This study explored the mathematics achievement profiles of the countries participating in TIMSS 2015 based on the TIMSS assessment framework categories. More specifically, observed and expected performances of countries in the framework categories were compared to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of countries in the respective item…

Unequal access to qualified teachers for children of different socioeconomic status--also known as inequitable teacher sorting--has been increasingly put forth as one potential factor contributing to the socioeconomic achievement gap. Despite this, few studies have investigated cross-national differences in teacher sorting, and none have examined…

The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e.,…

Few developing countries participate in external educational evaluations. Information gaps on education quality make it imperative to expand such evaluations. Furthermore, international comparability across different evaluations should be improved. In addition, data from evaluations must be combined with data on access or coverage. Finally,…

This dissertation explores how country-level cultural values are associated with gender differences in the enrollment in and completion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), national achievement in mathematics and science, and students' science achievement. Study 1 explored how gender-equal…

In most countries, students' socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly related to their educational achievement: the higher a student's SES, the higher his or her achievement scores, and vice versa. This lack of equity in student outcomes is of great concern to policy makers because educational achievement should not depend on family background. This…

In 19 (sub)samples from seven countries (United States, Austria, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil), we analyzed the impact of parental education compared with wealth on the cognitive ability of children (aged 4-22 years, total N = 15,297). The background of their families ranged from poor indigenous remote villagers to academic…

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…