Table 2 Variables’ description (PISA 2012).
From: Decomposing international gender test score differences
Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
Students’ own characteristics | |
Age | Age of student was calculated as the difference between the year and month of the testing and the year and month of the students’ birth |
Grade | The relative grade index was computed to capture between the country variation. It indicates whether students are below or above the model grade in a country (model grade having value “zero”) |
Country of birth | According to the PISA, students’ are distinguished by country of birth to take into account their immigrant status 1. “Native students”, students born in the country of assessment with at least one parent born in the country of assessment 2. “Second-generation students”, students born in the country with both parents foreign-born 3. “First-generation students, where foreign-born students have foreign-born parents In this study, the variable for country of birth only differentiate that the students are “native” or “others” |
Family characteristics | |
Educational level of mother and father | Educational levels were classified using ISCED (OECD 1999) that is International Standard Classification of Education. Indices were constructed for the following categories 1. “0” for “None 2. “1” for “primary education” 3. “2” for “lower secondary” 4. “3” for “upper secondary” 5. “4” for “post secondary” 6. “5” for “vocational tertiary” 7. “6” for “theoretical tertiary (or post graduate)” |
Occupational status of parents | Parents’ job status is closely linked to socio-economic status that can cause large gaps in performance between students. Students reported their mothers’ and fathers’ current job status either as “full or part time working” or they hold another job status (i.e. home duties, retired etc.) |
Family structure | An index was formed on the basis of the family structure with the following categories 1. “1” if “single parent family” (students living with one of the following: mother, father, male guardian, female guardian) 2. “2” if “two parent family” (students living with a father or step/foster father and a mother or step/foster mother) 3. “3” if students do not live with their parents |
Language spoken at home | An international comparable variable is derived from the information (containing a country-specific code for each language) with the following categories 1. Language at home is the same as the language of assessment for the student 2. Language at home is another language |
Home possession | Home possession is the summary index of 23 household items, mainly related to possession of books and things necessary to have a profound study |
Schooling characteristics | |
School category | Schools are classified as either public or private according to whether a private entity or a public agency has the ultimate power to make decisions concerning its affairs |
School autonomy | Twelve items measuring school autonomy were asked that includes (a) Selecting teachers for hire, (b) Firing teachers, (c) Establishing teachers’ starting salaries, (d) Determining teachers’ salary increases, (e) Formulating the school budget, (f) Deciding on budget allocations within the school, (g) Establishing student disciplinary policies, (h) Establishing student assessment policies, (i). Approving students for admission to the school, (j) Choosing which textbooks are used, (k) Determining course content, and (k). Deciding which courses are offered. Five response categories were used and principals were asked to tick as many categories as appropriate, that are 1. Principal 2. Teachers 3. School governing board 4. Regional education authority 5. National education authority |
Class size | The average class size was derived from one of the nine possibilities ranging from “15 students or fewer” to “more than 50 students” for the average class size of the test language in the sampled schools. The mid point of each response category was used for class size, resulting a value of 13 for the lowest category, and a value of 53 for the highest |
Quality of physical infrastructure | The index concerning the quality of physical infrastructure was computed on the basis of three items measuring the principals’ perceptions of potential factors hindering instruction at school that are (a) Shortage or inadequacy of school buildings and grounds, (b) Shortage or inadequacy of heating/cooling and lighting systems, and (c) Shortage or inadequacy of instructional space (i.e. classrooms). All items were reversed for scaling |
Proportion of girls enrolled at school | Proportion is based on the enrollment data provided by the principal, calculated by dividing the number of girls by the number of girls and boys at a school |
Proportion of fully certified teachers | The proportion was calculated by dividing the number of fully certified teachers by the total number of teachers |
Student–teacher ratio | The student–teacher ratio is obtained by dividing the school size by the total number of teachers. The number of part–time teachers was weighted by 0.5 and the number of full-time teachers was weighted by 1.0 in the computation of this index |
Teacher–student relations | The index of teacher–student relations is derived from students’ view that to what extent do you agree with the following statements”: (i) Students get along well with most of my teachers; (ii) Most teachers are interested in students’ well-being; (iii) Most of my teachers really listen to what I have to say; (iv) if I need extra help, I will receive it from my teachers; and (v) Most of my teachers treat me fairly. Higher values on this index indicate positive teacher–student relations |
Students’ perceptions or beliefs about learning | |
Difference in test effort | To compare the students’ performance across countries that can be influenced by the effort students invest in preparing PISA assessment, a variable “difference in test effort (or relative test effort)” is used. This based on the “Effort Thermometer” that was developed by a group of researchers at the Max–Planck-Institute in Berlin (Kunter et al. 2002). The Effort Thermometer is based on three 10-point scales (For more details, see Butler and Adams 2007) Effort Difference = PISA Effort − School Mark Effort The Effort Difference scores can range from negative nine to positive nine. A negative score on Effort Difference means that students indicate they would try harder on a test that counts than they did on the PISA assessment |
Out of school study time | The index was calculated by summing the time spent studying for school subjects from the information that how much time they spent studying outside school (in open-ended format) |
Perseverance | Five items measuring perseverance (i.e. a). When confronted with a problem, I give up easily, (b) I put off difficult problems, (c) I remain interested in the tasks that I start, (d) I continue working on tasks until everything is perfect, and (e) When confronted with a problem, I do more than what is expected for me) were included with five response categories, namely 1. Very much like me 2. Mostly like me 3. Somewhat like me 4. Not much like me 5. Not at all like me All three items were reversed |
Perceived control | The index of perceived control is constructed using student responses on question “what you think that you can succeed with enough effort (or the course material is too hard to understand with your sole effort)? Students give responses that they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed |
Instrumental motivation for job and career | The index of instrumental motivation for job and career is constructed by asking question that making an effort is worthwhile for me because it will increase chances to get a job and will improve my career with student responses over the extent they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed, or strongly disagreed |
Subjective norms (Mathematics) | The index of subjective norms in mathematics is constructed using student responses over whether, thinking about how people important to them view mathematics, they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed to the following statements: Most of my friends do well in mathematics; most of my friends work hard at mathematics; my friends enjoy taking mathematics tests; my parents believe it’s important for me to study mathematics; my parents believe that mathematics is important for my career; my parents like mathematics |