2023 Archives - Educational Research Centre (ERC)

Trends in educational inequalities in Ireland’s primary schools: an analysis based on TIMSS data (2011-2019).

Published in: Large Scale Assessments in Education

Abstract:

Background

Socioeconomic characteristics are persistently and systematically related to academic outcomes, despite long-standing efforts to reduce educational inequality. Ireland has a strong policy focus on alleviating educational disadvantage and has seen significant improvements in mathematics and science performance in recent years. This study investigates patterns of socioeconomic inequalities in 4th grade students’ performance in mathematics and science between 2011 and 2019. Two measures of inequality are examined: (i) inequality of achievement, i.e., the degree of variability in student performance and (ii) inequality of opportunity, i.e., the extent to which student performance is related to background characteristics.

Methods

Data for 4th-grade students in Ireland from TIMSS 2011, TIMSS 2015 and TIMSS 2019 were used. Mathematics and science achievement were the main outcome measures. The home resources for learning index was used as a proxy for student-level socioeconomic status. School-level socioeconomic status was examined according to schools’ participation in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme, which is the Department of Education’s main policy initiative addressing educational disadvantage. Descriptive and multilevel regression analyses were conducted to explore variability in student performance and to investigate the variance in achievement explained by socioeconomic factors, across cycles and subjects.

Results

Between 2011 and 2015, between-student and between-school differences in mathematics and science performance became smaller, as shown by the decrease in standard deviations and the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). This points to reduced inequality of achievement. Between 2015 and 2019, a small increase in inequality of achievement was observed.

Regarding inequality of opportunity, students’ home resources for learning and school disadvantaged status were statistically significantly related to mathematics and science achievement across all three cycles. Overall variance explained by these two variables increased from 2011 to 2019. This points towards increasing inequality of opportunity over the period examined.

Performance gaps between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged schools have been reduced over time; however, the relationship between home resources for learning and achievement appears to have strengthened. Findings were consistent for both subjects.

Conclusions

The findings indicate that improvements in overall performance do not necessarily reflect improved equality. Ireland’s improvements in average mathematics and science performance between 2011 and 2015 were accompanied by reduced inequality of achievement. Performance differences between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged schools have been reduced over time, suggesting that the DEIS policy is meeting its goal of narrowing achievement gaps based on concentrations of educational disadvantage. However, inequality of opportunity linked to student-level socioeconomic factors (i.e., home resources for learning) appears to have increased over time. These findings are valuable in the context of measuring and tracking educational inequalities.

Duggan, A., Karakolidis, A., Clerkin, A., Gilleece, L., & Perkins, R. (2023). Trends in educational inequalities in Ireland’s primary schools: an analysis based on TIMSS data (2011-2019). Large Scale Assessments in Education, 11(39). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40536-023-00188-2

Education in a Dynamic World: the performance of students in Ireland in PISA 2022

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-olds in science, reading literacy and mathematics. It is an initiative of the
Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). PISA takes place every three years. The first PISA cycle was implemented in 2000 and PISA 2022 is the eighth iteration of the study. In each cycle, one domain is designated a major domain, and the remaining domains function as minor domains. In PISA 2022, mathematics was the major assessment domain, while science and reading literacy were minor domains. An international consortium, led by Educational Testing Service (ETS) in United States, was responsible for the implementation of PISA.

The usual pattern of the PISA cycle was interrupted in this iteration, as the planned implementation of the Main Study in 2021 was delayed by one year to 2022 due to disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A further change in administration took place in Ireland, with Main Study data collection taking place in autumn instead of springtime. In response to reports of a crowded school calendar in springtime, and in an attempt to reduce the burden on schools, the decision was made to move main study testing to the autumn time. This means that data were collected a year and a half later than originally planned, and four and a half years since data were collected in the 2018 cycle of PISA.

This was the third cycle in which testing was administered principally on computer. Following the 2018 cycle, in which adaptive testing was introduced for the first time, in 2022 two domains (reading and mathematics) incorporated a multi-stage adaptive testing design (MSAT). PISA 2022 was administered in 81 participating countries/economies, including 37 OECD countries,
with tests and questionnaires completed by 690,000 students internationally. In Ireland, 5569 students in 170 schools took part, with the majority of participants in Transition Year and Third Year, with smaller proportions in the remaining years.

The OECD has published an assessment framework (2023a), and a technical report is also expected to be released in early 2024 (OECD, in press). Two volumes on the main outcomes of PISA 2022 will be published simultaneously with the launch of the results: PISA 2022 Results (Volume 1): The State of Learning and Equity in Education (OECD, 2023c), PISA 2022 Results (Volume 2): Resilient Systems, Schools and Students (OECD, 2023d).

This report, which provides an overview of the main outcomes of PISA 2022 in Ireland, is the first in a series of national reports based on the 2022 data, and will be followed by short, thematic reports on the themes of mathematics, learning in the pandemic, well-being and home environment, and creative thinking.
This report is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the PISA 2022 cycle, and describes its implementation in Ireland. Chapter 2 summarises previous PISA performance in Ireland, and looks at the broader research and policy context. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 describes Ireland’s achievement in PISA 2022 in the domains of mathematics, reading and science respectively, and link performance to background characteristics such as ESCS, gender and immigrant status. Chapter 6 reports on students’ experiences of learning during the school closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. A summary and conclusions are presented in Chapter 7

Ireland’s 2021 National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading: Exploring the home backgrounds, classrooms and schools of pupils in Urban DEIS schools

This report follows on from Ireland’s National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading 2021: A focus on urban DEIS schools (Nelis & Gilleece, 2023). It is also designed to be read
in conjunction with the National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading 2021: Performance Report (Kiniry et al., 2023) which provides more detail on the administration of
NAMER ’21 and overall findings for achievement. Further findings from NAMER ’21 including findings related to teaching and assessment practices, pupil characteristics and school factors, will be described in a forthcoming report (Kiniry et al., Report in preparation).

A key purpose of this report is to look at pupil characteristics and school and classroom factors that may be associated with achievement of pupils in Urban DEIS schools. More broadly, analyses
in this report are intended to support policymakers and school communities striving to improve equity in education. NAMER ’21 was administered in Spring 2021. Since then, there have been developments in policy, practice and supports. This report was completed in late 2023 and focuses primarily on findings from NAMER ’21 rather than how findings may link to developments that occurred following the study.

Ireland’s National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading 2021: A focus on achievement in urban DEIS schools

This report provides in-depth information on the achievement of primary pupils in DEIS Urban Band 1 and Urban Band 2 schools in the National Assessments of Mathematics and English
Reading 2021 (NAMER ’21). The current report is one of two initial reports from NAMER ’21. It is intended to be read in conjunction with Kiniry et al. (2023) who provide more detail on the purpose of the national assessments, the administration of NAMER ’21, and overall achievement in reading and mathematics.

A key purpose of the current report is to compare the average achievement of primary pupils in Urban Band 1 and Urban Band 2 schools with that of primary pupils in Urban Non-DEIS schools.
In this way, findings contribute to monitoring progress towards targets under the DEIS Plan 2017 (Department of Education and Skills, 2017a) which refer to reducing the percentages of lower achievers in DEIS schools and increasing the percentages of high achievers, in reading and mathematics.

Primary pupils in Ireland also participated in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in 2021. Findings from PIRLS are published alongside those of NAMER; see Delaney et al. (2023) for Irish results. NAMER and PIRLS provide important insights about primary pupils’ achievement and experiences following the disruption to education systems caused by COVID-19.

PIRLS 2021 – Reading results for Ireland

Main Report: PIRLS 2021: Reading results for Ireland.

Delaney, E., McAteer, S., Delaney, M., McHugh, G., & O’Neill, B. (2023).

E-Appendices are available at the following links: E-Appendix Chapter 1, E-Appendix Chapter 3, E-Appendix Chapter 4, E-Appendix Chapter 5, E-Appendix Chapter 6, E-Appendix Chapter 7, E-Appendix Chapter 8, E-Appendix Chapter 9.

Infographics summarising some key findings are also available:

Infographic 1: Overall Results

Infographic 2: Trends, Subscales, Gender & SES

Infographic 3: Reading Experiences and Attitudes

An evaluation framework for teachers’ professional learning in Ireland

PISA 2022 Non-response bias analysis for Ireland

PISA TESTING, SPRING VS AUTUMN 2018: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

The National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading 2021: performance report

The National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER) aims to provide a snapshot of the mathematical and reading skills of Second and Sixth class pupils in Ireland, to identify areas of strength and weakness, and to inform educational policy and practice. Originally planned for administration in Spring 2020, NAMER was overtaken by the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic led to extended school closures and the postponement of the National Assessments by a year. By the time NAMER was administered in May 2021, schools had been shut for a total of 96 days in the preceding two school years.

The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, originally published in 2011, set out performance targets for 2020 which were surpassed in the 2014 National Assessment. New performance targets in literacy and numeracy were set for 2020 in 2017. Although NAMER 2021 took place during a period of considerable upheaval in schools and society as a whole, the study provides an opportunity to monitor performance with reference to these targets.

Year: 2023