The International Observatory on Academic Achievement - Documentary search

File number :
CS-ISC-27e

Bibliographic reference :
Woessmann, L. (2006). How Equal Are Educational Opportunities? Family Background and Student Achievement in Europe and the US. CESifo Working Paper, No. 1162, Center for Economic Studies and Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Mars 2004.

Abstract :

Study Goal
This article presents the effects of family background on students’ academic achievement in the United States and fifteen Western Europe countries. In general, family background has an important effect on academic achievement, as students from different family backgrounds do not have the same opportunities to succeed. To what extent are the educational systems of various countries in a position to offset this inequality? The author attempted to answer this particular question.

Methodology
Data were drawn from the extensive international comparative study conducted in 1995 by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) evaluated the performance in mathematics of thirteen-year-old students in about 150 different schools per country.

Students were also asked to complete a questionnaire on their family backgrounds. For this purpose, background was defined by the level of parents’ education, the number of books at home, whether students lived with both parents and were born in the country or not, students’ gender and age, and whether students lived near the centre of a town or in a more geographically remote area.

Effects of Family Background on Academic Achievement
Generally speaking, the effects of family background were relatively similar in the United States and the Western Europe countries under study.
In Great Britain and Germany, the effects of family background were the most prevalent; this implies that the educational systems of these countries were less effective in countering educational inequalities brought about by family background. As opposed to this, France and Flemish Belgium offered the best equality of opportunities.

The level of parents’ education had significant effects on the academic performance of children in all European countries under study as well as in the United States.

The correlation between the number of books at students’ homes and their academic performance varied from one country to another. This link was particularly strong in England, but quite weak in France and Flemish Belgium.

The effects of community location and whether students lived with both parents or not were less significant and showed no clear patterns.

Immigrant students performed more poorly when tested in comparison to native students in ten out of fifteen European countries studied. However, the former obtained better scores than native students in Ireland and Portugal.

Flemish Belgium, Iceland and Sweden were the only countries studied where female students performed as well as male students in mathematics.

A Possible Interpretation of Differences in Effects
In two neighbouring countries, France and Germany, the effect of family background on students’ academic performance was quite different. Academic performance was poorer in France and better in Germany. According to the author, the fact that children start school much earlier in France, at the age of two, could account for this difference, at least partly.

Links :
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=528209

Key Words :
Equality of Opportunities, Family Background, Intergenerational Mobility, Gender, Mathematics, International Comparisons, TIMSS, Newsletter3

Monitored Countries :
United States and 15 Western Europe countries (Austria, Flemish Belgium, and French Belgium, Denmark, England and Scotland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland)