Meta-analytical insights on school SES effects

Figures & data

Table 1. Categories/Range of Key Variables Coded from Studies.

Variables	Categories/Range	No of independent effect sizes (k)
School SES indicators	Home possessions	1
	Parental education	3
	Family income	4
	% free/reduced-price lunch/schooling Title 1/Non-Title 1 schools	106
		15
	Other single indicator	3
	Mixed	106
	No information	3
Types of student outcomes	Achievement	232
	Attainment Mixed	7
		2
Achievement subject areas	Languages	89
	Mathematics	97
	Science	18
	Social sciences	2
	Mixed	30
Student grade levels	Early childhood education	18
	Primary (G1-6)	73
	Lower secondary (G7-9)	87
	Upper secondary (G10-12)	34
	Early childhood education-primary (K-G6)	5
	Early childhood education-lower secondary (K-G9)	4
	Early childhood education-upper secondary (K-G12)	2
	Primary-lower secondary (G1-9)	11
	Primary-upper secondary (G1-12)	3
	Lower secondary-upper secondary (G7-12)	4
School types	Public	80
	Mixed (private and public)	161
GINI	24.2-53.9	237
	Not available	4
Education GINI	0.06-0.36	237
	Not available	4
Countries	US	157
	Non-US country/region	82
	Mixed (≥ 2 countries)	2
Sources of school SES data	Students	59
	Parents	8
	School administrators	5
	State education department	30
	Records on % free/reduced-price lunch Title 1/Non-Title 1 school classification	106
		15
	Other source	11
	Mixed	7
Number of school SES indicators used	1	132
	2	38
	3	48
	5	4
	6	2
	No information	17
Measurement level of student outcome data	School	145
	Student	96
Study type	Journal article	128
	Thesis	113
Schools’ percentage of ethnic minority students	-	19
Students’ prior ability	-	24
School processes	School leadership (effective leadership, enabling school structure/school design, experience, self-efficacy)	34
	School climate (academic expectations/optimism, school security/safety, positive relationships, teachers’ trust/motivation/commitment/attendance/low mobility, collective responsibility, student discipline/low mobility, supportive learning environment)	74
	Teacher capacity (teacher certification, experience, efficacy, professional development, collaboration, autonomy)	27
	Instructional programmes (classroom teaching, programme coherence, instructional practices/feedback/curriculum/assessment/monitoring)	15
	School educational resources (school resources/facilities, instructional expenditure, teacher-student ratio/class size, use of educational resources)	35
	Parental involvement – private goods (parental networking, parental trust of schools and principals, family and community involvement)	5
	Parental involvement – public goods (parent-teacher association membership and attendance, formal school involvement)	6

Figure 1. PRISMA Diagram.

Table 2. Associations between School SES and Student Outcomes.

	No of independent effect sizes (k)	No of studies	Effect sizes (r)				Variance levels
			Mean	−95%CI	+95%CI	t	2	3
Overall	241	74	.58	.50	.66	11.13	0.05	0.24
School SES indicators
Home possessions	1	1	.78	-	-	-	-	-
Parental education	3	2	.36	-.79	.95	1.12	0.35	0.00
Income	4	2	.68	.25	.89	4.59	0.01	0.06
% FRL/school	106	47	.62	.53	.69	10.81	0.02	0.19
Title 1/Non-Title 1 school	15	3	.43	-.03	.75	2.00	0.00	0.16
Other single indicator	3	2	.59	-.40	.95	2.65	0.02	0.12
Mixed	106	19	.51	.27	.69	3.93	0.04	0.34
Student outcomes
Achievement	232	73	.59	.51	.66	11.11	0.05	0.24
Attainment	7	5	.39	.16	.57	4.14	0.00	0.04
Mixed	2	2	.57	-.97	1.00	2.98	0.04	0.04
Achievement subject area
Languages	89	40	.58	.50	.66	10.83	0.03	0.12
Mathematics	97	42	.58	.46	.68	7.78	0.05	0.26
Science	18	10	.55	.41	.66	7.19	0.03	0.05
Social sciences	2	2	.63	-.85	.99	4.66	0.02	0.02
Mixed	30	18	.62	.43	.76	5.66	0.09	0.22

Table 3. Meta-regression (k = 218).

Variables	β (SE)
Intercept	0.55(0.47)
Contextual
Students’ grade levels (reference category = Early childhood education, k = 4)
Primary (k = 73)	0.00(0.18)
Lower secondary (k = 81)	−0.00(0.20)
Upper secondary (k = 32)	−0.11(0.24)
Early childhood education-primary (k = 5)	−0.61(0.40)
Early childhood education-lower secondary (k = 4)	−0.14(0.45)
Early childhood education-upper secondary (k = 2)	−1.49(0.61)
Primary-lower secondary (k = 11)	−0.21(0.32)
Primary-upper secondary (k = 3)	0.35(0.44)
Lower secondary-upper secondary (k = 3)	−0.53(0.39)
Type of schools (reference category = Mixed, k = 140)
Public (k = 78)	0.17(0.16)
Education GINI (centred; k = 218)	0.03(0.56)
GINI (centred; k = 218)	0.02(0.01)
Country/Region (reference category = Non-US country/region, k = 62)
US (k = 156)	0.19(0.14)
Methodological
Number of school SES indicators used (k = 218)	0.03(0.10)
Measurement level of student outcome data (reference category = Student, k = 78)
School (k = 140)	−0.20(0.14)
Type of studies (reference category = Thesis, k = 112)
Article (k = 106)	−0.22(0.14)
Sources of school SES data (reference category = Mixed, k = 7)
Students (k = 53)	0.66(0.39)
Parents (k = 8)	0.14(0.41)
School administrators (k = 5)	0.11(0.41)
State education department (k = 14)	0.13(0.44)
%FRL records (k = 106)	0.22(0.37)
Title 1/Non-Title 1 school classification (k = 15)	−0.24(0.42)
Other single sources (k = 10)	−0.14(0.41)

Note. k = No of independent effect sizes.

Table 4. Associations between School SES and (a) Schools’ Percentage of Ethnic Minority Students; (b) Students’ Prior Ability; and (b) School Processes.

	No of independent effect sizes (k)	No of studies	Effect sizes(r)				Variance levels
			Mean	−95%CI	+95%CI	t	2	3
Schools’ percentage of ethnic minority students	19	15	-.43	-.65	-.15	−3.09	0.01	0.32
Prior ability	24	15	.54	.35	.69	5.22	0.02	.17
School processes
School leadership	34	18	.12	.06	.18	3.88	0.00	0.01
School climate	74	31	.31	.22	.40	6.34	0.02	0.06
Teacher capacity	27	20	.27	.11	.41	3.42	0.02	0.11
Instructional programmes	15	6	.20	-.11	.47	1.38	0.00	0.12
School educational resources	35	16	.02	-.07	.11	0.47	0.00	0.03
Private parent involvement	5	3	.24	.01	.45	2.87	0.01	0.02
Public parent involvement	6	3	.53	-.37	.92	1.54	0.00	0.41

Figure 2. Funnel Plot.