What matters in educational performance? Evidence from OECD and non-OECD countries

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of school performance measured by the average value of students' test scores at the school level. PISA data (2000–2012) are used to explore this relationship. A multivariate regression and a quantile and multilevel regression are employed in order to perform the analysis considering both the total sample and grouping for OECD countries and non-OECD countries. The results show that, considering the entire sample and only the OECD countries, school performance is positively driven by student fees, the presence of girls, and computers; the mother's education also plays an important role, while the father's education is notable only at a high level and negative otherwise. The results are robust to a battery of robustness checks