Sunday, March 16, 2014
Forum (Omni Shoreham)
Previous research illustrated with PISA data from 2000-2009 that the comprehensive schooling format was associated with higher academic achievement. The proposed research focuses on the educational systems in central and eastern Europe that have radically changed their educational structures during the recent period: the Czech Republic and Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. Some of the post-socialist systems have retained or extended the comprehensive format of schooling whereas others have adopted a more differentiated format. Thus, the post-socialist countries present an interesting “natural experiment.” Do countries that shift to comprehensive schooling experience improvements in academic achievement, and conversely do systems that discontinue comprehensive schooling experience declines? The study employs multivariate analysis to test this proposition by developing a model that links socio-economic and cultural background of students, macro-level socioeconomic characteristics, school specific characteristics, and educational system change with student performance. Mixed school systems, where differentiation coexists with comprehensive schooling (by design, tradition, resistance to reform, or impact of political and societal factors) are not as successful in the equitable distribution of educational achievement as comprehensive schools systems with one school for all. The comprehensive school might “have it all”: it achieves excellence in achievement, raises student achievement more equitably irrespective of student socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, creates a greater number of high achievers and lowers the number of low achieving students. In this context, would comprehensive schooling become a new “global ideal”?
