Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSThe quality of educationMiddle and low-incomePolandLatviaCroatiaLithuaniaTurkeyChileRussian Fed.UruguayBulgariaMexicoThailandArgentinaSerbiaJordanBrazilColombiaRomaniaMontenegroTunisiaIndonesiaAzerbaijanKyrgyzstanDisparities in learning tend to be much widerin low-income countries, with some of thewidest disparities found in Arab states. In Yemen,the difference between the best and worstperformers is 368 scale points, or 165% of themean score of 224. A study of mathematicsachievement in the Indian states of Orissa andRajasthan found that the range in test scoresbetween the best and worst performers was widerthan for all TIMSS countries except South Africa(Das and Zajonc, 2008). 37Differences between schools play a critical rolein the level of equity within education systems,as evidence from the OECD countries shows.Measured on a global scale, these countries haverelatively low overall levels of inequality in learningachievement. Where they differ is in the shareof inequality that can be traced back to schools.In Nordic countries such as Finland, Iceland andNorway, less than 10% of the variation in sciencescores is explained by school differences. At theother end of the scale, such differences accountfor over half the variation in test scores in Germany(Figure 2.41). 38 Such findings demonstrate thedegree to which school-based factors can widen –or narrow – learning achievement gaps.10080604020020406080100Highest benchmark achieved (% of students)Box 2.22: Gender parity and learning achievementIn many countries, girls are less likely than boys to get into school.Once in school, though, they tend to perform as well as, or better than,their male classmates. While there are important gender-baseddifferences in learning achievement by subject, learning achievementin general is not characterized by deep inequalities.OECD countries. In PISA 2006, average reading scores for15-year-old girls were 8% higher than those of boys throughoutthe OECD. In mathematics, boys held an advantage over girls.The widest gap was found in Austria, where males’ test scores wereon average 5% higher. Gender differences in science tended to bestatistically insignificant.Arab States. TIMSS 2007 covered thirteen of the twenty Arab States.In most of them, grade 8 girls outperformed boys in mathematics.In Qatar, girls’ test scores were 13% higher than boys’. A similarnumber of countries recorded a female advantage in science, withlarger gender gaps in many cases. In Qatar, girls scored on average25% higher than boys.Central and Eastern Europe. PISA 2006 covered fifteen of thetwenty-one countries in this region. All registered a large femaleadvantage in reading performance. In most, gender gaps inmathematics were statistically insignificant; in the remainingcountries boys tended to do slightly better than girls.Latin America and the Caribbean. Information from sixteen countriesin the 2006 SERCE assessment in mathematics shows that boys inthe sixth grade performed better than girls. When reading wasassessed, girls outperformed boys, but in both subjects the averagedifferences were small.Sub-Saharan Africa. Among Francophone countries participatingin the PASEC assessment, there were no large gender differencesin second and fifth grade performance in French or mathematics.For the thirteen countries participating in the 2000–2002 SACMEQassessments, gender differences in sixth grade English were on thewhole either statistically insignificant or small. 1 In mathematics, abouthalf the participating countries showed no statistically significantgender difference. In the rest, males’ average scores tended to behigher but the differences were not large. 2These findings confirm that gender gaps in overall achievement aremodest. Where differences do exist, the data show that, except in theArab States, girls do better in languages and boys in mathematics andscience. Eliminating remaining gaps will be necessary if the goal ofeducation for all is to be achieved. However, it has to be recognizedthat current data provide an incomplete picture, especially for countriesthat do not participate in international and regional assessments.1. Seychelles was the exception, where girls’ performance in English comparedwith that of boys was 0.65 of a standard deviation higher.2. Seychelles was again the exception, where girls’ performance in mathematicscompared with that of boys was 0.38 of a standard deviation higher.Sources: Bonnet (2009); Ma (2007); Mullis et al. (2008); OECD (2007b).37. The study compares test scores of students at the fifthand ninety-fifth percentile of the test score distribution.38. The overall dispersion of test scores in Germany is 110% ofthe OECD average, compared with 81% in Finland (OECD, 2007b).109