Unraveling a Secret : Vietnam's Outstanding Performance on the PISA Test
This paper seeks to find an empirical explanation of Vietnam's outstanding performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012. Only a few developing countries participate in the assessment. Those who do, with the...
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26212117/unraveling-secret-vietnams-outstanding-performance-pisa-test http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24203 |
| Summary: | This paper seeks to find an empirical
explanation of Vietnam's outstanding performance on the
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in
2012. Only a few developing countries participate in the
assessment. Those who do, with the unique exception of
Vietnam, are typically clustered at the lower end of the
range of the Programme for International student Assessment
scores. The paper compares Vietnam's performance with
that of a set of seven developing countries from the 2012
assessment's data set, using a cut-off per capita GDP
(in 2010 purchasing power parity dollars) of $10,000. The
seven developing countries' average performance lags
Vietnam's by more than 100 points. The "Vietnam
effect" is difficult to unscramble, but the paper is
able to explain about half of the gap between Vietnam and
the seven countries. The analysis reveals that Vietnamese
students may be approaching their studies with higher
diligence and discipline, their parents may have higher
expectations, and the parents may be following up with
teachers regarding those expectations. The teachers
themselves may be working in a more disciplined environment,
with tabs being kept on their own performance as teachers.
Vietnam may also be benefiting from investments in
pre-school education and in school infrastructure that are
disproportionately higher when compared with Vietnam's
per capita income level. |
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