Analysing ability grouping in secondary school: A way to improve academic performance and mitigate educational inequalities in Spain?

Socio-educational vulnerability refers to the circumstances in which students face difficulties or challenges arising from socio-economic or contextual factors, such as a lack of resources or adverse family environments. Ability grouping during secondary school is widely used to improve student perf...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Blanco Varela, Bruno, Amoedo, José Manuel, Sánchez Carreira, María del Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repositorio:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/40830
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10347/40830
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ability grouping
Socio-educational vulnerability
Efficiency
Educational inequalities
Educational economics
Propensity score matching
Descripción
Sumario:Socio-educational vulnerability refers to the circumstances in which students face difficulties or challenges arising from socio-economic or contextual factors, such as a lack of resources or adverse family environments. Ability grouping during secondary school is widely used to improve student performance. The methodology tailored to students performance levels aims at providing improvements in their scores. This paper explores the complex relationship between ability grouping and socio-educational vulnerability. More specifically, it investigates how different student groups are affected by attending schools that implement ability grouping as compared to those that do not. The study is conducted in Spain, using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) database and Propensity Score Matching methodology. The findings suggest that the ability grouping policy hinder equal opportunities for academically disadvantaged students, resulting in decreasing their abilities.