Improving schooling through effective governance? The United States, Canada, South Korea, and Singapore in the struggle for PISA scores. Issue 1 (2nd January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Münch, Richard; Wieczorek, Oliver
• Is Part Of: Comparative education. Number 59:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 59
• Page End: 76
• Publication Date: 2023-01-02
• Subjects: Educational achievement -- educational achievement gaps -- educational inequality -- educational reform -- international student assessments -- school governance -- PISA; 教育成绩 -- 教育成绩差距 -- 教育不平等 -- 教育改革 -- 国际学生测评 -- 学校治理 -- 国际学生评估项目; Education -- Periodicals; Comparative education -- Periodicals; 370.9
• DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2022.2138176
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-0068

Abstract

ABSTRACT : Improving schooling by reducing achievement gaps based on family background has been on the agenda of school governance worldwide for more than three decades. International benchmarking like the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is used to find models of best practice in effective school governance. Enlarging school autonomy, strengthening school management, and enhancing accountability have emerged as widely recommended and globally spreading governance tools. However, we do not know how much these tools make a difference between schools. To close this research gap, we conduct a multilevel regression analysis, which explores the association of student and average school socioeconomic status, migration background, school disciplinary climate and governance tools with student PISA scores. The United States, Canada, South Korea, and Singapore in 2009 and 2015 serve as test cases. Our findings indicate that school governance tools do not reduce achievement gaps.