in Focus
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education data education evidence education policy education analysis education statistics education data education evidence education policy
How is equity in resource allocation
related to student performance?
•How educational resources are allocated is just as important as the amount
of resources available.
•High-performing countries and economies tend to allocate resources more equitably
across socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged schools.
•Among the countries with better-resourced schools, as reported by principals,
equity in resource allocation is not related to the overall quality of resources.
PISA has consistently found that the amount of resources spent on education
– including financial, human and material resources – is only weakly related
to student performance. For example, among the PISA-participating countries
and economies whose cumulative expenditure per student between the ages
of 6 and 15 is below USD 50 000, the larger the amount spent, the higher
the students’ average score in mathematics. But among high-income countries
and economies, including most OECD countries, other factors are better at
predicting high scores in PISA. What this tells us is that, beyond a certain
minimum level of expenditure per student, building an excellent education
system requires something more than just money.
Fairness in resource allocation is not
only important for ensuring equity in
education opportunities, it is also related
to the performance of the education
system as a whole. High-performing countries and economies tend to allocate
resources more equitably across all schools, regardless of their socio-economic
profile. For example, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Korea and Slovenia all show
higher-than-OECD-average performance in mathematics. In these countries,
principals in disadvantaged schools tended to report that their schools had
adequate educational resources as much as, if not more than, principals
in advantaged schools reported.
High-performing countries tend
to allocate resources more equitably.
PISA in Focus – 2014/10 (October) © OECD 2014 1
in Focus
But in many school systems, resources are
not allocated equitably. On average across
OECD countries, while disadvantaged schools
tend to have smaller classes, they also tend to be
more likely to suffer from teacher shortages, and
shortages or inadequacy of educational materials
and physical infrastructure, than advantaged schools.
In general, schools with more socio-economically
disadvantaged students tend to have lower-quality
resources than schools with more advantaged
students.
For example, in the United States, the OECD country
with the second lowest equity in resource allocation
after Mexico, 25% of disadvantaged students attend
schools whose principal reported that a shortage
or inadequacy of science laboratory equipment
hindered, to some extent or a lot, the school’s
capacity to provide instruction; by comparison,
only 15% of advantaged students attend such
schools. In New Zealand, 54% of disadvantaged
students attend schools with adequate Internet
connectivity, according to principals’ reports, while
74% of advantaged students do. In Luxembourg,
40% of disadvantaged students attend schools
with inadequate library materials, according
to the schools’ principals, while only 22% of
advantaged students do. These differences are even
larger among Latin American countries, including
the OECD countries Chile and Mexico. Fewer than
one in two disadvantaged students, but more than
three in four advantaged students, in Mexico attend
schools with adequate instructional materials,
such as textbooks. In Chile, 62% of disadvantaged
students and 88% of their advantaged peers attend
schools where learning is not hindered by a lack
of adequate instructional materials.
Students perform better when school systems allocate resources more equitably
Mathematics performance (score points)
After accounting for per capita GDP
Fitted line after accounting for per capita GDP1
Shanghai-China
600
Singapore
Hong Kong-China
Netherlands
Russian Fed.
Poland
Chinese Taipei
Korea
Viet Nam
Portugal
Estonia
Japan
Slovenia
Czech Rep.
Macao-China Switzerland BelgiumFrance
Latvia
Finland
Canada
Germany
New Zealand
Slovak Rep.
Ireland
Australia
Iceland
Croatia
Turkey
UK
Israel
Serbia
Thailand
Spain
Hungary
Norway
USA
Denmark
Sweden Greece
Mexico
Romania
Lithuania Kazakhstan
Costa Rica
Luxembourg
Chile
Malaysia Bulgaria Austria
Montenegro
UAE Uruguay
Brazil
Jordan Tunisia Italy
Indonesia
Argentina
Peru
Colombia
550
500
450
400
350
R2 = 0.19
Qatar
300
Less
equity
Greater
equity
Equity in resource allocation
(index-point difference)
Note: Equity in resource allocation refers to the difference in the index of quality of schools’ educational resources between socio-economically advantaged and
disadvantaged schools.
1. A significant relationship (p < 0.10) is shown by the solid line.
Source: OECD, PISA 2012 Database, Table IV.1.3.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932957403
2
© OECD 2014 PISA in Focus – 2014/10 (October)
in Focus
Not all students benefit from adequate resources
% of students in schools
with adequate instructional materials
0
Costa Rica
Peru
Mexico
Colombia
Thailand
Uruguay
Chile
Indonesia
Viet Nam
Argentina
Tunisia
Bulgaria
Portugal
Croatia
Greece
Turkey
Slovenia
Montenegro
United Arab Emirates
Brazil
Italy
Hungary
Chinese Taipei
Australia
Belgium
Spain
Shanghai-China
New Zealand
France
Canada
Slovak Republic
Denmark
Russian Federation
Macao-China
Romania
Ireland
Jordan
OECD Average
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Korea
Sweden
Serbia
Kazakhstan
Israel
Switzerland
Japan
Poland
Czech Republic
Qatar
United Kingdom
Austria
Singapore
Latvia
United States
Liechtenstein
Hong Kong-China
Netherlands
Iceland
Lithuania
Norway
Finland
Germany
Estonia
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90 100
In part, these stark differences can account for
a large proportion of the overall differences
in performance observed across countries,
particularly among OECD countries.
After accounting for per capita GDP, 19% of
the variation in mathematics performance across
all countries and economies that participated
in PISA 2012 can be explained by differences
in principals’ responses to questions about
the adequacy of science laboratory equipment,
instructional materials, such as textbooks,
computers for instruction, Internet connectivity,
computer software for instruction, and library
materials. Among OECD countries, at least 30% of
the variation in mathematics performance across
countries can be explained by how equitably
resources are allocated across all schools.
Too often, scarce educational resources
are allocated inequitably.
In school systems where more students than
average across OECD countries attend schools
whose principals say that their educational
resources are inadequate, those resources are
less equitably distributed among advantaged and
disadvantaged schools. In Mexico and the partner
countries Costa Rica and Peru, a lack or inadequacy
of resources hinders learning in many schools,
particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged
schools. These countries tend to allocate scarce
resources to advantaged schools. By contrast, school
principals in Finland tend to report that their schools
enjoy a similar quality of resources regardless of how
advantaged their schools are.
Disadvantaged students
Advantaged students
Among countries and economies where school
principals report that a lack of educational resources
hinders student learning less than is the case,
on average, across OECD countries, equity
in resource allocation is not necessary linked
to the perceived adequacy of resources;
and the adequacy of resources is not related
to school systems’ average performance, either.
Note: The figure shows the proportion of students in schools whose principals
reported that a shortage or inadequacy of instructional materials, such as
textbooks, hindered their school’s capacity to provide instruction “not at all”
or “very little”. Countries and economies are shown in descending order
of the difference between advantaged and disadvantaged students. When
the difference is not statistically significant, the triangles and circles are hollow.
PISA in Focus – 2014/10 (October) © OECD 2014 3
in Focus
Of this group, the countries where more students
attend schools whose principals reported adequate
educational resources, including Australia,
and the partner countries Singapore and Qatar,
show very different levels of equity in the allocation
of those resources, from high equity (Singapore)
through moderate levels of equity (Qatar) to low
equity (Australia).
Greater
equity
Mean index is below the OECD average
Tunisia
Colombia
Mexico
Costa Rica
Peru
Less
equity
Mean index is above the OECD average
Finland
Korea Germany
Czech Republic
Hungary
Croatia
Norway
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Serbia
Austria
Montenegro
Lithuania
Latvia
Slovenia
Slovak Republic
Estonia
Portugal Hong Kong-China
Kazakhstan Iceland Denmark Italy
Switzerland
Spain
Russian Federation
Belgium France
Luxembourg
Qatar
Japan
Canada
Malaysia
Greece
Chinese
Taipei
Poland
Israel
Macao-China
Jordan Bulgaria
United
Arab
Emirates
Sweden
Romania
Viet Nam
Chile
Ireland
Australia
Argentina
Turkey
Uruguay
United States
New Zealand
Thailand
Shanghai-China
Indonesia
Brazil
OECD average: 0.05
Allocation of educational resources
Better equity in resource allocation is not linked to higher-quality educational resources
R2= 0.33
Lower
quality
Singapore
R2= 0.01
Higher
quality
Educational resources
Notes: The vertical axis refers to the difference in the index of quality of schools’ educational resources between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged
schools (adv. - disadv.).
The horizontal axis refers to the mean index of quality of schools’ educational resources.
Source: OECD, PISA 2012 Database, Tables IV.3.16 and IV.3.17.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932957327
The bottom line: Higher-performing school systems allocate resources more
equitably among socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged schools.
Supporting disadvantaged schools does not necessarily mean providing them
with more resources, but rather with high-quality human and material
resources.
For more information
Contact Pablo Zoido ([email protected])
See OECD (2014), PISA 2012 Results: What Makes Schools Successful? Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV),
PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Visit
www.pisa.oecd.org
www.oecd.org/pisa/infocus
Education Indicators in Focus
Teaching in Focus
Coming next month
How well does performance in PISA predict
young adults’ skills proficiency?
Photo credit: © khoa vu/Flickr/Getty Images © Shutterstock/Kzenon © Simon Jarratt/Corbis
This paper is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect
the official views of OECD member countries.
This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and
boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the
status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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© OECD 2014 PISA in Focus – 2014/10 (October)