Socioeconomic inequality and educational outcomes: evidence from twenty years of TIMSS

This book draws on data collected over 20 years in the IEA Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) and scrutinizes student achievement levels in relation to their socioeconomic status. Besides achievement data, TIMSS has been collecting background information from students, teachers, and school principals. Using a modified version of the TIMSS home educational resources index, the authors have identified tentative patterns in the changes over time. Specifically, they have established which countries have seen greater educational inequality attributable to family background and which have seen a reduction. They also identify which countries have managed to increase the academic performance of disadvantaged students over the period and those which have not. There are no easy answers to the challenges posed by the educational underachievement of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It remains, however, one of the most significant issues facing societies and their education systems. While family background is a critical variable, the authors properly point out that macro-level factors such as gross national wealth per person, total expenditure on education, and degree of centralization of the education system all play a part. What this book does offer is a data-driven focus on the effects of socioeconomic status on educational outcomes and a methodology for deeper national investigation across the many cycles of TIMSS. Both researchers and policymakers will find it suggestive in terms of exploring national contexts more precisely and devising policy actions to ameliorate educational underachievement.