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EQUITY IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE OUTCOMES: CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH AND LOW ACHIEVEMENT ON PISA 2006 IN IRELAND

This article is one of a series of publications from the Republic of Ireland arising from the findings of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This article employs sophisticated multilevel modelling techniques to examine the student and school characteristics associated with low and high achievement in mathematics and science. One major original contribution of this article is that it examines characteristics for both low- and high-achieving students across two subject domains. The authors also applied the techniques used in the current paper to the PISA reading domain and findings for the reading domain were presented at the 2009 PISA research conference in Kiel, Germany. PISA is a project of the OECD which began in 2000. The study is carried out every three years and involves testing 15-year olds in reading, mathematics and science. To date, over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA. The current paper uses data from the 2006 cycle of PISA when 4,585 students participated in the Republic of Ireland. Findings from PISA have contributed to policy formation in the Republic of Ireland, influencing the 2011 National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People. They have also received extensive media coverage. The secondary analyses conducted in this paper helped to further a more detailed and nuanced understanding of factors associated with student achievement and helped to move policy debate away from the initial media focus on country rankings in league tables of achievement.