Title:

The significance of student age variance in estimating value added measures for Polish lower secondary schools

Creator:

Jasińska-Maciążek, Aleksandra

Publisher:

Educational Research Institute

Date:

2017

Abstract:

Research shows that there are at least four age related factors correlated with the level of school achievement and improvement: month of birth, early or delayed school entry and grade retention. Educational value added (EVA) measures are used in the evaluation of school effectiveness. They are estimated from relative increases in achievement. However, Polish EVA models do not include student age, which may bias the calculated indicators. This article presents findings from a study estimating the magnitude of this bias for Polish lower secondary schools over four years (2010–2013). The results demonstrated that the inclusion of student age only slightly changed EVA estimates. The bias caused by omitting age in recent years seems, therefore, rather minor.

Bibliographic citation:

Edukacja. 2017, 2 (141) - an interdisciplinary approach

Subject and Keywords:

educational value added ; birthday effect ; EVA validity ; gains in school achievements ; age effects ; early school entry ; delayed school entry ; grade retention

Coverage:

21st century

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons BY 4.0

Resource Type:

article

Format:

application/pdf

ISSN:

0239-6858