School and Classroom Effects on Student Learning Gain

Résumé du livre

This paper employs a fixed-effects regression analysis to examine school effects on individual student learning gain during grade eight in 99 lower-secondary schools in Thailand. Schools accounted for 34% of the variance in individual student pretest scores, but accounted for only 6% of the variance in student achievement gain (post-test controlling for pretest). A set of school, classroom and teacher variables accounted for 4% of the 6%. School factors accounted for approximately 7% of the variance in both rural and urban schools, suggesting that schools are equally important in both settings. In both urban and rural schools, larger schools and an enriched curriculum were positively associated with learning gain, and higher student-teacher ratios at the school level were negatively associated with learning gain. Other factors, however, operated differently in the two types of schools. An important policy implication is that strategies for improving rural schools should not be derived from research conducted primarily in urban schools in developing countries.