Rural/Urban Disparities in Science Achievement in Post-Socialist Countries: the Evolving Influence of Socioeconomic Status
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60 Global Education Review 2(4) Rural/Urban Disparities in Science Achievement In Post-Socialist Countries: The Evolving Influence of Socioeconomic Status Erica L Kryst The Pennsylvania State University Stephen Kotok University of Texas at El Paso Katerina Bodovski The Pennsylvania State University Abstract Disparities in educational outcomes exist between students in rural areas as compared to students in urban settings. While there is some evidence that these rural disparities are present in eastern Europe, little is known about young peoples’ lives in the rural areas of this region. This paper presents an analysis of science achievement by location (rural v. urban) using all available waves of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). We examined the eighth grade data from five countries: Lithuania, Romania, the Russian Federation, Hungary, and Slovenia. Findings demonstrated that students attending rural schools had significantly lower science scores and that the rural disadvantage grew between 1995 and 2011 in some countries, but became non-significant in others. Overall, family socioeconomic status played an important role in determining the educational outcomes of rural students. The implications of these findings are explored in relation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2015 Education for All goals. Keywords rural education, eastern Europe, science achievement, socioeconomic status Introduction Regional disparities in educational outcomes Hout, 2004). In most cases, large urban centers existed in eastern Europe between rural and experienced high levels of growth and urban areas during communist rule (Gerber & development while rural areas have experienced Hout, 1995). However, since the fall of communism, opportunity gaps between rural Corresponding Author: Erica L. Kryst, The Pennsylvania State University, and urban areas in eastern Europe have University Park, PA 16802 substantially widened (Gerber, 2000; Gerber & Email: [email protected] Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Kryst, Erica L., Kotok, Stephen & Bodovski, Katerina (2015). Rural/urban disparities in science achievement in post-socialist countries: The evolving influence of socioeconomic status. Global Education Review, 2(4). 60-77 Rural/Urban Disparities in Science Achievement 61 little change (Heyns, 2005). Despite evidence of poverty is a defining characteristic of many rural a rural disadvantage in this region, little is communities (European Commission, 2008; known about how social exclusion and limited Zichy, 2000). In addition to contributing to the access to educational opportunities shape young literature on the rural/urban dichotomy in people’s lives in rural areas of eastern Europe. In educational achievement, we also address the past few decades, the countries of central implications these findings have with respect to and eastern Europe (CEE) have performed UNESCO’s 2015 Education for All (EFA) goals increasingly well on international assessments. two and six. In light of our findings, we discuss According to a report released by the United the usefulness of EFA as a framework for States Department of Education regarding measuring educational equity based on education in post-socialist countries, “the quality geographic location, gender, and socioeconomic of education in certain fields, especially math status in transition countries. and sciences, was, and remains, exceptional” and recent studies show that a number of central The Rural Context and eastern European countries rank among the In order to understand the relationship between top countries internationally in eighth grade living in a rural area and science achievement, science and math (Laporte & Ringold, 1997, p. we first explored the rural context as it is 1). While educational quality in central and represented in the literature. Below is a eastern Europe appears to be high overall, little discussion of the rural context more broadly as is known about the differences that exist well as an overview of what was found in the between rural and urban educational outcomes literature about rural areas and rural education in this region. in eastern Europe. Rural areas are diverse spaces Given what we know about the and how rural is observed and defined varied educational and social disadvantages associated across the literature (Cuervo & Wyn, 2013). with rural location in other countries, this paper Some researchers relied on conceptual examined disparities in science achievement definitions that define rural spaces based on between rural and urban areas in countries in cultural characteristics and historically defined post-socialist transition. The purpose of this constructs, specifically occupational, ecological, study was to gain a better understanding of the and sociocultural constructs (Bealer, Willits, & relationship between rural location and Kuvlesky, 1965). Often, conceptual definitions of educational achievement in the region. This rural are based on meaningful differences that paper presents an analysis of science exist between rural and urban areas, such as the achievement by location (rural v. urban) using presence of traditional values and attitudes in all available waves of TIMSS (1995, 1999, 2003, rural areas in order to establish whether a place 2007, and 2011). We examined the eighth grade is rural (Willits, Bealer, & Crider, 1973). Other data from five post-socialist countries: research utilized empirical definitions of rural. Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Hungary, and Empirical definitions determine what is rural Slovenia. and what is not rural based on measures such as We start with a discussion of the overall population density or distance from urban areas differences in science achievement between (Isserman, 2005). Whether one utilizes a urban and rural students. Then, we model these conceptual or empirical definition, rural spaces differences while accounting for family are difficult to define and to capture. socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. We There are characteristics of rural spaces included SES in our model because of the well- that are consistent across definitions and documented relationship between rural areas regional contexts. First, there are differences and pervasive poverty. This is also the case in between urban and rural education, including rural regions within eastern Europe, where high 62 Global Education Review 2(4) differences in quality (Giroux, Jah, & Eloundou- MacTavish & Salamon, 2006). Across countries, Enyegue, 2010; Agrawal, 2014), early education fewer numbers of rural students pursue post- opportunities (Miller & Votruba-Drzal, 2013), secondary education compared to their and post-secondary outcomes including counterparts in urban and suburban areas participation in higher education (Byun, Meece, (Byun, Meece, & Irvin, 2012; Provasnik, Kewal- & Irvin, 2012; Provasnik, Kewal-Remani, Remani, Coleman, Gilbertson, Gerring, & Xie, Coleman, Gilbertson, Gerring, & Xie, 2007; 2007; Koricick, 2014). Koricick, 2014; Chankseliani, 2013; MacTavish One explanation for the rural & Salamon, 2006; McIlveen, Morgan, & disadvantage in post-secondary attainment is Bimrose, 2012), as well as differences in parents’ the high instance of poverty. Poverty is rampant level of education (Iannelli, 2002). in rural areas and it has implications for Second, poverty is a defining characteristic education, as well as long term individual and of many rural communities, and is often found community consequences (Bailey et al., 2014). in higher levels in rural areas compared to urban Poverty in rural areas leads to limited areas (Tickamyer & Duncan, 1990; Zichy, 2000; opportunities for social and economic Miller & Votruba-Drzal, 2013; Bailey, Jensen, & development, as well as decreased mobility, Ransom, 2014,). The presence of poverty in stable employment, investment in the rural areas has implications for the educational community, and limited variation in industry or outcomes of rural youth. Last, several studies career options (Tickamyer & Duncan, 1990). In have explored the relationship between rural fact, the lower educational achievement of rural areas and access to technology, specifically the children is often attributed to less advantaged lack of technology related courses in rural home environments – including, as was schools (Lee & McIntire, 2000), as well as mentioned before, parents with lower levels of disadvantages rural youth experience accessing education, as well as decreased access to basic technology at home compared to their peers in human needs relative to non-rural children, such urban areas (Li & Ranieri, 2013; Chen & Liu, as cognitive stimulation in the form of books and 2013). activities, as well as parental warmth, Educational inequality between rural and responsiveness, and emotional support (Miller & urban contexts is global and widespread. There Votruba-Drzal, 2013). Thus, the association are vast differences between rural educational between poverty and educational outcomes quality and access to opportunity as compared to deserves special attention in rural settings. urban, and suburban school settings (Giroux, Jah, & Eloundou-Enyegue, 2010;