Unpacking the inequality among Turkish schools: findings from PISA 2006
Author
Alacacı, C.
Erbaş, A. K.
Date
2010-03Source Title
International Journal of Educational Development
Print ISSN
0738-0593
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
30
Issue
2
Pages
182 - 192
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
131
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297
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Abstract
The study investigates the effects of certain school characteristics on students’ mathematics
performances in Turkey in the PISA 2006 while controlling for family background and demographic
characteristics. Three models of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) are constructed. The results reveal
that 55% of the variance is attributable to between-schools and the remaining 45% to individual student
characteristics. About two-thirds of the 55% is explained by selectivity in admissions, time to study
mathematics and students’ SES, gender and the geographical region. The findings are interpreted to
explain why Turkish schools differed greatly in average student performance in PISA 2006 by using the
conceptual efforts on school quality factors and family background characteristics.