Long-term effects of primary schools on educational positions of students 2 and 4 years after the start of secondary education

ABSTRACT

Although the importance of primary schools in the long term is of interest in educational effectiveness research, few studies have examined the long-term effects of schools over the past decades. In the present study, long-term effects of primary schools on the educational positions of students 2 and 4 years after starting secondary education are investigated. Moreover, it is examined which school factors play a role in this process. We specifically investigated whether effective primary schools make a difference in the long term. This study uses data from the longitudinal SiBO project, which followed 6,000 pupils in primary education in Flanders, Belgium, and has follow-up data during secondary education. Two-level models and cross-classified multilevel models show that primary schools have long-term effects on the educational positions of students in secondary education.

KEYWORDS:

• School effectiveness
• primary school
• educational position
• cross-classified multilevel analysis
• long-term effect

Acknowledgement

This study was financed by the Ministry of Education and Training of the Flemish Government (Belgium). The authors wish to thank the schools, students, and their parents for the effort put into cooperating, as well as the SiBO team of the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation for collecting the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed by the Ministry of Education and Training of the Flemish Government (Belgium).

Notes on contributors

Griet Vanwynsberghe

Griet Vanwynsberghe is a PhD student at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven, Belgium. She is mainly interested in long-term effects of primary and secondary schools. Her postal address is Dekenstraat 2 box 3773, 3000 Leuven. Her email address is [email protected]

Gudrun Vanlaar

Gudrun Vanlaar is a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven and at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Leuven Campus Kulak, Belgium. She is mainly interested in effective educational practices for high-risk students. Her postal address is Dekenstraat 2 box 3773, 3000 Leuven. Her email address is [email protected]

Jan Van Damme

Jan Van Damme is emeritus professor at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven, Belgium. His research interests include educational effectiveness, evaluation, and the longitudinal study of students’ pathways through education. His postal address is Dekenstraat 2 box 3773, 3000 Leuven. His email address is [email protected]

Bieke De Fraine

Bieke De Fraine is an associate professor and head of the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. Her main research interests include longitudinal educational effectiveness studies and growth curve modelling. Her postal address is Dekenstraat 2 box 3773, 3000 Leuven. Her email address is [email protected]