The study focused on Equality of Educational Opportunity (EEO) in China from the aspects of family, shadow education, and school. The main purpose was to find the influence of factors from the three aspects on people’s educational outcomes. The interaction effects among family, shadow education, and school were emphasized to check how the three aspects correlated with each other and how shadow education and school moderated the effect of students’ family background on the (un)equal distribution of educational outcomes. The study used PISA 2015 data to analyze the association of predictors from family, shadow education, and school with students’ achievement among the whole group of the participants and the lower economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS) group. A comparison was made to find whether these factors yielded varied effects on the educational outcomes between the two groups. The study was interested in if school and shadow education would make up for their family deficiency for the group with lower ESCS in educational attainment.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction············································································ 1
The Concept of Equality of Educational Opportunity ····································· 1
Statement of the Problem······································································ 4
Purpose of the Present Study·································································· 5
Research Questions············································································· 5
Summary························································································· 6
Chapter 2: Literature Review····································································· 7
Cultural Capital Theory········································································ 7
School ··························································································· 10
Family ··························································································· 18
Shadow Education············································································· 21
Studies on EEO Based on PISA Data ······················································· 32
Summary························································································ 34
Chapter 3: Research Methodology······························································ 36
Research Questions············································································ 36
Program for International Student Assessment ············································ 37
Sample ·························································································· 37
Education Equity Module Based PISA Data··············································· 38
Variables in the Present Study ······························································· 42
Method ························································································· 48
Research Question 1··········································································· 48
Research Question 2··········································································· 49
Research Question 3··········································································· 50
Summary························································································ 53
Chapter 4: Data Analysis ········································································· 54
Demographic Data············································································· 54
Regression Analysis··········································································· 57
Effect of Shadow Education on Math Achievement ······································ 63
Chapter 5: Discussion ············································································· 72
Summary of Results··········································································· 72
Discussion of Hypotheses ···································································· 73
Implications for School Effect ······························································· 80
Implications for School Autonomy and Leadership ······································ 82
Implications for Policies and Future Research Directions ······························· 84
Limitations ····················································································· 86
Strengths························································································ 87
REFERENCES ····················································································· 90
APPENDIX ························································································ 107