Equity and excellence in the Kazakhstani education system: A multilevel analysis of the personal and contextual factors contributing to students’ reading literacy performance on PISA 2018

Abstract

Education plays different roles in governments’ agendas in reaching economic prosperity and nations’ welfare. In recent years, Kazakhstan took active measures to reform its education system to improve its excellence and equity. In particular, participation in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009 demonstrated the low level of Kazakhstani students’ performance in reading, math, and science literacies. In this context, the relationship between equity and excellence in the education system is an important issue to consider. A little research has been conducted in this field in post-Soviet countries with their unique education system: selective schools for gifted students, bilingual schools, as well as the dominance of STEM subjects in schools. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study is to explore the relationship between equity and excellence in the Kazakhstani education system with regards to students’ reading literacy based on PISA 2018. More specifically, this study will examine how do students’ gender, socio-economic status (SES), schools’ gender, SES, language compositions, school type, ownership, and resources affect students’ reading literacy. The study used multilevel regression analysis methods at the student and school levels using evidence from PISA 2018. The findings of the study suggest that studying in intellectual schools and schools with the Russian language as a medium of instruction yields an advantage comparable to three years of schooling. Girls were not only found to outperform boys in reading literacy, but also female-dominated schools were found to significantly positively affect reading literacy. Also, students’ SES and schools’ SES composition were found to affect students’ performance, yet school ownership and resources did not demonstrate a significant influence on students’ reading literacy in Kazakhstan. This study contributes to understanding the factors behind Kazakhstani students’ reading literacy performance in PISA and suggests the possible ways for improving the equity and excellence of the education system.