Equity - Research Reveals the What, the Where and the How

1. Equity - Research Reveals the What, the Where and the How November 21, 2011

2. Content • Setting the Context • Students’ World • Introducing PISA • Equity – the What • Equity – the Where • Equity – the How

3. Setting the Context:

4. Student’s World Context of School IMPACTS Context of Family Is this my life? – Disadvantages, more disadvantages, more and more disadvantages…………….

5. Introducing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) • PISA is a triennial survey of student’s assessment collaboratively conducted through the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). • Purpose of assessment is to evaluate education systems world wide by testing skills and knowledge of 15 year old students • The 2009-10 survey covered around 470 000 15-year old students in schools of 65 participating countries. • The assessment focussed on understanding concepts and applying knowledge to real life. • The survey collected information from students (social background information), teachers (educational qualification, experience etc.,), school principals (on structural characteristics of schools, quality of learning environment etc.,)

6. Equity – The What • 2 dimensions of equity in learning outcomes • 1. Fairness Dimension / horizontal equity • Students’ learning outcomes should not be hindered by factors like socio-economic backgrounds, gender, culture, language, disabilities of students • Measured in relative terms : The difference in performance between the high scoring and low scores in a class • 2 variations: • a) Scores bunched above the midpoint • b) Scores bunched below the midpoint

7. Equity – The What - Second Dimension • 2. Inclusion Dimension / Vertical Equity • Each student should be able to achieve the minimum basic standard. • Measured in absolute terms: A baseline of minimum level is specified and the proportion of students’ whose performance falls at or below the baseline is calculated. • There are two levels of the inclusion dimension • a) High variance – indicating low levels of equity • b) Low variance – indicating high levels of equity

8. Equity : The Where Variance in Inclusion High Netherlands, Japan Qatar, Uruguay Brazil High Academic Variance Low Finland, Canada Shanghai-China, Korea Indonesia Low Blue : Significantly higher than OECD Avg. Black : Significantly lower than OECD Avg

9. Equity : The Where • Educational performance and national income do not go together. Countries that share similar levels of GDP do not result in similar learning outcomes. (eg. Shanghai- China has a GDP below the OECD average – but they outperform other countries that have above OECD average GDP) • In countries that follow equitable policies the learning outcomes show the following characteristics - • High outcome for migrant children • No difference between rural-urban regions • No gender differences • Weak relationship with socio-economic backgrounds • Larger Percentage of students show Resilience

10. Equity : The How • Measures that support Equity • Access to similar learning opportunities: Public, Public funded and Private schools; key schools, tuitions • Admission Criteria: Neighborhood, comprehensive integrated system, selection on the basis of ability, or money • Resource Distribution: equitable or equity- lead • Administrative Autonomy (including curricular autonomy) : Centralized or decentralized; teacher autonomy, teacher pay

11. Measures that do not support equity • Inequitable access to learning opportunities – homogeneous group of students in class • Growing number of elite schools • Selecting students • Early streaming of students • Tracking of students (particularly in primary grades) • High enrollment in disabled schools

12. Conclusions • Equity by inclusion helps to address the socioeconomic disadvantages • Fairness can be addressed through changes in classroom practices • Inclusion has to be addressed through policy level changes ThankYou