A common belief underlying the dimensional comparison theory is that reading self-concept has a positive relation to reading achievement but a negative relation to math achievement. However, this belief is incomplete and potentially misleading as supporting evidence is usually derived from studies without simultaneously considering the mediated…

Stratification is an important design feature of many studies using complex sampling designs and it is often used in large-scale assessment (LSA) studies, such as the "Programme for International Student Assessment" (PISA), for two main reasons. First, stratification variables that achieve a high between and low within strata variance…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has instigated educational changes and reforms globally, in particular, introducing and intensifying neoliberal logic and governance in test-taking countries and beyond. PISA outcome impacted upon the educational governance of South Korea as well, however, the changes deviated from what…

Grade retention is at the core of the education debate in Spain, to the extent that its impact on students' competences has not been assessed beyond correlation. Because of that, in the present study, we analyse the influence of grade retention on students' competences, using more than 146,000 students from 6 PISA cycles (2003-2018) and an…

The OECD's PISA program assesses 15-year-old students globally in key competencies every 3 years, providing influential data on education quality and spurring policy debates. In the latest cycle, the innovation domain focused on creative thinking, assessing over 140,000 students across 60+ countries, in the largest study of adolescent creativity…

This study explored the equivalence of resilience across countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018. A total of 79 countries and economies were divided into ten sub-groups based on their socio-demographic characteristics. Analysis of the comparability of the PISA self-efficacy scale as a measure of resilience across the participating…

This study uses evidence from a longitudinal survey (PISA Plus, Germany) to examine the potential of bias in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs). In PISA Plus, participation was mandatory at the first measurement point, but voluntary at the second measurement point. The study provides evidence for relevant selection bias regarding…

For young people, financial literacy is important because they face financial decisions that can have significant consequences throughout their lives, such as investing in a college education or a business, shopping, buying books or computer games. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the financial literacy levels of young…

The FATIH project was the largest K-12 level ed-tech integration project in Turkey. Its aim was to enhance the quality of education by improving technology in classrooms. To determine the outcome of the project a systematic literature review was carried out and the perspectives of in-service teachers were considered. The literature was searched…

The importance of non-cognitive skills for academic achievement and future success has been emphasized but the invariance among the relationships of these constructs across different groups and countries is rarely studied. In this study, we used a novel approach, psychometric network analysis, to analyze the invariance of connections between…

Schools are becoming increasingly diverse due to globalization and migration. Worldwide, more than 700 million people migrate across international borders, and more than 200 million migrate within one country. Within China, approximately 36 million school-aged children relocate to cities with parents in the search for better education and future…

In this paper, we develop a mixed stochastic approximation expectation-maximization (MSAEM) algorithm coupled with a Gibbs sampler to compute the marginalized maximum a posteriori estimate (MMAPE) of a confirmatory multidimensional four-parameter normal ogive (M4PNO) model. The proposed MSAEM algorithm not only has the computational advantages of…

In this paper, we develop a mixed stochastic approximation expectation-maximization (MSAEM) algorithm coupled with a Gibbs sampler to compute the marginalized maximum a posteriori estimate (MMAPE) of a confirmatory multidimensional four-parameter normal ogive (M4PNO) model. The proposed MSAEM algorithm not only has the computational advantages of…

A secondary analysis of PISA 2018 data was conducted to investigate the reading achievement of students with an immigrant background. While prior research suggests the importance of demographic characteristics in secondary PISA analyses, a major critique is that PISA centers destination characteristics over origin ones, limiting the study of the…

Levels and drivers of adolescent life satisfaction (LS) vary across nations. School is known to be an important aspect of life affecting adolescent LS, but there are gender differences in how schools may influence LS. However, little is known about how these gender differences vary across countries. A series of statistical analyses (bivariate…