Relationship between students’ SES and literacy levels under the effect of different levels of school SES: a secondary analysis of Estonia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan on PISA 2018

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the relationship between individual and school socioeconomic status when school SES is considered, and literacy levels in Estonia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan based on PISA 2018 cycle. The countries were selected according to proficiency levels of their performances. Estonia was as a level 3 performing country for mathematics, reading, and science domains, while Belarus was performing at level 2 for all domains, and Azerbaijan was selected as level 1 performing country at each domain. Descriptive analyses were used separately for each selected country. Student and school SES scores were divided into 4 quartiles, creating 16 total comparison group for each domain and country. The quartiles were compared according to the average literacy scores of students for each domain. The results indicated that both individual and school SES had a strong relation to the performance scores of students in each country for all domains. However, the strength of the relationship was slightly different for each country, which had the largest impact on Belarus compared to Azerbaijan and Estonia samples. Results also indicated that low SES-students may have higher achievement levels if they are in high-SES schools.