Why does performance vary among students of low socio-economic status? School and domestic factors associated to academic achievement in six South American countries

Abstract

This article examines the family and school conditions associated with the scores obtained in the PISA 2018 tests by low-income students in six South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. Unlike studies that compare students from different social strata, we compare the characteristics of schools where students belonging to the poorest social sectors achieve higher test scores with those in which they achieve lower scores. This comparison shows that there are variations in the availability of educational resources in the home of students from the same stratum that are associated with their performance. There are also unfavorable student attitudes to learning (such as skipping classes, absent or bullying between peers) that affect learning. In contrast, the availability of pedagogical resources or infrastructure in schools, and teacher attitudes towards learning do not present a statistically robust association.