The socio-spatial dimension of educational inequality: A comparative European analysis

Burger, Kaspar (2019): The socio-spatial dimension of educational inequality: A comparative European analysis. Published in: Studies in Educational Evaluation No. 62 (2019): pp. 171-186.

Abstract

Given recent evidence of rising levels of social segregation in European countries, this study uses standardized data from the Program for International Student Assessment (n = 171,159; 50.5% male) to examine the extent to which education systems in Europe are socially segregated and whether social segregation in the school system affects achievement gaps between students of different social origin. Results suggest that the degree of social segregation within education systems varied substantially across countries. Furthermore, multilevel regression models indicate that the effect of socioeconomic status on student achievement was moderately but significantly stronger in more segregated education systems, even after controlling for alternative system-level determinants of social inequality in student achievement. These findings provide original evidence that social segregation in education systems may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of educational (dis)advantage and thus serve to exacerbate wider problems of socioeconomic inequality in Europe.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Cross-national comparison Social segregation Standardized assessment European education systems Multilevel
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I21 - Analysis of Education; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I24 - Education and Inequality

References

Agirdag, O., Van Avermaet, P., & van Houtte, M. (2013). School segregation and math achievement: A mixed-method study on the role of self-fulfilling prophecies. Teachers College Record, 115(3), 1–50. Alegre, M. A., & Ferrer, G. (2010). School regimes and education equity: Some insights based on PISA 2006. British Educational Research Journal, 36(3), 433–461. Allen, R., Burgess, S., Davidson, R., & Windmeijer, F. (2015). More reliable inference for the dissimilarity index of segregation. The Econometrics Journal, 18(1), 40–66. Ammermüller, A. (2005). Educational opportunities and the role of institutions (Discussion Paper No. 05–44). Mannheim: ZEW. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=753366 Belfi, B., Goos, M., Pinxten, M., Verhaeghe, J. P., Gielen, S., Fraine, B., & van Damme, J. (2014). Inequality in language achievement growth? An investigation into the impact of pupil socio-ethnic background and school socio-ethnic composition. British Educational Research Journal, 40(5), 820–846. Benito, R., Alegre, M. À., & Gonzàlez-Balletbò, I. (2014). School segregation and its effects on educational equality and efficiency in 16 OECD comprehensive school systems. Comparative Education Review, 58(1), 104–134. Bernelius, V., & Vaattovaara, M. (2016). Choice and segregation in the ‘most egalitarian’ schools: Cumulative decline in urban schools and neighbourhoods of Helsinki, Finland. Urban studies, 53(15), 3155–3171. Böhlmark, A., Holmlund, H., & Lindahl, M. (2016). Parental choice, neighbourhood segregation or cream skimming? An analysis of school segregation after a generalized choice reform.” Journal of Population Economics, 29(4), 1155–1190. Bol, T., & Van de Werfhorst, H. G. (2013). Educational systems and the trade-off between labor market allocation and equality of educational opportunity. Comparative Education Review, 57(2), 285–308. Borman, G. D., & Dowling, M. (2010). Schools and inequality: A multilevel analysis of Coleman’s equality of educational opportunity data. Teachers College Record, 112, 1201–1246. Brunello, G., & Checchi, D. (2007). Does school tracking affect equality of opportunity? New international evidence. Economic Policy, 22(52), 781–861. Burger, K. (2010). How does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development? An international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social backgrounds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), 140–165. Burger, K. (2013). Early childhood care and education and equality of opportunity. Theoretical and empirical perspectives on social challenges. Wiesbaden, London: Springer. Burger, K. (2015). Effective early childhood care and education: Successful approaches and didactic strategies for fostering child development. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(5), 743-760. Burger, K. (2016a). Intergenerational transmission of education in Europe: Do more comprehensive education systems reduce social gradients in student achievement? Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 44, 54-67. Burger, K. (2016b). A transdisciplinary approach to research on early childhood education. GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 25(3), 197-200. Burger, K. & Walk, M. (2016). Can children break the cycle of disadvantage? Structure and agency in the transmission of educational advantage across generations. Social Psychology of Education, 19(4), 695-713. Campbell, M., Haveman, R., Sandefur, G., & Wolfe, B. (2005). Economic inequality and educational attainment across a generation. Focus, 23(3), 11–15. Castellano, K. E., Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Skrondal, A. (2014). Composition, context, and endogeneity in school and teacher comparisons. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 39(5), 333–367. Cebolla-Boado, H., Radl, J., & Salazar, L. (2017). Preschool education as the great equalizer? A cross-country study into the sources of inequality in reading competence. Acta Sociologica, 60(1), 41–60. Chiu, M. M. (2010). Effects of inequality, family and school on mathematical achievement: Country and student differences. Social Forces, 88(4), 1645–1676. Chiu, M. M. (2015). Family inequality, school inequalities, and mathematics achievement in 65 countries: Microeconomic mechanisms of rent seeking and diminishing marginal returns. Teachers College Record, 117(1), 1–32. Chmielewski, A. K. (2014). An international comparison of achievement inequality in within- and between-school tracking systems. American Journal of Education, 120(3), 293–324. Chmielewski, A. K., & Reardon, S. F. (2016). Patterns of cross-national variation in the association between income and academic achievement. AERA Open, 2(3), 1–27. Crosnoe, R., & Muller, C. (2014). Family socioeconomic status, peers, and the path to college. Social Problems, 61(4), 602–624. Croxford, L., & Paterson, L. (2006). Trends in social class segregation between schools in England, Wales and Scotland since 1984. Research Papers in Education, 21(4), 381–406. Davis-Kean, P. E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child achievement: The indirect role of parental expectations and the home environment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(2), 294–304. De Fraja, G., & Martinez Mora, F. (2012). The desegregating effect of school tracking (CEPR Discussion Paper No. 9204). Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/9204.html Do, C. B., & Batzoglou, S. (2008). What is the expectation maximization algorithm? Nature Biotechnology, 26(8), 897–899. Downey, D. B., & Condron, D. J. (2016). Fifty years since the Coleman report: Rethinking the relationship between schools and inequality. Sociology of Education, 89(3), 207–220. Driessen, G. (2002). School composition and achievement in primary education: A large-scale multilevel approach. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 28, 347–368. Dronkers, J. (2010). Features of educational systems as factors in the creation of unequal educational outcomes. In J. Dronkers (Ed.), Quality and inequality of education. Cross-national perspectives (pp. 299–327). Dordrecht, New York: Springer. Dumay, X., & Dupriez, V. (2008). Does the school composition effect matter? Evidence from Belgian data. British Journal of Educational Studies, 56(4), 440–477. Duncan, O. D., & Duncan, B. (1955). A methodological analysis of segregation indices. American Sociological Review, 20(2), 210–217. Dupriez, V., & Dumay, X. (2006). Inequalities in school systems: Effect of school structure or of society structure? Comparative Education, 42(2), 243–260. Esser, H., & Relikowski, I. (2015). Is ability tracking (really) responsible for educational inequalities in achievement? A comparison between the country states Bavaria and Hesse in Germany (No. IZA DP No. 9082). Bonn: IZA. Eurostat. (2015). Inequality of income distribution - Eurostat. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/product?code=tsdsc260 Eurostat. (2017). Expenditure on education as % of GDP or public expenditure. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=educ_figdp&lang=en Eurostat. (2018). Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_di12&lang=en Eurydice. (2010). The structure of the European education systems 2010/11. Brussels: EACEA. Eurydice. (2012). Key data on education in Europe. Brussels: European Commission. Eurydice. (2013). Recommended annual taught time in full-time compulsory education in Europe 2012/13. Brussels: EACEA. Fekjær, S. N., & Birkelund, G. E. (2007). Does the ethnic composition of upper secondary schools influence educational achievement and attainment? A multilevel analysis of the Norwegian case. European Sociological Review 23(3), 309–23. Felouzis, G., & Charmillot, S. (2013). School tracking and educational inequality: A comparison of 12 education systems in Switzerland. Comparative Education, 49(2), 181–205. Ferreira, F. H. G., & Gignoux, J. (2014). The measurement of educational inequality: Achievement and opportunity. The World Bank Economic Review, 28(2), 210–246. Ferrer-Esteban, G. (2016). Trade-off between effectiveness and equity? An analysis of social sorting between classrooms and between schools. Comparative Education Review, 60(1), 151–183. Goldstein, H., & Noden, P. (2003). Modelling social segregation. Oxford Review of Education, 29(2), 225–237. Gorard, S. (2000). Education and social justice. The changing composition of schools and its implications. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. Gorard, S. (2006). Is there a school mix effect? Educational Review, 58(1), 87–94. Gorard, S., & Taylor, C. (2002). What is segregation? A comparison of measures in terms of “strong” and “weak” compositional invariance. Sociology, 36(4), 875–895. Gustafsson, J.-E., Nilsen, T., & Yang Hansen, K. (2018). School characteristics moderating the relation between student socio-economic status and mathematics achievement in grade 8. Evidence from 50 countries in TIMSS 2011. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 57, 16–30. Hanushek, E. A., & Wössmann, L. (2014). Institutional structures of the education system and student achievement: A review of cross-country economic research. In R. Strietholt, W. Bos, J.-E. Gustafsson, & M. Rosén (Eds.), Educational policy evaluation through international comparative assessments (pp. 145–176). Münster: Waxmann. Hanushek, Eric A., Kain, J. F., Markman, J. M., & Rivkin, S. G. (2003). Does peer ability affect student achievement? Journal of Applied Econometrics, 18(5), 527–544. Harris, D., & Williams, J. (2012). The association of classroom interactions, year group and social class. British Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 373–397. Heyneman, S. P., & Loxley, W. A. (1983). The effect of primary-school quality on academic achievement across twenty-nine high- and low-income countries. American Journal of Sociology, 88(6), 1162–1194. Holtmann, A. C. (2016). Excellence through equality of opportunity – Increasing the social inclusiveness of education systems benefits disadvantaged students without harming advantaged students. In H.-P. Blossfeld, S. Buchholz, J. Skopek, & M. Triventi (Eds.), Models of secondary education and social inequality: An international comparison (pp. 61–76). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Hox, J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Hutchens, R. (2004). One measure of segregation. International Economic Review, 45(2), 555–578. Jackson, M., Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J. H., & Yaish, M. (2007). Primary and secondary effects in class differentials in educational attainment: The transition to A-Level courses in England and Wales. Acta Sociologica, 50(3), 211–229. Jenkins, S. P., Micklewright, J., & Schnepf, S. V. (2008). Social segregation in secondary schools: How does England compare with other countries? Oxford Review of Education, 34(1), 21–37. Jerrim, J., & Macmillan, L. (2015). Income Inequality, Intergenerational Mobility, and the Great Gatsby Curve: Is Education the Key? Social Forces, 94(2), 505–533. Kane, T. J., Riegg, S. K., & Staiger, D. O. (2006). School quality, neighborhoods, and housing prices. American Law and Economics Review, 8(2), 183–212. Kariya, T., & Rosenbaum, J. E. (1999). Bright flight: Unintended consequences of detracking policy in Japan. American Journal of Education, 107(3), 210–230. Kearney, M. S., & Levine, P. B. (2014). Income inequality, social mobility, and the decision to drop out of high school (Working Paper No. 20195). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w20195 Lareau, A., & Weininger, E. B. (2003). Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment. Theory and Society, 32(5/6), 567–606. Lauen, D. L., & Gaddis, S. M. (2013). Exposure to classroom poverty and test score achievement: Contextual effects or selection? American Journal of Sociology, 118(4), 943–979. Lavy, V., Paserman, M. D., & Schlosser, A. (2012). Inside the black box of ability peer effects: Evidence from variation in the proportion of low achievers in the classroom. The Economic Journal, 122(559), 208–237. Leckie, G., Pillinger, R., Jones, K., & Goldstein, H. (2012). Multilevel modeling of social segregation. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 37(1), 3–30. Lee, J.-S., & Bowen, N. K. (2006). Parent involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children. American Educational Research Journal, 43(2), 193–218. Lee, V. E., & Burkam, D. T. (2002). Inequality at the starting gate: Social background differences in achievement as children begin school. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute. Lee, V. E., Zuze, T. L., & Ross, K. N. (2005). School effectiveness in 14 sub-Saharan African countries: Links with 6th graders’ reading achievement. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 31(2–3), 207–246. Leech, D., & Campos, E. (2001). Is comprehensive education really free? A case study of the effects of secondary school admissions policies of house prices in one local area (Warwick Economic Research Paper No. 581). Coventry: University of Warwick. Levels, M., Dronkers, J., & Kraaykamp, G. (2008). Immigrant children’s educational achievement in western countries: Origin, destination, and community effects on mathematical performance. American Sociological Review, 73(5), 835–853. Liu, H., Van Damme, J., Gielen, S., & Van Den Noortgate, W. (2015). School processes mediate school compositional effects: model specification and estimation. British Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 423–447. Lockheed, M., Prokic-Bruer, T., & Shadrova, A. (2015). The experience of middle-income countries participating in PISA 2000-2015. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Logan, J. R., Minca, E., & Adar, S. (2012). The geography of inequality: Why separate means unequal in American public schools. Sociology of Education, 85(3), 287–301. Lucas, S. R. (2001). Effectively maintained inequality: Education transitions, track mobility, and social background effects. American Journal of Sociology, 106(6), 1642–1690. Maaz, K., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., & Baumert, J. (2008). Educational transitions and differential learning environments: How explicit between-school tracking contributes to social inequality in educational outcomes. Child Development Perspectives, 2(2), 99–106. Marcinczak, S., Musterd, S., van Ham, M., & Tammaru, T. (2016). Inequality and rising levels of socio-economic segregation: Lessons from a pan-European comparative study. In T. Tammaru, S. Marcinczak, M. van Ham, & S. Musterd (Eds.), East meets West: New perspectives on socio-economic segregation in European capital cities (pp. 358–382). London: Routledge. Marks, G. N. (2009). Modernization theory and changes over time in the reproduction of socioeconomic inequalities in Australia. Social Forces, 88(2), 917–944. Mayer, S. E. (2002). How economic segregation affects children’s educational attainment. Social Forces, 81(1), 153–176. McPherson, A., & Willms, J. D. (1987). Equalisation and improvement: Some effects of comprehensive reorganisation in Scotland. Sociology, 21(4), 509–539. Modin, B., Karvonen, S., Rahkonen, O., & Östberg, V. (2015). School performance, school segregation, and stress-related symptoms: Comparing Helsinki and Stockholm. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 26(3), 467–486. Musterd, S., Marcińczak, S., van Ham, M., & Tammaru, T. (2017). Socioeconomic segregation in European capital cities. Increasing separation between poor and rich. Urban Geography, 38(7), 1062–1083. Muthén, B., & Shedden, K. (1999). Finite mixture modeling with mixture outcomes using the EM algorithm. Biometrics, 55(2), 463–469. Neuenschwander, M. P., Vida, M., Garrett, J. L., & Eccles, J. S. (2007). Parents’ expectations and students’ achievement in two western nations. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31(6), 594–602. Nielsen, F. (2006). Achievement and ascription in educational attainment: Genetic and environmental influences on adolescent schooling. Social Forces, 85(1), 193–216. OECD. (2009a). PISA 2006 technical report. Paris: OECD Publishing. OECD. (2009b). PISA data analysis manual. Paris: OECD Publishing. OECD. (2011). Education at a glance 2011. Paris: OECD Publishing. OECD. (2012). Equity and quality in education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools. Paris: OECD Publishing. OECD. (2013). PISA 2012 assessment and analytical framework. Paris: OECD Publishing. OECD. (2014). PISA 2012 technical report. Paris: OECD Publishing. Opdenakker, M.-C., & van Damme, J. (2007). Do school context, student composition and school leadership affect school practice and outcomes in secondary education? British Educational Research Journal, 33(2), 179–206. Owens, A. (2018). Income segregation between school districts and inequality in students’ achievement. Sociology of Education, 91(1), 1–27. Palardy, G. J. (2013). High school socioeconomic segregation and student attainment. American Educational Research Journal, 50(4), 714–754. Palardy, G. J., Rumberger, R. W., & Butler, T. (2015). The effect of high school socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic segregation on academic performance and school behaviors. Teachers College Record, 117(12), 1–52. Pépin, L. (2011). Education in the Lisbon Strategy: Assessment and prospects. European Journal of Education, 46(1), 25–35. Pfeffer, F. T. (2008). Persistent inequality in educational attainment and its institutional context. European Sociological Review, 24(5), 543–565. Pfeffer, F. T. (2015). Equality and quality in education. A comparative study of 19 countries. Social Science Research, 51, 350–368. Pokropek, A. (2015). Phantom effects in multilevel compositional analysis problems and solutions. Sociological Methods & Research, 44(4), 677–705. Preacher, K. J., Patrick J. Curran, & Bauer, D. J. (2006). Computational tools for probing interactions in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 31(4), 437–448. Quillian, L. (2014). Does segregation create winners and losers? Residential segregation and inequality in educational attainment. Social Problems, 61(3), 402–426. Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Skrondal, A. (2008). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using Stata (2nd ed.). College Station, TX: Stata Press. Ransom, M. R. (2000). Sampling distributions of segregation indexes. Sociological Methods & Research, 28(4), 454–475. Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Raudenbush, S. W., & Willms, J. D. (1995). The estimation of school effects. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 20(4), 307–335. Reardon, S. F. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations. In G. J. Duncan & R. J. Murnane (Eds.), Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances (pp. 91–116). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Reardon, S. F., & Bischoff, K. (2011). Income inequality and income segregation. American Journal of Sociology, 116(4), 1092–1153. Reardon, S. F., & Owens, A. (2014). 60 years after Brown: Trends and consequences of school segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 40(1), 199–218. Rubin, D. B. (1976). Inference and missing data. Biometrika, 63(3), 581–592. Rubin, D. B. (1987). Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Rumberger, R. W., & Palardy, G. P. (2005). Does segregation still matter? The impact of student composition on academic achievement in high school. Teachers College Record, 107(9), 1999–2045. Saporito, S., & Sohoni, D. (2007). Mapping educational inequality: Concentrations of poverty among poor and minority students in public schools. Social Forces, 85(3), 1227–1253. Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7(2), 147–177. Schlicht, R., Stadelmann-Steffen, I., & Freitag, M. (2010). Educational inequality in the EU: The effectiveness of the national education policy. European Union Politics, 11(1), 29–59. Schmidt, M. G. (2004). Die öffentlichen und privaten Bildungsausgaben Deutschlands im internationalen Vergleich. Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften, 2(1), 7–31. Schütz, G., Ursprung, H. W., & Wössmann, L. (2008). Education policy and equality of opportunity. Kyklos, 61(2), 279–308. Snijders, T. A. B., & Bosker, R. J. (2012). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling (2nd ed). Los Angeles: Sage. Sortkær, B. (2018). Feedback for everybody? – Variations in students’ perception of feedback. In Nordic Council of Ministers (Ed.), Northern Lights on TIMSS and PISA 2018. (pp. 161-182). Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers. Stadelmann-Steffen, I. (2012). Education policy and educational inequality - Evidence from the Swiss laboratory. European Sociological Review, 28(3), 379–393. Strand, S. (2010). Do some schools narrow the gap? Differential school effectiveness by ethnicity, gender, poverty, and prior achievement. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 21(3), 289–314. Taylor, C., & Gorard, S. (2001). The role of residence in school segregation: Placing the impact of parental choice in perspective. Environment and Planning A, 33(10), 1829–1852. Televantou, I., Marsh, H. W., Kyriakides, L., Nagengast, B., Fletcher, J., & Malmberg, L.-E. (2015). Phantom effects in school composition research: Consequences of failure to control biases due to measurement error in traditional multilevel models. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 26(1), 75–101. UNESCO. (2011). World data on education [IBE/2011/CP/WDE/RB]. Geneva: IBE. van Doorn, M., Pop, I., & Wolbers, M. H. J. (2011). Intergenerational transmission of education across European countries and cohorts. European Societies, 13(1), 93–117. Van Ewijk, R., & Sleegers, P. (2010). The effect of peer socioeconomic status on student achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 5(2), 134–150. Waldinger, F. (2006). Does tracking affect the importance of family background on students’ test scores? Unpublished manuscript, LSE. Retrieved from http://cep.lse.ac.uk/conference_papers/Cambridge2006/Waldinger.pdf Wu, M. (2005). The role of plausible values in large-scale assessments. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 31(2–3), 114–128. Yaish, M., & Andersen, R. (2012). Social mobility in 20 modern societies: The role of economic and political context. Social Science Research, 41(3), 527–538. Yang Hansen, K., & Gustafsson, J.-E. (2016). Causes of educational segregation in Sweden – school choice or residential segregation. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(1–2), 23–44. Yang Hansen, K., & Gustafsson, J.-E. (in press). Identifying the key source of deteriorating educational equity in Sweden between 1998 and 2014. International Journal of Educational Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.09.012. Yang Hansen, K., Gustafsson, J.-E., & Rosén, M. (2014). School performance differences and policy variations in Finland, Norway and Sweden. In K. Yang Hansen, J.-E. Gustafsson, M. Rosén, S. Sulkunen, K. Nissinen, P. Kupari, … A. Hole (Eds.), Northern Lights on TIMSS and PIRLS 2011. Differences and similarities in the Nordic countries (pp. 25–48). Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers. Yang Hansen, K., Rosén, M., & Gustafsson, J.-E. (2011). Changes in the multi‐level effects of socio‐economic status on reading achievement in Sweden in 1991 and 2001. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 55(2), 197–211.