The Balance Thesis: contextual effects of ability on pupils’ O?grade examination results

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Abstract
This paper examines whether there is a linear relationship between pupils’ examination results and the average ability level of a school, after taking account of the effects on results of individual pupil characteristics. The study employs a subset of data describing individual school leavers from 15 comprehensive schools in one administrative division in Scotland, collected in the 1977 Scottish School Leavers Survey. Estimates of school effectiveness for low, average, and high ability pupils were determined in another study. Using these estimates, the analysis shows the relationship of school effectiveness scores in English and arithmetic to school mean verbal reasoning quotients. The study suggests that the average ability level of a school is associated with higher exam performance, for individual pupils of different levels of ability, even after controlling for individual pupil ability and family background characteristics.

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