity

Ferreira, Francisco H.G. ; Gignoux, Jeremie

关键词: ACCESS TO BOOKS;    ACHIEVEMENT;    ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS;    ACHIEVEMENT TESTS;    ACHIEVEMENTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5873
RP-ID  :  WPS5873

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper proposes two related measuresof educational inequality: one for educational achievementand another for educational opportunity. The former is thesimple variance (or standard deviation) of test scores. Itsselection is informed by consideration of two measurementissues that have typically been overlooked in theliterature: the implications of the standardization of testscores for inequality indices, and the possible sampleselection biases arising from the Program of InternationalStudent Assessment (PISA) sampling frame. The measure ofinequality of educational opportunity is given by the shareof the variance in test scores that is explained bypre-determined circumstances. Both measures are computed forthe 57 countries in which PISA surveys were conducted in2006. Inequality of opportunity accounts for up to 35percent of all disparities in educational achievement. It isgreater in (most of) continental Europe and Latin Americathan in Asia, Scandinavia, and North America. It isuncorrelated with average educational achievement and onlyweakly negatively correlated with per capita gross domesticproduct. It correlates negatively with the share of spendingin primary schooling, and positively with tracking insecondary schools.