John Jerrim

Why do East Asian children perform so well in PISA? An investigation of Western-born children of East Asian descent

A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. This has caught the attention of Western policymakers, who want to know why East Asian children obtain such high PISA scores, and what can be done to replicate their success. In this paper I investigate whether children of East Asian descent, who were born and raised in a Western country (Australia), also score highly on the PISA test. I then explore whether their superior performance (relative to children of Australian heritage) can be explained by reasons often given for East Asian students’ extraordinary educational achievements. My results suggest that second-generation East Asian immigrants outperform their native Australian peers by approximately 100 test points. Moreover, the magnitude of this achievement gap has increased substantially over the last ten years. Yet there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can explain why East Asian children obtain such high levels of academic achievement. Rather a combination of factors, each making their own independent contribution, seem to be at play. Consequently, I warn Western policymakers that it may only be possible to catch the leading East Asian economies in the PISA rankings with widespread cultural change.

PISA, power and policy

PISA, Power and Policy is an interesting and important addition to the growing literature on large-scale international assessments. The volume explores a number of aspects of such tests, although t...

The Reliability of Trends over Time in International Education Test Scores: Is the Performance of England's Secondary School Pupils Really in Relative Decline?

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are respected cross-national studies of pupil achievement. They have been specifically designed to study how countries’ educational systems are performing against one another, and how this is changing over time. These are, however, politically sensitive issues, where different surveys can produce markedly different results. This is shown via a case study for England, where apparent decline in PISA test performance has caused policymakers much concern. Results suggest that Englands drop in the PISA ranking is not replicated in TIMSS, and that this contrast may be due to data limitations in both surveys. Consequently, I argue that the current coalition government should not base educational policies on the assumption that the performance of Englands secondary school pupils has declined over the past decade.

A Multination Study of Socioeconomic Inequality in Expectations for Progression to Higher Education The Role of Between-School Tracking and Ability Stratification

Persistent inequalities in educational expectations across societies are a growing concern. Recent research has explored the extent to which inequalities in education are due to primary effects (i.e., achievement differentials) versus secondary effects (i.e., choice behaviors net of achievement). We explore educational expectations in order to consider whether variations in primary and secondary effects are associated with country variation in curricular and ability stratification. We use evidence from the PISA 2003 database to test the hypothesis that (a) greater between-school academic stratification would be associated with stronger relationships between socioeconomic status and educational expectations and (b) when this effect is decomposed, achievement differentials would explain a greater proportion of this relationship in countries with greater stratification. Results supported these hypotheses.

Two-sample two-stage least squares (TSTSLS) estimates of earnings mobility: how consistent are they?

Academics and policymakers have shown great interest in cross-national comparisons of intergenerational earnings mobility. However, producing consistent and comparable estimates of earnings mobility is not a trivial task. In most countries researchers are unable to observe earnings information for two generations. They are thus forced to rely upon imputed data instead. This paper builds upon previous work by considering the consistency of the intergenerational correlation (?) as well as the elasticity (s), how this changes when using a range of different instrumental (imputer) variables, and highlighting an important but infrequently discussed measurement issue. Our key finding is that, while TSTSLS estimates of s and ? are both likely to be inconsistent, the magnitude of this problem is much greater for the former than it is for the latter. We conclude by offering advice on estimating earnings mobility using this methodology.

What effect did the global financial crisis have upon youth wellbeing? Evidence from four Australian cohorts.

Recent research has suggested significant negative effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on mental health and wellbeing. In this article, the authors suggest that the developmental period of late adolescence may be at particular risk of economic downturns. Harmonizing 4 longitudinal cohorts of Australian youth (N = 38,017), we estimate the impact of the GFC on 1 general and 11 domain specific measures of wellbeing at age 19 and 22. Significant differences in wellbeing in most life domains were found, suggesting that wellbeing is susceptible to economic shocks. Given that the GFC in Australia was relatively mild, the finding of clear negative effects across 2 ages is of international concern.

PISA 2012: how do results for the paper and computer tests compare?

Abstract The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children’s skills differ between paper and computer versions of the PISA mathematics test. Using data from PISA 2012, where more than 200,000 children from 32 economies completed both paper and computer versions of the mathematics assessment, we find important and interesting differences between the two sets of results. This includes a substantial drop of more than 50 PISA test points (half a standard deviation) in the average performance of children from Shanghai-China. Moreover, by considering children’s responses to particular test items, we show how differences are unlikely to be solely due to the interactive nature of certain computer test questions. The paper concludes with a discussion of what the findings imply for interpretation of PISA results in 2015 and beyond.

The Unrealistic Educational Expectations of High School Pupils: Is America Exceptional?

There is growing concern that many American teenagers hold unrealistic educational plans. This may indicate a detachment from reality, which could be detrimental to well-being in later life. But is this problem specific to certain countries like the United States, or is it common among young people from across the developed world? This article uses data from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to investigate this issue. It shows how expected and actual college graduation rates differ across a number of countries but also that this gap is particularly large in the United States. Additional analysis suggests that this is being driven, at least in part, by the large proportion of low-achieving American children who believe they will go on to obtain a bachelors degree. The implications of these findings are discussed in reference to educational policy and contemporary sociological debates.

Depression Symptom Trajectories and Associated Risk Factors among Adolescents in Chile

Adolescence is a key period for studying the development of depression, with studies in Europe and North America showing a pattern of elevated risk that begins in early adolescence and continues to increase as adolescents age. Few studies have examined the course of adolescent depression and associated risk factors in low and middle-income countries. This longitudinal cohort study examined depression symptom trajectories and risk factors in a sample of socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents in Chile (n = 2,508). Data were collected over an 18-month period as part of a clinical trial for secondary students aged 12 to 18 (median age 14). Clinical levels of depression were prevalent in this sample at baseline (35% for girls and 28% for boys); yet latent growth models of symptom trajectories revealed a pattern of decreasing symptoms over time. There was evidence of an anxiety-depression developmental pathway for girls, with elevated anxiety levels initially predicting poorer depression outcomes later on. Poor problem-solving skills were associated with initial depression levels but did not predict the course of depressive symptoms. Critically, the declining symptom trajectories raise important methodological issues regarding the effects of repeated assessment in longitudinal studies.

Will closing the achievement gap solve the problem? : an analysis of primary and secondary effects for indigenous university entry

Effective intervention into educational inequalities is dependent on having an accurate understanding of the factors which predict it. Research on the educational attainment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Australia has typically focused on closing the academic achievement gap in the hope that this will resolve the issue. However, recent research is beginning to find that Indigenous youth also have significantly different choice behaviours and resources. Using the work of Boudon, the current research used a Bayesian logistic regression model to explore the extent to which differences in university entry rates are due to achievement differentials (primary effects) versus differences in choice behaviours and resources (secondary effects) for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Australia. This was applied to 10,000 Australian youth, followed over eight years. Results suggest that primary effects were predominant, however, a moderate proportion of the Indigenous university entrance rate gap is due to secondary effects.