Competition and School Performance: Swedish School Leavers from 1991–2012

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics, percentages and standard deviations for four years.

	1991	1998	2005	2012
Student population [%]
Female	49.0	48.7	48.8	49.1
Foreign-born	5.9	9.2	7.8	9.5
Parent receiving a social allowance	6.4	11.6	6.9	6.6
Parent with tertiary education	31.3	35.1	36.3	41.5
Parent non-employed	12.7	26.1	20.7	18.9
Single-parent household	20.7	24.1	28.5	28.1
Foreign-born parent	9.4	13.3	13.6	18.4
Family disposable income (percentile)	38.4	34.6	58.8	60.4
Single-family housing	64.3	59.8	58.0	59.1
School [SD]
Share of females	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.06
Share of foreign-born	0.06	0.09	0.09	0.09
Share with parent receiving a social allowance	0.05	0.09	0.07	0.07
Share with parent with tertiary education	0.13	0.14	0.14	0.14
Share with non-employed parent	0.06	0.10	0.10	0.11
Share living in single-parent household	0.08	0.07	0.07	0.07
Share with foreign-born parent	0.11	0.15	0.16	0.19
Mean family disposable income (percentile)	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.09
Share living in single-family housing	0.21	0.20	0.19	0.20
Neighborhood [SD]
Share with parent receiving a social allowance	0.10	0.16	0.12	0.12
Share with parent with tertiary education	0.19	0.19	0.19	0.19
Share with non-employed parent	0.10	0.18	0.16	0.17
Share living in single-parent household	0.16	0.16	0.17	0.16
Share with foreign-born parent	0.15	0.20	0.21	0.25
Mean family disposable income (percentile)	0.10	0.11	0.11	0.14
Share living in single-family housing	0.36	0.35	0.35	0.36
Independent school students [%]	2.8	2.2	7.1	15.1
Data loss [%]	29.7	5.0	1.5	1.4
Number of students included in the study	72,757	92,329	118,000	98,806

Table 2. Multilevel models and estimates for 2012, with grades as the dependent variable. Statistically significant parameter estimates (p < 0.05) are shown in bold. The share of students in independent schools in the municipality is for 2012 (the results for all years 1991–2012 can be found in the online supplementary material, Tables S1–S8).

Model	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Response	Grades	Grades	Grades	Grades	Grades	Grades	Grades	Grades
Fixed Part
Cons	.466	.263	.150	.139	.130	.125	.137	.187
Share of students in independent schools in the municipality (student level)	.177	.171	.015	.005	.091	.017	.000	.100
Individual (student level)
Female		.120	.120	.119	.120
Foreign-born		−.045	−.045	−.041	−.042
Parent receiving a social allowance		−.081	−.080	−.075	−.075
Parent with tertiary education		.123	.121	.116	.116
Parent non-employed		−.016	−.017	−.019	−.018
Single-parent household		−.030	−.030	−.032	−.032
Family disposable income (percentile)		.161	.156	.134	.134
Single-family housing		.037	.039	.032	.033
School (school level)
Share of females			.095	.102		.225	.245
Share of foreign-born			−.212	−.229		−.256	−.288
Share with parent receiving a social allowance			−.033	−.040		−.115	−.070
Share with parent with tertiary education			.148	.110		.267	.166
Share with non-employed parent			.016	−.022		.016	−.046
Share living in single-parent household			−.169	−.200		−.184	−.236
Share with foreign-born parent			.155	.162		.143	.181
Mean family disposable income (percentile)			.222	.056		.402	.055
Share living in single-family housing			−.104	−.079		−.064	−.091
Neighborhood (student level)
Share with parent receiving a social allowance				−.005	−.015		−.082	−.092
Share with parent with tertiary education				.064	.072		.157	.171
Share with non-employed parent				.042	.046		.022	.025
Share living in single-parent household				.018	.019		−.007	−.005
Share with foreign-born parent				.003	.021		.006	.023
Mean family disposable income (percentile)				.202	.230		.324	.361
Share living in single-family housing				−.022	−.028		.018	.011
Random Part
Level: School cons/cons	.011	.006	.005	.005	.006	.004	.005	.007
Level: Student cons/cons	.074	.060	.061	.060	.060	.074	.070	.070
AIC:	26,015	6150	5834	5378	5571	25,029	20,256	20,631
Difference in AIC when omitting the variable: share of independent schools	52	77	−1	−2	22	−1	−2	22
Number of schools	1550	1550	1550	1550	1550	1550	1550	1550
Number of students	98,806	98,806	98,806	98,806	98,806	98,806	98,806	98,806

Figure 1. Parameter estimates for the share of students in independent schools in the municipality from 1991 to 2012. Bars show the 95% confidence intervals. The three diagrams show the parameter estimates for three different models. A) Model 1 is an empty model, except for the share of students in independent schools in the municipality. The parameter estimates show that, since 2001, students’ grades were positively correlated with the share of students in independent schools in the municipality. B) In Model 2, individual variables were added. The parameter estimates for this model since 2002 also show a positive correlation between students’ grades and the share of students in independent schools in the municipality. C) In Model 3, which includes both individual variables and school composition, there was no significant correlation between students’ grades and the share of students in independent schools in the municipality.

Figure 2. The expected effect on the grade that the average student experiences from the school composition in the municipality according to Model 3 and the extent to which this effect is correlated with the share of students in independent schools in the municipality for four different years. The selected four years are evenly distributed in the studied time span, and the trends between these years are continuous.