This study comprises two meta-analyses conducted to investigate relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement, with a focus on macro-level, micro-level, and methodological moderating variables in primary and secondary education. The first meta-analysis is based on 326 empirical studies with 949,699 students from 47…

Gender gaps in school enrollment and achievement are usually investigated as separate facets of gender inequality in education. This study suggests that they might be linked by design. If boys and girls differ in their school enrollment rates, the student population will be gender biased. Since out-of-school adolescents tend to be less advantaged…

Grade retention has been the focus of the education debate in Spain for decades. On average, more than 30% of students have repeated at least one grade before they finish (or dropout from) their compulsory studies. The present research provides new evidence on this issue by investigating the influence of Spain's school entry age upon students'…

The aim of this study was to investigate the status of equal opportunity in education and employment in Saudi Arabia. Analyses of existing data show that the country has made a remarkable progress in educational enrollment at all levels (K-12 and higher education). However, challenges remain in terms of academic achievement for males,…

Opportunities for social mobility are generated by education systems designed to alleviate the effects of social origin by providing equality of opportunities and resources. The persistence of the strong association between socioeconomic status (SES) and child's educational achievement and attainment suggests that social origin continues to play…

Because of the regulations concerning school entry in most school systems, a child's date of birth may significantly affect his or her age at entry into school, and thus their first experience of schooling. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), this paper provides a comparative analysis of the impact of a…

We compare the role of gender, socioeconomic background and measured ability on students' secondary school placement and professional expectations in Taiwan and the Czech Republic, two countries that have experienced substantial reforms in their educational systems in the context of political change and economic development. Using data from the…

Many countries are struggling to reconcile greater flexibility in school choice with the need to ensure quality, equity and coherence in their school systems. This report provides an international perspective on issues related to school choice, especially how certain aspects of school-choice policies may be associated with sorting students into…

Several research papers have assessed the long-term benefits of pre-primary education in terms of academic performance and labor market outcomes. This study analyzes data obtained from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to estimate the effects of preschool enrollment of Thai students on producing long-term benefits in their…

The gender gap reversal in educational attainment is ubiquitous in high-income countries, as well as in a growing share of low- and middle-income countries. To account for the reversal, this paper proposes a theoretical framework in which the interplay between the distributions of academic aptitudes and changes in the net benefits of schooling…

This handbook updates the general descriptions for the indicators of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP) as new sets of tables are released. It is a reference document that gives readers a broad understanding of each indicator, rather than the very specific methodological descriptions that would be necessary to reproduce the…

This dissertation explores how country-level cultural values are associated with gender differences in the enrollment in and completion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), national achievement in mathematics and science, and students' science achievement. Study 1 explored how gender-equal…

The demographic shift occurring in Serbia has had a profound effect on the education system. The student population has declined by 21 percent in primary schools and 13 percent in secondary schools since 2000, but the school network has changed little since then. This has resulted in many schools with few students. Furthermore, the total number of…

This study utilized data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment Hong Kong sample to investigate the factors that impact the science achievement of 15-year-old students. A multilevel model was used to examine the factors from both student and school perspectives. At the student level, the results indicated that male students,…

This country review offers an independent analysis of major issues facing the use of school resources in Portugal from an international perspective. It provides a description of national policies, an analysis of strengths and challenges and options for possible future approaches. The analysis focuses on the process of decentralisation of school…