Extending the ILSA Study Design to a Longitudinal Design. TIMSS and PIRLS Extension in the Czech Republic: CLoSE Study
Abstract
This chapter describes the utilization of a longitudinal extension of the international large-scale assessments (ILSA) TIMSS (Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study) & PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) in the Czech Republic carried out within the Czech Longitudinal Study in Education (CLoSE) with the aim of studying the transition from primary school to the long academic track (called "multi-year gymnasium"). The Czech educational system is characterized by high differentiation, with one of its most controversial elements being a long academic track, which some children transition to after the fifth grade.
The process of transition and added value of tracking are therefore important topics for the Czech educational policy. As part of the CLoSE study, the students participating in TIMSS & PIRLS 2011 as fourth-graders were approached again at the end of the fifth grade with a questionnaire exploring their motivation for transition to the long academic track.
In grade 6 the TIMSS & PIRLS sample was supplemented by a sample of multiyear gymnasia. Tests in mathematics, reading, Czech grammar, and learning to learn and students' questionnaires were administered to the students at the beginning of grade 6 and at the end of grade 9.
The chapter provides a description of the CLoSE study and its sampling and the instruments used and presents an analysis of the factors affecting a successful transition to the long academic track and an analysis of the effects of tracks on gains in student achievement. The first analysis was carried out on the data from 3679 students who participated in TIMSS 2011 and a questionnaire survey in grade 5 and employed binary logistic regression.
The second analysis was carried out on a data set obtained from 5229 students participating in data collections in grades 6 and 9 and employed regression models used on parallel samples created with the propensity score matching (PSM) technique. The results of the first analysis show that the strongest predictor of entering the long academic track is school marks, while the education of parents remains significant even after accounting for school marks and test results.
In the second analysis, when prior achievement and student characteristics are accounted for, the long academic track does not show added value in terms of achievement gains in any subject. The chapter closes with a discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of extending the ILSA studies with national follow-up research, and with a discussion of how the results of the CLoSE study may be used in the wider international context.