Rolf Strietholt’s research while affiliated with International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and other places

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This study delves into the examination of the relationship between school leadership support with educational outcomes, focusing on students’ academic achievement and teacher job satisfaction from the teachers' perspective. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of leadership's significance in educational research, the global effects of school leadership on these pivotal aspects remain insufficiently explored. Bridging this knowledge gap, our research leverages the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 dataset, encompassing responses from eighth-grade mathematics and science teachers across 45 countries. Through regression analysis, we examine the association between school leadership support and its dual relationship with teacher job satisfaction and student academic achievements in mathematics and science while controlling for a rich set of teacher characteristics.Our analysis reveals a multifaceted relationship: school leadership support is positively correlated with teacher job satisfaction for both mathematics and science teachers after controlling for several background characteristics, suggesting that enhanced leadership support contributes to higher teacher job satisfaction for both science and mathematics teachers. However, a paradox emerges as this support is found to be negatively associated with student achievement in these subjects, indicating that higher levels of perceived leadership support do not necessarily lead to improved academic outcomes. Furthermore, the study elucidates those factors such as teacher job satisfaction, the quality of school conditions and resources, and the maintenance of a safe and orderly school environment have a positive association with school leadership support. By analyzing the data from the teachers' perspective, this research sheds light on the nuanced and complex dynamics between school leadership practices and their relationship with the educational environment, calling for a strategic reevaluation of leadership approaches to optimize both teacher job satisfaction and student academic achievement.

This study delves into the examination of the relationship between school leadership support with educational outcomes, focusing on students’ academic achievement and teacher job satisfaction from the teachers' perspective. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of leadership's significance in educational research, the global effects of school leadership on these pivotal aspects remain insufficiently explored. Bridging this knowledge gap, our research leverages the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 dataset, encompassing responses from eighth-grade mathematics and science teachers across 45 countries. Through regression analysis, we examine the association between school leadership support and its dual relationship with teacher job satisfaction and student academic achievements in mathematics and science while controlling for a rich set of teacher characteristics. Our analysis reveals a multifaceted relationship: school leadership support is positively correlated with teacher job satisfaction for both mathematics and science teachers after controlling for several background characteristics, suggesting that enhanced leadership support contributes to higher teacher job satisfaction for both science and mathematics teachers. However, a paradox emerges as this support is found to be negatively associated with student achievement in these subjects, indicating that higher levels of perceived leadership support do not necessarily lead to improved academic outcomes. Furthermore, the study elucidates those factors such as teacher job satisfaction, the quality of school conditions and resources, and the maintenance of a safe and orderly school environment have a positive association with school leadership support. By analyzing the data from the teachers' perspective, this research sheds light on the nuanced and complex dynamics between school leadership practices and their relationship with the educational environment, calling for a strategic reevaluation of leadership approaches to optimize both teacher job satisfaction and student academic achievement.

Presentation author: Rolf Strietholt // Equity in education is defined as the guarantee that all students are provided with the opportunities to benefit from their educational system regardless of their gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and family background (OECD, 2014). In the last decades, investments have been made to identify and monitor educational gaps and to better understand the phenomenon of inequality across several groups, such as gender, SES, and immigrant background (e.g., Strello et al., 2023), and to identity the most urgent needs of intervention in diminishing educational inequality. However, these efforts have been predominantly based on achievement, although school adjustment is not defined only as achievement but instead as a child’s success in dealing with all struggles and tasks faced within the school environment (Ladd, 1989). Adding to the achievement components of schooling, there is also an affective component of school adjustment which, we argue, should not be ignored. Hence, the goal of this study is to give a cross-national overview of the affective gaps based on gender, SES, and immigrant status, by focusing on three indicators of math-specific affective adjustment – confidence, enjoyment, and value. We analyzed the TIMSS 2019 dataset for 8th grade students in the math domain. Thirty-nine countries were considered, amounting to a total of 224.080 students. Using regression analysis, we estimated gaps throughout different groups – male versus female (i.e., gender), high SES vs. low SES, and native versus non-native (i.e., immigrant background), on three different math-related affective outcomes – confidence, enjoyment, and value, leading to a set of 9 regression analyses. Analyses were performed for each country considering student weights. Although not the focus of this investigation, achievement gaps were also assessed and controlled for. In what concerned gender, there seems to be a rather consistent affective gap benefitting boys, especially in their confidence towards mathematics, even when controlling for achievement. As for SES, results replicate those of achievement, in the sense that students with high SES score higher on math-related affective components of learning in the vast majority of countries – however, this gap diminishes significantly when controlling for achievement. Finally, when looking into immigrant status, results are rather mixed, especially for math confidence. As for enjoyment and math value, non-natives show a slight tendency for higher scores, and this tendency holds even while controlling for achievement. Detailed results, implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented and discussed in light of existing research, policies, and strategies regarding inequalities in education.

PISA aims to serve as a “global yardstick” for educational success, as measured by student performance. For comparisons to be meaningful across countries or over time, PISA samples must be representative of the population of 15-year-old students in each country. Exclusions and non-response can undermine this representativeness and potentially bias estimates of student performance. Unfortunately, testing the representativeness of PISA samples is typically infeasible due to unknown population parameters. To address this issue, we integrate PISA 2018 data with comprehensive Swedish registry data, which includes all students in Sweden. Utilizing various achievement measures, we find that the Swedish PISA sample significantly overestimates the achievement levels in Sweden. The observed difference equates to standardized effect sizes ranging from d = .19 to .28, corresponding to approximately 25 points on the PISA scale or an additional year of schooling. The paper concludes with a plea for more rigorous quality standards and their strict enforcement.

Teacher job satisfaction is considered a crucial factor in retaining successful teachers in the workforce and for the general well-being of teachers. Understanding the impact of school working conditions on job satisfaction is considered to be essential for enhancing teacher motivation, retention, and ultimately, student outcomes. Following the influential study by Toropova, Myrberg, and Johansson (2021), the current study employs regression analysis of TIMSS 2019 data from 46 countries to investigate the relationship between school working conditions – school leadership, student discipline,and teacher workload – and teacher job satisfaction among secondary school teachers. The findings shed light on the specific aspects of school working conditions that are significantly associated with teacher job satisfaction. The findings highlight a notable association between leadership support and student discipline with teacher job satisfaction in various countries. Furthermore, the findings show that female teachers tended to perceive higher job satisfaction than male teachers in most countries and professional development was found to be positively correlated with teacher job satisfaction. The effects of years of teaching experience, majoring in mathematics, and majoring in mathematics education yielded inconsistent results. The results contribute to the existing research on teacher job satisfaction and provide practical implications for policymakers, school administrators, and educational stakeholders to create supportive and conducive working environments for teachers and contribute to the professional well-being of teachers worldwide.

Denna studie undersöker om det finns belägg för hypotesen att vissa elever inte gör sitt bästa på prov som inte har några konsekvenser för dem. Ett sådant prov är PISA som 15-åringar runt om i världen genomför utan att få några svar på hur väl de har presterat. Trots att PISA-resultaten kan ha en betydande inverkan på utbildningsreformer både i Sverige och globalt, saknas kunskap om hur motivationen påverkar elevernas prestationer. Urvalet bestod av 15-åriga svenska elever som deltog i PISA-provet 2018. Eleverna rapporterade även sin ansträngning på provet. PISA-data kopplades samman med registerdata, vilket möjliggjorde analyser av sambandet mellan PISA-resultat och nationella provbetyg samt hur detta varierade beroende på elevers ansträngningsnivå. Huvudsaklig analysmetod var regressionsanalys. Resultaten visar att svenska elever i stor utsträckning ansträngde sig på PISA-provet, men att de skulle ha ansträngt sig ännu mer om betyget hade påverkats. Högt skattad ansträngning var positivt relaterad till bättre PISA-resultat, även efter kontroll av det nationella provbetyget i läsförståelse. Dessutom framkom att mer motiverade elever uppvisade ett starkare samband mellan sina PISA-resultat och nationella provbetyg. Resultaten tyder på att en mindre grupp elever underpresterade relativt sina nationella provresultat. Studien betonar vikten av att undersöka och förstå faktorer som påverkar sambandet mellan prov med små konsekvenser och prov med stora konsekvenser. English abstract The Relationship Between Reading Achievement in PISA and National Tests: A Question of Test Motivation in Low-Stakes Versus High-Stakes Assessments The following study examines whether there is evidence for the hypothesis that students do not do their best on low-stakes tests. One such test is PISA, which 15-year-olds around the world take without receiving any feedback about how they performed. Despite the significance of PISA results for educational reforms in Sweden and globally, there is limited knowledge about the impact of motivation on student performance. The sample comprised 15-year-old Swedish students who participated in the 2018 PISA assessment. The students also reported their effort on the PISA test. PISA data was linked with registry data, enabling analyses of the relationship between PISA results and national test grades, and how this varied depending on the students’ effort levels. Regression analysis was the main method of analysis. While most students exerted significant effort on the PISA assessment, they indicated a greater willingness to exert even more effort if the results had consequences for their grades. Higher effort was positively associated with better PISA performance, even after controlling for national test scores in reading comprehension. Additionally, it was found that more motivated students showed a stronger correlation between their PISA results and national test grades. The results suggest that a smaller group of students underperformed relative to their national test scores. These results emphasize the need to understand factors contributing to differential performance between low- and high-stakes tests.

Early home learning activities such as book reading and playing with number toys are expected to impact children's development. However, isolating the effects of these activities is challenging due to the correlation between parental engagement and socioeconomic background, which influences how children are raised and supported. Even longitudinal studies can be distorted by this correlation. Therefore, we adopt an alternative approach and relate differences in early home literacy and numeracy activities to differences in later reading and math performance. Applying this approach to data from 37 countries suggests an overall positive effect of early home learning activities on achievement in fourth grade. Given their lower prevalence in disadvantaged households, targeted policies supporting parental engagement may help reduce socioeconomic achievement gaps.