Table A.4.1
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Index of Economic, Social and Cultural Status and its relationship with student performance on the PISA combined reading scale, Canada and provinces, 2009
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| Index of Economic, Social and Cultural Status1 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All students | Bottom quarter | Second quarter | Third quarter | Top quarter | ||||||
| mean index | standard error | mean index | standard error | mean index | standard error | mean index | standard error | mean index | standard error | |
| OECD average2 | 0.00 | (0.00) | -1.14 | (0.00) | -0.32 | (0.00) | 0.30 | (0.00) | 1.17 | (0.00) |
| Canada | 0.50 | (0.02) | -0.59 | (0.01) | 0.25 | (0.00) | 0.83 | (0.00) | 1.52 | (0.01) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0.26 | (0.03) | -0.79 | (0.03) | -0.03 | (0.01) | 0.55 | (0.01) | 1.33 | (0.02) |
| Prince Edward Island | 0.36 | (0.02) | -0.69 | (0.02) | 0.10 | (0.01) | 0.64 | (0.01) | 1.39 | (0.02) |
| Nova Scotia | 0.42 | (0.03) | -0.61 | (0.02) | 0.17 | (0.01) | 0.71 | (0.01) | 1.40 | (0.02) |
| New Brunswick | 0.31 | (0.02) | -0.74 | (0.03) | 0.08 | (0.01) | 0.58 | (0.01) | 1.32 | (0.02) |
| Quebec | 0.39 | (0.02) | -0.68 | (0.02) | 0.13 | (0.01) | 0.72 | (0.01) | 1.39 | (0.01) |
| Ontario | 0.56 | (0.03) | -0.54 | (0.03) | 0.32 | (0.01) | 0.89 | (0.01) | 1.58 | (0.01) |
| Manitoba | 0.33 | (0.03) | -0.83 | (0.04) | 0.06 | (0.01) | 0.67 | (0.01) | 1.42 | (0.03) |
| Saskatchewan | 0.43 | (0.02) | -0.55 | (0.02) | 0.14 | (0.01) | 0.70 | (0.01) | 1.46 | (0.02) |
| Alberta | 0.61 | (0.03) | -0.45 | (0.03) | 0.36 | (0.01) | 0.92 | (0.01) | 1.59 | (0.02) |
| British Columbia | 0.59 | (0.04) | -0.47 | (0.03) | 0.36 | (0.01) | 0.88 | (0.01) | 1.57 | (0.02) |
| Performance on the reading scale, by national/provincial quarters of this index | Change in the reading score per unit of this index3 | Explained variance in student performance (r-squared X 100)4 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom quarter | Second quarter | Third quarter | Top quarter | |||||||||
| mean score | standard error | mean score | standard error | mean score | standard error | mean score | standard error | effect | standard error | percent | standard error | |
| OECD average2 | 451 | (0.7) | 483 | (0.6) | 506 | (0.6) | 540 | (0.6) | 38 | (0.3) | 14.0 | (0.2) |
| Canada | 495 | (2.3) | 514 | (1.7) | 533 | (2.1) | 562 | (2.4) | 32 | (1.4) | 8.6 | (0.7) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 479 | (5.7) | 498 | (6.6) | 509 | (6.8) | 547 | (6.5) | 32 | (3.4) | 9.1 | (1.9) |
| Prince Edward Island | 458 | (4.8) | 482 | (5.3) | 493 | (4.8) | 525 | (5.1) | 30 | (3.1) | 6.5 | (1.4) |
| Nova Scotia | 489 | (5.3) | 512 | (4.9) | 521 | (4.7) | 547 | (5.1) | 26 | (3.2) | 5.6 | (1.3) |
| New Brunswick | 464 | (4.0) | 493 | (5.5) | 502 | (4.7) | 538 | (5.3) | 35 | (2.8) | 9.5 | (1.5) |
| Quebec | 490 | (6.1) | 515 | (3.7) | 531 | (4.1) | 557 | (4.0) | 32 | (3.2) | 8.7 | (1.6) |
| Ontario | 500 | (4.2) | 520 | (3.7) | 540 | (3.9) | 569 | (4.3) | 32 | (2.7) | 9.4 | (1.4) |
| Manitoba | 461 | (6.0) | 492 | (5.3) | 506 | (5.2) | 531 | (5.3) | 29 | (3.2) | 7.8 | (1.7) |
| Saskatchewan | 481 | (5.7) | 493 | (6.2) | 513 | (4.5) | 536 | (4.2) | 28 | (3.3) | 5.8 | (1.3) |
| Alberta | 503 | (6.0) | 519 | (5.5) | 542 | (5.8) | 572 | (6.7) | 33 | (3.2) | 7.9 | (1.4) |
| British Columbia | 503 | (5.5) | 511 | (5.1) | 532 | (5.1) | 558 | (5.7) | 27 | (3.2) | 5.7 | (1.3) |
1. The PISA Index of Economic, Social, and Cultural Status was designed to provide a measure of the socio-economic status of 15-year-olds. It was constructed on the basis of the following indices: the international socio-economic index of occupational status; the level of education of mother or father (whichever was higher) converted to years of schooling; and three indices based on home possessions--the index of cultural possessions (e.g., works of art, books of poetry), home possessions, and home educational resources. In turn, these indices were constructed based on students' self-reports in a 30-minute student questionnaire administered along with the PISA assessment. Access to possessions at home was used as a proxy measure of wealth. The PISA respondents were divided into four equal groups or quartiles based on their index values. For more information, please see PISA 2009: Overcoming Social Background (Volume II) at www.oecd.org.
2. These averages are from Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators, Table A5.1, Socio-economic background and reading performance, which presents the most recent available data for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries for which data were available. Please see the OECD's Web site at www.oecd.org.
3. This indicates how much students' performance changes on average, with a change of one unit on the index of socio-economic status. The greater the change in reading scores, the greater the impact of economic, social, and cultural status on student performance, suggesting greater inequality.
4. This measures the proportion of the variation in student performance that is accounted for by socio-economic background. In other words it measures the strength of the effect of socio-economic background on reading performance. Expressed as a percentage, it ranges from 0 to 100. If this number is low, relatively little of the variation in student performance is associated with with students' socio-economic background. It may not mean that socio-economic background is not an important influence on reading scores, just that there are other factors operating on reading performance as well. If the number is high, a large part of the variation in students' performance can be attributed to socio-economic background.
Notes: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports on reading, mathematics, and science every three years, providing a more detailed look at each domain in the years when it is a major focus: reading in 2000 and 2009, mathematics in 2003, and science in 2006.
The Territories do not participate in PISA.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators.
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