Assessment Matters! ImmIgrants In Canada:

does soCIoeConomIC baCkground matter? Success in education can be defined as a combination of high levels of achievement and high levels of equity in educational outcomes. Equity is important, as it is desirable to have all students succeed regardless of their socioeconomic background; therefore, the influence of such factors as socioeconomic status (SES) on educational outcomes should be negligible. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), socioeconomic status is associated with performance at three levels (OECD, 2013): • The system level, at which higher socioeconomic status involves greater spending on education; • The school level, at which higher socioeconomic status relates to a safer environment and the availability of educational resource, such as libraries, laboratories, and computers; • The individual level, at which higher socioeconomic status is reflected in the superior occupational status of the parents, often accompanied by more home possessions, more positive parental attitudes toward learning, and deeper involvement in their child’s education. This issue of Assessment Matters! focuses on the influence of socioeconomic background on the PISA 2012 outcomes for mathematics and investigates how this influence differs between immigrant and non-immigrant students in Canada. This topic is of particular relevance in Canada, given our high immigration levels and the often low socioeconomi