Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Para tanto, faço uso de uma política pública educacional – o Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica (Saeb) – como “janela” desta pesquisa. O uso de uma política educacional como “janela” implica no entendimento de que as políticas públicas estão inseparavelmente relacionadas ao Estado (AGUDELO, 2011; OSCAR OSZLAK; GUILLERMO O'DONNELL, 1995) e que só se pode definir como política pública a ação que tem o aval estatal (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). A escolha do Saeb, por sua vez, esteve alicerçada em uma revisão bibliográfica que aponta que, a partir das reformas estatais dos anos de 1990, as avaliações ganharam centralidade no cenário brasileiro (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). Esta é a justificativa para fazer uso de uma política pública educacional que inclui avaliações de larga escala, pois entendo que, olhando para tais avaliações, posso ter um acesso privilegiado para identificar como o Estado age na educação básica. A revisão bibliográfica também apontou que as reformas estatais de 1990 no Brasil foram fortemente influenciadas pelo modelo gerencial. Assim, os pressupostos gerencialistas foram aqueles, centralmente, utilizados para o entendimento das mudanças ocorridas no Estado brasileiro na década de 1990. Como forma de entender o modelo gerencial, faço uso das contribuições dos autores John Clarke e Janet Newman – que estudaram as reformas gerenciais no contexto da Inglaterra. Apresento um breve panorama histórico dos contextos internacional e brasileiro, no qual trato sobre a reestruturação do Estado e as principais mudanças que passaram a existir em relação às políticas educacionais, examinando, de forma especial, a centralidade que ganharam as avaliações de larga escala na educação. Através da realização de entrevistas realistas (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) com pessoas ligadas a órgãos estatais e a instituições não-estatais – que têm exercido um importante papel nas discussões educacionais –, da análise de documentos e da teoria construída para a tese, realizei uma análise que levou em conta as lentes teóricas utilizadas ao longo do estudo – análise relacional (APPLE, 2006) e a abordagem estratégico-relacional (JESSOP, 2008) – e que permitiu inferir, de forma complexa, sobre como se caracterizam as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Concluí que, apesar da existência de particularidades no âmbito estatal brasileiro, sendo o Estado ainda forte e bastante centralizado e caracterizado pelo patrimonialismo, coronelismo e populismo (FAORO, 2001), as avaliações de larga escala e os pressupostos gerenciais servem como importantes orientadores das ações do Estado na educação básica, o que corrobora o alerta de Clarke e Newman (1997) de que, apesar das contradições existentes no Estado, o gerencialismo possui, atualmente, primazia sobre outros modelos. / This dissertation aims to analyze the action of the Brazilian State in the context of basic education from 1995 to 2014. Therefore, I use a public educational policy – the Basic Education Assessment System – as a “window” of this research. The use of a educational policy as a “window” implies the understanding that public policies are inseparably related to the State (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008) and also requires the understanding that a policy can only be set as public policy when it has the State guarantee (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). The choice of the Basic Education Assessment System was based on the literature review that points out that evaluations gained centrality in the Brazilian context since the State reforms in the 1990s (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). This is the justification for using an educational policy that includes large-scale assessments; I understand that, when looking for such assessments, I can have a privileged access to identify how the State acts in basic education. The literature review also pointed out that in the 1990s the State reform in Brazil was strongly influenced by managerialism. Thus, managerial assumptions were used to understand the changes in the Brazilian State in the 1990s. In order to understand managerialism, I use the contributions from John Clarke and Janet Newman – who have studied managerial reforms in England’s context. I present a brief historical overview of both international and Brazilian contexts, in which I deal with the restructuring of the State and the major changes in relation to educational policies, examining, specially, the centrality of large-scale assessments in education. By conducting realistic interviews (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) with people linked to State agencies and non-state institutions – which have played an important role in educational discussions –, document analysis and the theory built in this dissertation, I carried out an analysis that took into account the theoretical lens used throughout the study – relational analysis (APPLE, 2006) and the strategic-relational approach (JESSOP, 2008) – which allowed me to infer, in a complex way, how the action of the Brazilian State in basic education from 1995 to 2014 is characterized. I concluded that, despite of the existence of peculiarities in the Brazilian State level, which means that the State is still strong and quite centralized and characterized by paternalism, “coronelismo” and populism (FAORO, 2001), large-scale assessments and managerial assumptions have served as important guides of the State's actions in basic education, which confirms the Clarke and Newman’s alert (1997) that, in spite of the existence of contradictions in the State, managerialism has primacy over other models nowadays.

Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Para tanto, faço uso de uma política pública educacional – o Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica (Saeb) – como “janela” desta pesquisa. O uso de uma política educacional como “janela” implica no entendimento de que as políticas públicas estão inseparavelmente relacionadas ao Estado (AGUDELO, 2011; OSCAR OSZLAK; GUILLERMO O'DONNELL, 1995) e que só se pode definir como política pública a ação que tem o aval estatal (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). A escolha do Saeb, por sua vez, esteve alicerçada em uma revisão bibliográfica que aponta que, a partir das reformas estatais dos anos de 1990, as avaliações ganharam centralidade no cenário brasileiro (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). Esta é a justificativa para fazer uso de uma política pública educacional que inclui avaliações de larga escala, pois entendo que, olhando para tais avaliações, posso ter um acesso privilegiado para identificar como o Estado age na educação básica. A revisão bibliográfica também apontou que as reformas estatais de 1990 no Brasil foram fortemente influenciadas pelo modelo gerencial. Assim, os pressupostos gerencialistas foram aqueles, centralmente, utilizados para o entendimento das mudanças ocorridas no Estado brasileiro na década de 1990. Como forma de entender o modelo gerencial, faço uso das contribuições dos autores John Clarke e Janet Newman – que estudaram as reformas gerenciais no contexto da Inglaterra. Apresento um breve panorama histórico dos contextos internacional e brasileiro, no qual trato sobre a reestruturação do Estado e as principais mudanças que passaram a existir em relação às políticas educacionais, examinando, de forma especial, a centralidade que ganharam as avaliações de larga escala na educação. Através da realização de entrevistas realistas (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) com pessoas ligadas a órgãos estatais e a instituições não-estatais – que têm exercido um importante papel nas discussões educacionais –, da análise de documentos e da teoria construída para a tese, realizei uma análise que levou em conta as lentes teóricas utilizadas ao longo do estudo – análise relacional (APPLE, 2006) e a abordagem estratégico-relacional (JESSOP, 2008) – e que permitiu inferir, de forma complexa, sobre como se caracterizam as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Concluí que, apesar da existência de particularidades no âmbito estatal brasileiro, sendo o Estado ainda forte e bastante centralizado e caracterizado pelo patrimonialismo, coronelismo e populismo (FAORO, 2001), as avaliações de larga escala e os pressupostos gerenciais servem como importantes orientadores das ações do Estado na educação básica, o que corrobora o alerta de Clarke e Newman (1997) de que, apesar das contradições existentes no Estado, o gerencialismo possui, atualmente, primazia sobre outros modelos. / This dissertation aims to analyze the action of the Brazilian State in the context of basic education from 1995 to 2014. Therefore, I use a public educational policy – the Basic Education Assessment System – as a “window” of this research. The use of a educational policy as a “window” implies the understanding that public policies are inseparably related to the State (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008) and also requires the understanding that a policy can only be set as public policy when it has the State guarantee (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). The choice of the Basic Education Assessment System was based on the literature review that points out that evaluations gained centrality in the Brazilian context since the State reforms in the 1990s (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). This is the justification for using an educational policy that includes large-scale assessments; I understand that, when looking for such assessments, I can have a privileged access to identify how the State acts in basic education. The literature review also pointed out that in the 1990s the State reform in Brazil was strongly influenced by managerialism. Thus, managerial assumptions were used to understand the changes in the Brazilian State in the 1990s. In order to understand managerialism, I use the contributions from John Clarke and Janet Newman – who have studied managerial reforms in England’s context. I present a brief historical overview of both international and Brazilian contexts, in which I deal with the restructuring of the State and the major changes in relation to educational policies, examining, specially, the centrality of large-scale assessments in education. By conducting realistic interviews (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) with people linked to State agencies and non-state institutions – which have played an important role in educational discussions –, document analysis and the theory built in this dissertation, I carried out an analysis that took into account the theoretical lens used throughout the study – relational analysis (APPLE, 2006) and the strategic-relational approach (JESSOP, 2008) – which allowed me to infer, in a complex way, how the action of the Brazilian State in basic education from 1995 to 2014 is characterized. I concluded that, despite of the existence of peculiarities in the Brazilian State level, which means that the State is still strong and quite centralized and characterized by paternalism, “coronelismo” and populism (FAORO, 2001), large-scale assessments and managerial assumptions have served as important guides of the State's actions in basic education, which confirms the Clarke and Newman’s alert (1997) that, in spite of the existence of contradictions in the State, managerialism has primacy over other models nowadays.

Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Para tanto, faço uso de uma política pública educacional – o Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica (Saeb) – como “janela” desta pesquisa. O uso de uma política educacional como “janela” implica no entendimento de que as políticas públicas estão inseparavelmente relacionadas ao Estado (AGUDELO, 2011; OSCAR OSZLAK; GUILLERMO O'DONNELL, 1995) e que só se pode definir como política pública a ação que tem o aval estatal (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). A escolha do Saeb, por sua vez, esteve alicerçada em uma revisão bibliográfica que aponta que, a partir das reformas estatais dos anos de 1990, as avaliações ganharam centralidade no cenário brasileiro (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). Esta é a justificativa para fazer uso de uma política pública educacional que inclui avaliações de larga escala, pois entendo que, olhando para tais avaliações, posso ter um acesso privilegiado para identificar como o Estado age na educação básica. A revisão bibliográfica também apontou que as reformas estatais de 1990 no Brasil foram fortemente influenciadas pelo modelo gerencial. Assim, os pressupostos gerencialistas foram aqueles, centralmente, utilizados para o entendimento das mudanças ocorridas no Estado brasileiro na década de 1990. Como forma de entender o modelo gerencial, faço uso das contribuições dos autores John Clarke e Janet Newman – que estudaram as reformas gerenciais no contexto da Inglaterra. Apresento um breve panorama histórico dos contextos internacional e brasileiro, no qual trato sobre a reestruturação do Estado e as principais mudanças que passaram a existir em relação às políticas educacionais, examinando, de forma especial, a centralidade que ganharam as avaliações de larga escala na educação. Através da realização de entrevistas realistas (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) com pessoas ligadas a órgãos estatais e a instituições não-estatais – que têm exercido um importante papel nas discussões educacionais –, da análise de documentos e da teoria construída para a tese, realizei uma análise que levou em conta as lentes teóricas utilizadas ao longo do estudo – análise relacional (APPLE, 2006) e a abordagem estratégico-relacional (JESSOP, 2008) – e que permitiu inferir, de forma complexa, sobre como se caracterizam as ações do Estado brasileiro na educação básica no período de 1995 a 2014. Concluí que, apesar da existência de particularidades no âmbito estatal brasileiro, sendo o Estado ainda forte e bastante centralizado e caracterizado pelo patrimonialismo, coronelismo e populismo (FAORO, 2001), as avaliações de larga escala e os pressupostos gerenciais servem como importantes orientadores das ações do Estado na educação básica, o que corrobora o alerta de Clarke e Newman (1997) de que, apesar das contradições existentes no Estado, o gerencialismo possui, atualmente, primazia sobre outros modelos. / This dissertation aims to analyze the action of the Brazilian State in the context of basic education from 1995 to 2014. Therefore, I use a public educational policy – the Basic Education Assessment System – as a “window” of this research. The use of a educational policy as a “window” implies the understanding that public policies are inseparably related to the State (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008) and also requires the understanding that a policy can only be set as public policy when it has the State guarantee (OSZLAK; O'DONNELL, 1995). The choice of the Basic Education Assessment System was based on the literature review that points out that evaluations gained centrality in the Brazilian context since the State reforms in the 1990s (HYPOLITO, 2008; PERONI, 2003; FREITAS, 2004; BONAMINO; SOUSA, 2012; SOUZA; OLIVEIRA, 2003; COELHO, 2008). This is the justification for using an educational policy that includes large-scale assessments; I understand that, when looking for such assessments, I can have a privileged access to identify how the State acts in basic education. The literature review also pointed out that in the 1990s the State reform in Brazil was strongly influenced by managerialism. Thus, managerial assumptions were used to understand the changes in the Brazilian State in the 1990s. In order to understand managerialism, I use the contributions from John Clarke and Janet Newman – who have studied managerial reforms in England’s context. I present a brief historical overview of both international and Brazilian contexts, in which I deal with the restructuring of the State and the major changes in relation to educational policies, examining, specially, the centrality of large-scale assessments in education. By conducting realistic interviews (PAWSON; TILLEY, 2000) with people linked to State agencies and non-state institutions – which have played an important role in educational discussions –, document analysis and the theory built in this dissertation, I carried out an analysis that took into account the theoretical lens used throughout the study – relational analysis (APPLE, 2006) and the strategic-relational approach (JESSOP, 2008) – which allowed me to infer, in a complex way, how the action of the Brazilian State in basic education from 1995 to 2014 is characterized. I concluded that, despite of the existence of peculiarities in the Brazilian State level, which means that the State is still strong and quite centralized and characterized by paternalism, “coronelismo” and populism (FAORO, 2001), large-scale assessments and managerial assumptions have served as important guides of the State's actions in basic education, which confirms the Clarke and Newman’s alert (1997) that, in spite of the existence of contradictions in the State, managerialism has primacy over other models nowadays.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Matthias von Davier / The transition of major international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) from paper- to computer-based assessments has made process data increasingly available. While process data is potentially valuable for analyzing students’ test-taking behaviors, it also raises ethical concerns and involves considerable costs. This prompts the question: “Does process data add value to the analysis of ILSA data?” In response, this dissertation explores the utility of process data through three studies. Study 1 proposes a multiple-group hierarchical speed-accuracy-revisits model to examine the gender differences in mathematics ability, response speed, revisit propensity, and the relationships among them. The model’s flexibility allows it to be applied in diverse contexts to investigate group differences in test-taking behaviors and achievement beyond gender. Study 2 addresses the overparameterization challenge in ILSA scaling by proposing a new approach: adding process variables to the usual contextual variables and replacing principal component analysis with variable selection for latent regression modeling. The findings show that process variables consistently improved measurement precision; using Lasso, random forests, and ultimately gradient boosting for variable selection achieved or surpassed the measurement precision of the conventional approach but with considerably fewer covariates. Integrating variable selection and process data yielded the highest measurement precision while achieving parsimony, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method. Study 3 investigates students’ test-taking behaviors in the context of girls consistently outperforming boys on average across countries and assessments. Three types of test-taking behaviors were identified through latent class analysis: “Rapid”, “Challenged”, and “Engaged”. Using Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars and three-step methods reveals that girls in the “Rapid” class outperformed boys on average in all countries, while there were no significant gender differences in the “Engaged” class in three of the four countries. The gender gap in reading achievement may diminish to a mild to moderate extent if boys were to behave like girls, highlighting the importance of addressing disengagement issues in ILSAs. Collectively, these three papers advance the use of process data and demonstrate its value for analyzing and reporting results of ILSA data. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Education.

Im Rahmen der Item-Response-Theorie evaluiert die kumulative Dissertationsschrift verschiedene Methoden und Modelle zur Identifikation von Kontexteffekten in Large-Scale Assessments. Solche Effekte können etwa in quantitativen empirischen Schulleistungsstudien auftreten und zu verzerrten Item- und Personenparametern führen. Um in Einzelfällen abschätzen zu können, ob Kontexteffekte auftreten und dadurch die Gefahr verzerrter Parameter gegeben ist (und falls ja, in welcher Weise), müssen IRT-Modelle entwickelt werden, die zusätzlich zu Item- und Personeneffekten Kontexteffekte parametrisieren. Solch eine Parametrisierung ist im Rahmen Generalisierter Allgemeiner Linearer Modelle möglich. In der Dissertation werden Positionseffekte als ein Beispiel für Kontexteffekte untersucht, und es werden die statistischen Eigenschaften dieses Messmodells im Rahmen einer Simulationsstudie evaluiert. Hier zeigt sich vor allem die Bedeutung des Testdesigns: Um unverfälschte Parameter zu gewinnen, ist nicht nur ein adäquates Messmodell, sondern ebenso ein adäquates, also ausbalanciertes Testdesign notwendig. Der dritte Beitrag der Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Problem fehlender Werte auf Hintergrundvariablen in Large-Scale Assessments. Als Kontexteffekt wird in diesem Beispiel derjenige Effekt verstanden, der die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines fehlenden Wertes auf einer bestimmten Variablen systematisch beeinflusst. Dabei wurde das Prinzip der multiplen Imputation auf das Problem fehlender Werte auf Hintergrundvariablen übertragen. Anders als bisher praktizierte Ansätze (Dummy-Codierung fehlender Werte) konnten so in einer Simulationsstudie für fast alle Simulationsbedingungen unverfälschte Parameter auf der Personenseite gefunden werden. / The present doctoral thesis evaluates various methods and models of the item response theory to parametrize context effects in large-scale assessments. Such effects may occur in quantitative educational assessments and may cause biased item and person parameter estimates. To decide whether context effects occur in individual cases and lead to biased parameters, specific IRT models have to be developed which parametrize context effects additionally to item and person effects. The present doctoral thesis consists of three single contributions. In the first contribution, a model for the estimation of context effects in an IRT framework is introduced. Item position effects are examined as an example of context effects in the framework of generalized linear mixed models. Using simulation studies, the statistical properties of the model are investigated, which emphasizes the relevance of an appropriate test design. A balanced incomplete test design is necessary not only to obtain valid item parameters in the Rasch model, but to guarantee for unbiased estimation of position effects in more complex IRT models. The third contribution deals with the problem of missing background data in large-scale assessments. The effect which predicts the probability of a missing value on a certain variable, is considered as a context effect. Statistical methods of multiple imputation were brought up to the problem of missing background data in large-scale assessments. In contrast to other approaches used so far in practice (dummy coding of missing values) unbiased population and subpopulation estimates were received in a simulation study for most conditions.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Testteilnahmemotivation von Schülerinnen und Schülern in großangelegten Schulleistungsstudien. Es wurde ein theoretisches Erwartung-Wert-Anstrengung-Modell der Testteilnahmemotivation herausgearbeitet, das in drei empirischen Studien überprüft wurde. Dabei wurde das komplexe Beziehungsgefüge zwischen Erfolgserwartung, dem wahrgenommene Wert des Tests, Anstrengungsbereitschaft und Testleistung untersucht. Datengrundlage der Studie I bildete die erste PISA-Erhebung aus dem Jahr 2000, in der die Testteilnahmemotivation durch Fragen zur Anstrengungsbereitschaft und zum wahrgenommenen Wert des Tests erhoben wurde. In Studie II und III gaben die Jugendlichen, die an der Ländervergleichsstudie im Jahr 2012 teilnahmen, Einschätzungen zu ihrer Erfolgserwartung, dem wahrgenommenen Wert des Tests und ihrer Anstrengungsbereitschaft ab. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Testteilnahmemotivation zur Erklärung individueller Unterschiede in der Testleistung beiträgt (Studie I), auch wenn diverse Hintergrundinformationen der Teilnehmenden berücksichtigt werden (Studie III). Die theoretisch angenommenen Beziehungen im Erwartung-Wert-Anstrengung-Modell wurden fast vollständig bestätigt: Vor allem der wahrgenommene Wert, aber auch die Erwartungen sagten die berichtete Anstrengungsbereitschaft der Teilnehmenden vorher; die Erfolgserwartung und die Anstrengungsbereitschaft wiesen einen Zusammenhang mit der Testleistung auf (Studie II). Im Verlauf eines Leistungstests berichteten die Teilnehmenden im Durchschnitt eine Abnahme in der Anstrengung und dem Wert sowie einen stabilen Verlauf ihrer Erfolgserwartung. Zur Erklärung der Testleistung trug neben der anfänglichen Erfolgserwartung und Anstrengungsbereitschaft auch die Veränderung in der Erfolgserwartung bei (Studie III). Für eine hohe Testleistung ist es wichtig, dass die Teilnehmenden den Test motiviert beginnen und während des Tests selbstsicher bezüglich ihrer Erfolgserwartung bleiben. / The thesis investigates effects of test-taking motivation on test performance in low-stakes assessments. An expectancy-value-effort model of test-taking motivation was developed and tested in three empirical studies. The studies investigated the complex relationship between expectancy for success, perceived value of the test, test-taking effort, and test performance. The database of study I is the first PISA study. Test-taking motivation was assessed with questions about effort and the perceived value of the test. Study II and III are premised on the national assessment study in the year 2012. The students reported their expectancy for success, their perceived value of the test, and their test-taking effort. Overall, the results showed that test-taking motivation explained test performance (study I) although controlling for various students’ background characteristics (e.g., socio-economic background, study III). We found support for nearly all of the theoretically assumed relationships in the expectancy-value-effort model: Expectancy for success and perceived value of the test explained test-taking effort; expectancy for success and test-taking effort had the most pronounced effects on test performance (study II). The students reported, on average, a stable course of expectancy for success over the testing session; perceived importance of the test and test-taking effort slightly decreased within the testing session. The initial expectancy for success and the initial test-taking effort as well as change in expectancy for success explained students’ test performance. Above all, it is crucial that students begin the test with a high level of test-taking motivation and remain confident about a successful test completion to the end of the testing session.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays in the sociology of educational stratification. Study I draws on newly collected survey data to assess the biases that arise in estimating socioeconomic differences in achievement when relying on parent and student reported data on social background. The main finding is that student reports on parental occupation overcome both the problem of misreporting that plagues other data collected from children, and the equally damaging problem of selective nonresponse among parents. Conditional estimates of ethnic disparities are relatively unaffected by these issues. Study II deals with student survey reports on the number of books in the home. A prominent string of authors has favoured this variable as a social background proxy over parental occupation or education based on its strong associations with educational outcomes. The paper applies various methods to large-scale student assessment data to show that these associations rest not on higher reliability as commonly assumed, but rather on two types of endogeneity. Low achievers accumulate less books and are also prone to underestimate their number. Study III uses survey and register data to study immigrant parents' education and its associations with children's achievement in recent Swedish cohorts. Two aspects of parental education are distinguished: the absolute years of schooling and a relative place in the source country's educational distribution. Parents' absolute education turns out to predict children's test scores and grades, whereas relative education is a better predictor of their educational aspirations. The result is of some consequence for studies seeking to assess ethnic disparities net of observed parental characteristics. Study IV extends the positional approach of Study III to understand immigrants' self-perceived social status and income satisfaction in European countries. Those higher educated by origin country than host country standards make more dismal assessments of their current situation than do other immigrants in otherwise similar circumstances. This is attributed to a social contrast mechanism and argued to be of relevance in understanding longer-term patterns of social and economic integration, including educational decisions made by the second generation. / Avhandlingen består av fyra fristående studier som alla berör utbildning och social stratifiering. Studie I undersöker med nyinsamlade enkätdata hur sociala skillnader i skolprestation riskerar att felskattas med bakgrundsuppgifter inhämtade från föräldrar respektive elever. Den viktigaste slutsatsen är att elevuppgifter om föräldrars yrke undviker mycket av den felrapportering som behäftar andra elevsvar, liksom det utbredda problemet med selektivt bortfall bland föräldrar. Villkorliga skattningar av etniska skillnader är relativt opåverkade av dessa metodproblem. Studie II granskar elevers uppgifter om antalet böcker i hemmet. En betydande litteratur har förespråkat denna variabel som ett mått på klasstillhörighet framför föräldrars yrke eller utbildning på grundval av starka samband med elevers studieresultat. Uppsatsen tillämpar en rad metoder på data från en internationell kunskapsutvärdering och finner att sambandens styrka inte vilar på högre tillförlitlighet som tidigare förmodats, utan på endogenitetsproblem av två slag. Lågpresterande elever ackumulerar färre böcker och är dessutom benägna att underskatta deras antal. Studie III använder enkät- och registerdata för att belysa utlandsfödda föräldrars utbildning och dess samband med prestationer bland svenska skolbarn. Två aspekter av utbildningsbakgrund särskiljs: föräldrars utbildningsår samt deras relativa placering i ursprungslandets fördelning. Absolut utbildning visar sig predicera elevers testresultat och betyg, medan relativ utbildning är en bättre prediktor för barns aspirationer. Resultatet är av betydelse för studier av etniska skillnader där statistisk kontroll görs för observerbara föräldraegenskaper. Studie IV tillämpar den positionella ansatsen från Studie III för att förstå utlandsföddas självupplevda status och inkomsttillfredsställelse i europeiska länder. Migranter som är mer högutbildade med ursprungslandets mått mätt än värdlandets tenderar att ha en mer negativ bild av sin nuvarande situation än andra i objektivt liknande omständigheter. Detta kan förstås i termer av sociala referensramar och framhålls som relevant i tolkningen av långsiktiga sociala och ekonomiska integrationsmönster, inklusive de utbildningsval som efterföljande generationer gör. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Thesis advisor: Ina V. S. Mullis / TIMSS and PIRLS assess representative samples of students at regular intervals, measuring trends in student achievement and student contexts for learning. Because individual students are not tracked over time, analysis of international large-scale assessment data is usually conducted cross-sectionally. Gustafsson (2007) proposed examining the data longitudinally by analyzing relationships between country-level trends in background constructs and trends in student achievement. Through longitudinal analysis of international large-scale assessment data, it becomes possible to mitigate some of the confounding factors in the analysis. This dissertation extends this country-level approach to subpopulations within countries. Adapting a pseudo-panel approach from the econometrics literature (Deaton, 1985), the proposed approach creates subpopulations by grouping students based on demographic characteristics, such as gender or parental education. Following grouping, the subpopulations with the same demographic characteristics are linked across cycles and the aggregated subpopulation means are treated as panel data and analyzed through longitudinal data analysis techniques. As demonstrated herein the primary advantages of the subpopulation approach are that it allows for analysis of subgroup differences, and it captures within-country relationships in the data that are not possible to analyze at country level. Illustrative analysis examines the relationship between early literacy activities and PIRLS reading achievement using PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2011 data. Results from the subpopulation approach are compared with student-level and country-level cross-sectional results as well as country-level longitudinal results. In addition, within-country analysis examines the subpopulation-level relationship between early literacy activities and PIRLS reading achievement, multiple group analysis compares regression coefficient estimates between boys and girls and across parental education subgroups, and mediation analysis examines the extent that partaking in early literacy activities can explain differences between boys and girls in PIRLS reading achievement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T19:07:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Silvio Borges2.pdf: 1042133 bytes, checksum: 2a87d6bd4e2bdfd3947bb0b5cf7db422 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-17 / With the implementation of IDEB in 2007, which assigns grades to schools and to the school systems from the combination of the results of the Brazil Exam (Prova Brasil), applied to 5Th and 9TH years of elementary school and the SAEB for the 3rd year of high school, with the school performance rates, has noticed a major concern within schools to raise their rates. This is due, probably, to the fact that states and municipalities are using these notes to rank educational institutions, stimulating competition between them. In some places, it is offered bonuses to professionals in the schools who can raise the students grade education. One of the problems observed in this race to raise levels of schools is that teaching is increasingly focused on the content collected in Brazil Exam (Prova Brasil), and students have been subjected periodically to tests based on models of this test to familiarize them with the questions format. This has caused what many authors call curricular narrowing. The state of Paraná has an important history in the development of curricula based on pedagogical theories counter-hegemonic, with emphasis on comprehensive education and criticism of the human being for the transformation of reality. The first document of the state education network with this perspective was the Basic Curriculum for Public School of Parana, published in 1990, which had as its theoretical matrix dialectical historical materialism. Currently the official document that guides the teaching practice in schools are the Curriculum Guidelines Guiding the Basic Education of Paraná (Diretrizes Curriculares Orientadoras da Educação Básica do Paraná DCE's), published in 2008, and built collectively. From these considerations and observations made within the state schools as a teacher and educational policies adopted by the years for Paraná government, 2011 and 2012, you could see the influence of large-scale evaluation of policies in the network curriculum state of Paraná teaching. An example of this was the creation in 2012 of the Saep and reducing the workload of the History of disciplines, as Geography, Art and Physical Education to expand the number of Portuguese classes and Mathematics. In this context, the general objective of this research is to see whether, materially, there has been a change in the curriculum guidelines of Paraná, through large-scale assessment policy, with the aim of increasing the state's note in IDEB. / Com a implantação do IDEB, em 2007, que atribui notas às escolas e redes de ensino a partir da combinação dos resultados da Prova Brasil, aplicada aos 5º e 9º anos do Ensino Fundamental e do SAEB, para os 3º anos do Ensino Médio, com as taxas de rendimento escolar, tem-se notado uma grande preocupação no interior das escolas para elevar seus índices. Isso se deve, muito provavelmente, ao fato de que estados e municípios estão usando estas notas para ranquear as instituições escolares, estimulando a competição entre elas. Em alguns lugares, é oferecido bônus aos profissionais da educação de escolas que conseguirem elevar sua nota. Um dos problemas observados nessa corrida para elevar os índices das escolas é que o ensino está sendo cada vez mais focado nos conteúdos cobrados na Prova Brasil e os alunos têm sido submetidos, periodicamente, a testes baseados nos modelos dessa prova, para se familiarizarem com o formato das questões. Isso tem causado o que muitos autores chamam de estreitamento curricular. O estado do Paraná tem uma importante história na elaboração de Currículos fundamentados nas teorias pedagógicas contra-hegemônicas, com ênfase na formação integral e crítica do ser humano para a transformação da realidade. O primeiro documento da rede estadual de ensino com essa perspectiva foi o Currículo Básico para a Escola Pública do Paraná, publicado em 1990, o qual apresentava como sua matriz teórica o materialismo histórico-dialético. Atualmente o documento oficial que norteia a prática pedagógica das escolas são as Diretrizes Curriculares Orientadoras da Educação Básica do Paraná (DCE s), publicadas em 2008, e construídas de forma coletiva. A partir dessas considerações e de observações feitas no interior das escolas estaduais, enquanto professor, e das políticas educacionais adotadas pelo governo do Paraná nos anos de 2011 e 2012, pôde-se perceber a influência das políticas de avaliação de larga escala no currículo da rede estadual de ensino do Paraná. Exemplo disso foi a criação em 2012, do Saep e a redução da carga horária das disciplinas de História, Geografia, Arte e Educação Física para a ampliação do número de aulas de Língua Portuguesa e Matemática. Nesse contexto o objetivo geral dessa pesquisa é verificar se, concretamente, está havendo uma mudança nas orientações curriculares do Paraná, por meio da política de avaliação de larga escala, com o objetivo de aumentar a nota do estado no IDEB.