Of Educational Advantage
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IN D EX OF EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGE (IdEA ) This report examines the driving factors behind spatial differences in Australia’s educational outcomes using a range of metrics from NAPLAN and the Census. It also presents a new index – the Index of Educational Advant age – measuring how well an area supports educational development for school-aged children with a particular focus on secondary education outcomes. By Jinjing Li, Riyana Mirant i and Yogi Vidyat t ama I N D EX O F EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGE (I D EA ) ABOUT NATSEM/ IGPA The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) was established on 1 January 1993, and supports its activities through research grants, commissioned research and longer term contracts for policy analysis and model development and maintenance. In January 2014, the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA) at the University of Canberra was established to harness the research strengths of NATSEM and the ANZSOG Institute for Governance (ANZSIG). The aim of this Institute is to create and sustain an international class research institution for the study and practice of governance and public policy. The Institute has a strong social mission committed to the production of leading edge research and research driven education programs with genuine public value and, by implication, policy impact. The integration of ANZSIG and NATSEM has created exciting opportunities for the development of cutting edge research in public policy analysis through combining expertise in qualitative and quantitative methods, microsimulation and policy modelling and evaluation. NATSEM is one of three research centres within IGPA. Policy changes often have to be made without sufficient information about either the current environment or the consequences of change. NATSEM aims to be a key contributor to social and economic policy debate and analysis by undertaking independent and impartial research of the highest quality, including supplying valued commissioned research services. NATSEM is one of Australia’s leading economic and social policy research centres and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost centres of excellence for micro- data analysis, microsimulation modelling and policy evaluation. In keeping with IGPA’s core mission, NATSEM’s research activities aim to have significant policy impact and lead to social and economic change. Director: Professor Mark Evans © IGPA, University of Canberra 2016 All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS About NATSEM/ IGPA ........................................ 2 Table of Contents............................................... 3 Author Note ....................................................... 4 Acknowledgement .............................................. 4 Notes .................................................................. 4 Suggested citation .............................................. 4 Executive Summary ............................................ 5 Introduction ........................................................ 7 Conceptual Framework ...................................... 9 Educational Advantage and Disadvantage ................................................................................................................... 9 Education Production Function .................................................................................................................................... 10 Contribution of the Index .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Dat a .................................................................. 14 Data Sources ................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Educational Outcome Measures .................................................................................................................................. 15 Variables Selected for the Statistical Model .............................................................................................................. 18 Exploration of Selected Variables ................................................................................................................................ 21 Index Development .......................................... 28 Modelling Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 28 Model Results .................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Index Derivation .............................................................................................................................................................. 34 Index of Educational Advantage ...................... 38 Interpretation of the Index ............................................................................................................................................ 38 Use of the Index .............................................................................................................................................................. 39 Spatial Distribution of the Index .................................................................................................................................. 40 SA2s Identified by the Index of Educational Advantage ......................................................................................... 45 Comparison with Other Indexes ...................... 47 Comparison with the Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) ......................................................................... 47 Comparison with the Youth Social Exclusion (YSE) Index ....................................................................................... 49 Conclusion ........................................................ 52 References ........................................................ 54 Appendix A: IdEA Index Listing ........................ 60 Appendix B: Online Map ................................ 110 Index of Educational Advantage (IdEA) 3 AUTHOR NOTE AUTHOR NOTE Authors of this report are: Dr Jinjing Li, University of Canberra Dr Riyana Miranti, University of Canberra Dr Yogi Vidyattama, University of Canberra A CK N O W LED GEM EN T This study was undertaken by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) and the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA) at the University of Canberra, and was funded by the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP), Department of Education and Training, Australia. W e would also like to thank Michele Fleming and Ellen Grady for their comments and assistance. Note: Parts of the data used in this publication are sourced from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and are available from ACARA in accordance with its Data Access Protocols. The cover image contains map data from OpenStreetMap contributors. See http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright for details. NOTES This report was written in 2016 with a minor update in 2017. Parts of the report are now published in peer-reviewed academic journals. SUGGESTED CITATION Li, J., Miranti, R. & Vidyattama, Y. (2016) Index of Educational Advantage (IdEA), University of Canberra, the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA) Executive Summary EXECUTI V E SUMMARY While the education system is commonly viewed as providing each child with equal access, there are subst ant ial variat ions in educational outcomes across both the spat ial and socio-economic spect ra in Australia. This report examines a series of secondary educational outcome measures and decomposes the variations into three major factors: the educational socio-economic environment, educational resource availability, and a factor which reflects the efficiencies and the specificities of the local education syst em. The analysis in this report is grounded in education production theory and incorporates a structural equation modelling technique to examine the drivers of educational outcomes. The spatial unit used is t he Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), which usually contains one or a few suburbs, with a typical population size between 3000 and 25 000 per area. The empirical analysis suggests factors outside of the school contribute most in explaining the variat ions in educational outcomes in Australia on average, echoing the idea that much learning happens and should happen outside the classroom. Educational resource availability is the second most important factor overall (that is, when considering all outcome measures) but is often the most important factor in determining test scores. These findings are converted into a series of indexes to reflect the spatial differences in educational advantage in Australia. The Index of Educational Advantage Series is a set of composite indexes using data from the 2011 Nat ional Assessment Program – Lit eracy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) scores, the nationwide school database from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and