Achievement in Relation to Background Factors

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Achievement in Relation to Background Factors
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Background Data Gathering

• During every cycle of assessment, background data
  are gathered by questionnaire and analysis of
  fieldworkers reports.
• Questionnaires are given to students (including a
  section for parents), head teachers and teachers.
  
• Conditions, facilities etc. in schools are
  observed and recorded by test administrators.
• Background data are correlated with learning
  achievement to identify needs for improvement and
  factors associated with achievement.

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Background Data Gathering Framework

• Background data are classified into five areas
  following the Craig-Heneveld Framework
• The Students
• Supporting Inputs from Outside the School
• Teaching-Learning Process
• Enabling Conditions
• School Climate
• Results are presented in the next section

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The Students

• Data are gathered from students about
• Socio-economic background (e.g., family size,
  fathers/mothers education and occupation)
• Factors in the home environment related to
  achievement (e.g., help w/ homework, space for
  reading, need to work outside)
• Attitudes towards education

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For Example
Do you work outside the home to earn money?
Conclusion about 23 of Grade 4 students
reported having to work outside the home. Their
achievement is significantly lower than others.
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Supporting Inputs from Outside

• Information is gathered from different sources
  about
• Parent and community support (e.g., frequent
  school-parent meetings, financial and other
  support, parental involvement in homework)
• Effective support from the education system
  (e.g., supervision, availability of teaching
  materials and supplementary materials)
• Adequate material support (e.g., facilities,
  furniture in school, school budget for supplies)

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For Example (1)

• How many of the following six activities in the
  school does the head-teacher invite parents to
  participate in?
• Attend special events (e.g., functions, sports
  events)
• Raise funds for the school
• Participate in development planning
• Volunteer for school projects, programs, and
  trips
• Ensure that their child completes his/her
  homework
• Serve on school committees (e.g. personnel,
  finance)

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For Example (2)

• Number of activities

Conclusion most head teachers reported inviting
parents to participate in a significant number of
school-related activities. This participation is
positively associated with student achievement.
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Teaching - Learning Process

• Information is gathered from different sources
  about
• Learning time (no. of teaching days, length of
  period, time on task)
• Variety of teaching strategies used in class
  (e.g., questioning techniques, investigation,
  practical work)
• Homework (amount given, how it is assessed and
  what feedback is given)
• Student assessment and what feedback on their
  work students receive

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For Example

• How often does your teacher check your Maths
  homework?

Conclusion the great majority (95) of students
reported that they are taught by teachers who
check their mathematics homework at least twice
weekly. These students achieve significantly
better than students who report their homework is
checked less frequently.
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Enabling Conditions

• Information is gathered from different sources
  about
• Leadership (e.g., whether the head-teacher is
  primarily an administrative or an instructional
  leader in the school)
• Capable teaching force (e.g., teacher education,
  qualifications, experience, style)
• Flexibility and autonomy (e.g., decisions and
  discretion of head teacher, teacher)
• High level of time in school (starting/finishing
  time of periods, presence/absence of teachers)

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For Example (1)

• How many of the following six indicators of
  academic leadership does the head teacher have
  explicit policy for?
• Corporal punishment
• Homework
• Recording and reporting student progress
• Explaining students mistakes
• Dealing with weak students
• Parental involvement

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For Example (2)
Conclusion about two-thirds (63) of all
students are in schools with no explicit policy
for academic matters (i.e., most head teachers
see themselves as administrative rather than
instructional leaders). Policy for academic
matters is associated with student achievement.
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School Climate

• Information is gathered from different sources
  about
• High expectations for students (school expects
  and rewards success)
• Teacher Attitudes (attitudes to students and
  school goals, perception of school climate)
• Order and Discipline (e.g., punishment policy and
  methods, feeling safe at school)
• Organized Curriculum available to all
• Classroom Climate (e.g., student participation,
  teacher-student interaction)

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For Example (1)

• Students Perception of School Climate
• I like being in school
• I think that students in my school try to do
  their best
• I think that teachers in my school care about the
  students
• I think that teachers in my school want students
  to do their best

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For Example (2)
Conclusion an overwhelming majority (92) of
students responded yes to all four statements.
This was associated with higher achievement in
both language and mathematics
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Use of Blackboard and Achievement

• Teachers use of black board significantly
  increased students achievement in all the four
  subjects
• Ninety-seven percent teachers reported they daily
  use black boards

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Use of Textbooks and Additional Resources

• Majority of the subject teachers used textbooks
  as major source of knowledge.
• Around 10 teachers reported consulting
  additional resources for teaching
• Science teachers were more likely to consult
  additional resources than other subject teachers

Back to Slide 15
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Multi-grade Teaching and Achievement

• Lower frequency of Multi-grade Teaching is linked
  with increased performance for both students and
  teachers
• Twenty- one percent teachers reported they have
  to teach more than on classes in one period

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Rewards and Punishment in School

• Student who Never got punished by their teachers
  performed significantly better Fifty-eight
  percent students reported they never got
  punished.
• Only .03 students reported frequent punishment
• Rewarding students performance increased
  achievement all the subjects

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PTA/ SMC in School Head Teachers Report

• Around 80 head teachers reported presence of
  PTA/ SMCs in School
• Presence, need, funding, or role of PTA/SMC did
  not increase students performance in any of the
  NEAS tested school
• Only 39 head teachers reported getting funds
  from Govt.
• Ninety-seven percent head teachers reported need
  for SMCs in Schools

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Teaching Resources and Achievement

• Only 46 Head teachers reported they have the
  curriculum document in their school
• Only 37 teachers reported using the curriculum
  document use of curriculum document and other
  teaching resources did not significantly increase
  students achievement

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Teachers General Education in the NEAS Sample

• Male teachers were better qualified than female
  teachers in both rural and urban areas
• There were more matriculate female than male
  teachers
• In the NEAS selected schools there were no
  teachers with higher than masters qualification

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Head Teachers and Teachers Professional
Education

• About 57 teachers were PTC qualified
• There were more M. Ed head teachers than teachers
  
• There were less than 1 B. Ed Teachers and head
  teachers

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Teachers Professional Training

• Less than 50 subject teachers secured any kind
  of training
• Subject curriculum and problem solving were
  highest reported areas of training obtained

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Teachers Scaled Scores

• Teachers scaled scores were significantly higher
  than students in all four subjects
• Teachers scores were well above the set mean of
  500 (SD 100)

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Assessment of Students Performance in School
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Parents Educational Profiles in the NEAS Sample

• Urban fathers were relatively more educated than
  rural fathers
• Only .02 urban fathers were graduates
• Seventy-two percent rural and 53 urban mothers
  were illiterate
• There were no graduate or postgraduate mothers in
  NEAS sample

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Fathers Education and Student Achievement

• The table shows a trend that children of fathers
  with post-primary education performed better on
  different subjects

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Fathers Occupation in the NEAS Sample

• Majority of rural fathers were agriculture
  landowners
• Majority of urban fathers were small business
  owners and skilled workers
• Fifteen percent urban and twelve percent rural
  fathers in govt. jobs

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Fathers Occupation and Students Achievement

• Fathers occupation did not significantly affect
  students achievement on Maths and Science tests
• Children of Agricultural wage earner however,
  scored significantly lower as compared to govt.
  servants on language test
• Children of private employed parents scored
  significantly lower on social studies test
• All other mean differences were non-significant

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Strengthening Links between NEAS and the
Educational Planning Process

• NEAS can support educational planning by
• providing data about the actual conditions in
  schools and
• indicating the possible impact of policy actions
  on student achievement.
• Educational planners can make NEAS more effective
  by
• proposing topics to be added to background data
  gathering and
• suggesting relationships to be explored.

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Conclusion and Next Steps
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The presentation in summary

• NEAS has assessed the achievement of Class IV
  students in 4 subjects Urdu, Mathematics,
  Science and Social studies.
• The assessment reveals large differences in
  average performance among provinces and between
  students from differing backgrounds.
• These differences in average performance can be
  traced back to differences in student and family
  characteristics, school processes and inputs.
• As illustrated in the next slide the factors that
  influence performance can be divided into four
  types

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Additional work

• The lack of performance standards limits the
  interpretability of the assessment results.
• Additional analysis is needed to identify causal
  relationships and hence where policy might yield
  improvement.
• The next slides illustrate how multi-level
  multivariate analyses can be used to reflect on
  the impact of different policy interventions.

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Expected changes in achievement over time

• All other things being equal one would not expect
  to see large changes in achievement levels from
  year to year. Evidence suggests that education
  reforms take at least 5 to 10 years to bear
  fruit.
• For Pakistan one would actually expect test
  scores to fall over time as rising enrollment
  rates draw more children from relatively
  disadvantaged backgrounds into the system.

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Future Vision of National Assessment in Pakistan

• Proposed Recommendations by National Select
  Committee
• NEAS future planning should be till 2020 at Grade
  4, 5, 8, 10 and 12 levels
• Private schools should be included in NEAS sample
  on Pilot basis in 2008 National Assessment
• Listening and speaking competencies (skills) of
  student assessment would be part of NEAS future
  activities
• Pakistan can explore the possibility to
  participate in the next TIMSS in 2012

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Thank You