Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal
Abstract We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. T...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Large-scale Assessments in Education |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40536-024-00234-7 |
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| author | Ricardo Colaço Pedro Freitas Luis Catela Nunes Ana Balcão Reis |
| author_facet | Ricardo Colaço Pedro Freitas Luis Catela Nunes Ana Balcão Reis |
| author_sort | Ricardo Colaço |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. To account for those differences, we apply a post-stratification adjustment; however, sample sizes are small, resulting in estimates with low precision for several subgroups. We propose recommendations for improving the handling of these issues in future PISA cycles. In an additional analysis, we also account for changes in the composition of the student population. When all factors are considered, the convergence in scores is far less impressive than reported. For instance, in Science, after adjusting the sampling weights and removing population composition effects, the reported convergence of 46 points between private and public schools from 2015 to 2018 amounts to only 9 points. The decomposition and sample adjustment methods used in this paper can be easily adapted to other contexts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1bf13974008746c3a19464a1b67a081d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2196-0739 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Large-scale Assessments in Education |
| spelling | doaj-art-1bf13974008746c3a19464a1b67a081d2025-01-19T12:33:11ZengSpringerOpenLarge-scale Assessments in Education2196-07392025-01-0113112110.1186/s40536-024-00234-7Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from PortugalRicardo Colaço0Pedro Freitas1Luis Catela Nunes2Ana Balcão Reis3Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Blavatnik School of Government, University of OxfordNova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de LisboaNova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de LisboaAbstract We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. To account for those differences, we apply a post-stratification adjustment; however, sample sizes are small, resulting in estimates with low precision for several subgroups. We propose recommendations for improving the handling of these issues in future PISA cycles. In an additional analysis, we also account for changes in the composition of the student population. When all factors are considered, the convergence in scores is far less impressive than reported. For instance, in Science, after adjusting the sampling weights and removing population composition effects, the reported convergence of 46 points between private and public schools from 2015 to 2018 amounts to only 9 points. The decomposition and sample adjustment methods used in this paper can be easily adapted to other contexts.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40536-024-00234-7 |
| spellingShingle | Ricardo Colaço Pedro Freitas Luis Catela Nunes Ana Balcão Reis Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal Large-scale Assessments in Education |
| title | Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal |
| title_full | Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal |
| title_fullStr | Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal |
| title_short | Understanding the private-public school performance gap in PISA: evidence from Portugal |
| title_sort | understanding the private public school performance gap in pisa evidence from portugal |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40536-024-00234-7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ricardocolaco understandingtheprivatepublicschoolperformancegapinpisaevidencefromportugal AT pedrofreitas understandingtheprivatepublicschoolperformancegapinpisaevidencefromportugal AT luiscatelanunes understandingtheprivatepublicschoolperformancegapinpisaevidencefromportugal AT anabalcaoreis understandingtheprivatepublicschoolperformancegapinpisaevidencefromportugal |